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[–] 239 points 9 months ago (49 children)

Every damn power plant is a glorified steam engine

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  • [–] 142 points 9 months ago (32 children)

    Except solar. And wind. And hydro.

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  • [–] 132 points 9 months ago (10 children)

    Some solar is also boiling water

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  • [+] 46 points 9 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)
  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Isn't salt like the main bees knees these days?

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    I don't know, but the Ivanpah solar power station near Primm NV, which is a set of three molten salt towers is reportedly getting decommissioned, removed, and replaced with PV panels. Word is PV technology had improved in efficiency and stopped in cost enough that the whole molten salt thing is no longer economically viable, at least in comparison.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    My local solar steam generator was shut down years ago as it was no longer worth testing direct reflector material anymore — even if they had gotten perfect reflectivity they couldn't compete with photovoltaics anymore

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  • [–] 35 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Expect for solar, it's all just flowy stuff through spinny stuff: wind, water, steam. GRAAAAAAAAAA

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 20 points 9 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    I dunno if "power plant" quite fits for solar and wind. Definitely for Hydro, though.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago* (2 children)

    "Power Plant" won't be a fitting term until we can generate electricity (at a viable scale) from chloroplasts.

    And wouldn't that just be solar with extra steps?

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  • fun fact: chloroplasts generate an electric potential across the cell membrane during photosynthesis. essentially, they have membrane proteins in their chloroplast membranes that push electrons from one side of the membrane to the other side whenever a photon hits the protein. It's essentially a natural photovoltaic cell.

    That electric potential is then used to create ATP in nature, while we just directly extract the electrical power through cables.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I dunno if “power plant” quite fits for solar and wind

    Why not?

    The First Law of Thermodynamics: Energy Cannot Be Created or Destroyed

    Fossil fuel power plants merely convert chemical energy into another type.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    Just that "power plant" I think most people associate with large enclosed facilities that house power generating equipment, which doesn't quite describe wind and solar farms. Hence that most people refer to them as "farms".

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  • [–] 82 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    We’re living in a steampunk world after all

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    I'm going to be this person I guess, but the defining trait of steampunk isn't the use of steam alone. It's that energy is transfered by delivering steam to where it's used, rather than using it in-place to crested electricity. This means that steampunk machines operate off of some kind of kinetic energy, rather than electrical energy.

    Basically, computers (and everything else) are spinning gears, not silicon.

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  • [–] 33 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    Readily available, low boiling point, non corrosive (relatively), and ecologically safe. What more do you want?

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Molten salt. Lower pressure, higher efficiency, and I believe less reactive in the event of an uh-oh.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    The molten salt is used as the first step. It then makes steam through a heat exchanger. Molten salt is safer next to the actual reactor because water is not a good coolant in case of emergency.

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  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago (5 children)

    Hydro isn't. Nor is solar photo voltaic, wind, or tidal, but yeah, nearly everything else is. In a combined-cycle natural gas or diesel plant half of the power generated isn't steam power, but the other half is.

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  • [–] 19 points 9 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    aah, but it didn't say steam, it said boiling water.

    smaller gas generators based on internal combustion engines don't boil water though, right?

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago*

    Electromagnetic induction.

    Basically electric motor in reverse...instead of electricity powering the motor, the motor powers electricity.

    But the trick is in "what spins the motor". In the case if ICE generators, it's usually a pulley off the crankshaft.

    Or it could be moving water.

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