Libra

joined 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Yeah, so instead of sending down divers with equipment you're hauling hundreds of tons of concrete out of the sea, which means aside from a ship and crew which you'd need anyway you're still going to need specialized equipment (some big honkin' chains and winches at a minimum) and tools and such, and that stuff isn't cheap either. Also they're aiming at a 20 year partial replacement cycle for parts that are going to be submerged in or otherwise exposed to sea water which is notoriously corrosive, some of which will be at fairly high pressure (otherwise the turbines will be less efficient), that seems optimistic at best, even if nothing breaks before the scheduled replacement time, and you certainly can't count on that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I mean I think it's intentional that there's not data on that sort of thing that is collected or made available. There are methods one could use to get a rough estimate; someone elsewhere in the comments suggested taking the reported yearly profit for the company and dividing it by the number of workers. It's not perfect, but it's better than what we've got right now which is just a big ol 'shrug'.

But there is likely someone doing the math, even if they''re just ballparking it and not making it public, because that's how they justify paying everyone's salary. It would not surprise me at all to learn that giant corporations have a pretty accurate accounting of the value created by each employee.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

LOL, indeed. I grew up in Oklahoma so I recognize that twang. :P I worked for years to get rid of my southern accent.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

If you read the article it includes this line:

The idea is relatively simple: hollow concrete spheres are installed at a depth of several hundred metres.

The pressure is needed to drive the turbine, cause just gently-flowing water isn't going to cut it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (7 children)

I wonder if that's intentional...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

That just sounds like yet another unequal way to divide power, so it's still an oligarchy. Here's a radical idea: why not give everyone who is affected by an entity equal control over it? Why does anyone need more control than everyone else? How could you possibly keep that from being abused to benefit the people in power more than everyone else? This is just capitalism with a little extra shell-game on the side to try to make the inequality seem more just despite being just as unequal.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Oh yes, please sign me all the way up for corporations pumping ads directly into my brain, that's a great plan. :P

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I fucking love Emperor TTS, that shit was hilarious, I'm gonna have to check out the WoD stuff.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

LOL, my best friend's mom had a little Shih Tzu and one time when we were over there for dinner she had just bought him this HUGE red stuffed bull-thing that was like 4 times his size, but man it didn't even slow him down, he just went for it right in the middle of the living room floor in front of everyone. Poor pupper kept falling off and having to roll over on him and shit. Friend's mom was mortified, but the rest of us were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe there for a minute.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Huh, I had no idea. Totally works for the other video tho, cause that shit cracked me up.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (10 children)

They describe these as giant concrete spheres, but there are (obviously) pumps and turbines involved too, and that those are aimed at a 20-year partial part-replacement lifespan. There's no indication as to how much these pumps/turbines will cost but I'm gonna guess probably more than the cost of the concrete since it's relatively cheap in comparison, and that's before you consider that the major wearing components (which is to say, the expensive stuff) will have to be replaced twice within the intended lifespan. And that's not accounting for things that break and need to be replaced, inside of a giant concrete sphere on the bottom of the ocean where maintenance will be absurdly expensive. Needless to say I'm pretty skeptical of the economic viability of this project. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

view more: ‹ prev next ›