Comment For how long exactly? (Score 1) 113
These stories always say "Wind generated X at a specific moment in time" but never seem to put it in context.
Was it one second? One minute? Hours?
Comment Re:Your tax dollars hard at work (Score 2) 74
It can't compete with methane on cost hence the original shutdown, its got even less chance competing with renewables. Once there are no longer any profits in it for a for-profit company, it'll end up being subsidised by the state and your taxes Here is the precedent for states subsidising older nuclear plants
They don't have to compete on cost. Microsoft has already committed to buying all the energy produced by it for the next 20 years
Comment Re:Your tax dollars hard at work (Score 1, Insightful) 74
... going to corporations. One billion dollars no less. Socialize the risk, privatize the profits.
Oh stop it. This is a loan to Constellation energy to help finance the cost to restart a nuclear power plant by 2027.
Comment Re:Congratulations! (Score 2) 68
New Glenn is a much bigger rocket than Falcon 9, and bigger than even Falcon Heavy.
Falcon heavy has higher payload capacity than New Glen
As per https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.spacex.com%2Fvehicle..., payload to LEO 63,800 KG. Payload to GTO 26,700 kg. Payload to Mars 16,800 kg
As per https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueorigin.com%2Fnew... , payload to LEO 45 metric tons (45,000 kg), payload to GTO 13 metric tons (13,000 kg)
Comment Re:Cost per KG compared to Falcon 9 / Heavy? (Score 2) 68
I cant imagine its a cheap as SpaceX is now, but I think Bezos has the gas to discount launch costs until they have pricing parity. Competition breeds innovation. This is good news. However, when Starship is doing payloads, it may make this unprofitable again.
This one New Glen took a bath on. They charged NASA like $20 million but the costs were closer to $70 million
Submission + - IEA Drops Peak Oil Predictions (oilprice.com)
magzteel writes: The International Energy Agency has dropped its predictions that oil demand growth will peak in a matter of a few years. In the latest edition of its World Energy Outlook, the IEA said oil and gas demand could continue growing until 2050.
The IEA said that the coming years and decades will see a consistent increase in demand for energy across industry, households and, notably, information technology. Investments in data centers this year could reach $580 billion this year, the IEA’s secretary-general said, which exceeds the expected $540 billion in oil and gas industry investment.
As demand for energy grows, so will demand for the traditional sources of that energy. In a departure from its predictions of peak oil demand and peak natural gas demand before 2030, the IEA now expects oil demand to reach 113 million barrels by 2050, under the stated policies scenario that the outlet reintroduced this year after dropping it for five years to focus on aspirational scenarios focused on net zero.
The IEA said that the coming years and decades will see a consistent increase in demand for energy across industry, households and, notably, information technology. Investments in data centers this year could reach $580 billion this year, the IEA’s secretary-general said, which exceeds the expected $540 billion in oil and gas industry investment.
As demand for energy grows, so will demand for the traditional sources of that energy. In a departure from its predictions of peak oil demand and peak natural gas demand before 2030, the IEA now expects oil demand to reach 113 million barrels by 2050, under the stated policies scenario that the outlet reintroduced this year after dropping it for five years to focus on aspirational scenarios focused on net zero.
Comment Re:Poor design, not impossible (Score 1) 92
A circle would have cut the travel time significantly between all locations.
Making it a circle would not have been unique enough for the egos asking for the design. There is precedent in Cupertino, CA, even if it is just office space for Apple.
A practical issue with a circle is that it is not a circle until it is finished, and if you want a bigger/smaller circle, say to adjust for budget, you then have to start over from scratch. With a line, they could possibly claim completeness even if only a - dash - is built.
Oh come on, "precedent in Cupertino". This isn't some amazing new innovation. Heck they could have just followed the original plans for Epcot: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3F... . Designed to be a wheel with spokes from a central hub,.
Comment There was no reason to develop it to begin with (Score 0) 93
DirectFile was a nice effort but the reality is that after spending 25 million dollars developing it the product was nowhere near as mature as the free commercial services that are already out there. It would have cost many millions more to enhance it further, scale it up, and support it going forward and that was just to provide Federal tax filing services. You would still need to do a state return which again the available free services already offered.
If you think the project has merit then take the source code and run with it: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FIRS-Public%2F...
Comment Re:Secular (Score 1, Insightful) 133
Just reads to me like an indication that Isaacman has sold out for the chance to lead NASA, and will be doing whatever his master wants.
Remember that J.D. Vance once referred to Trump as a Nazi, and look what tune he's singing now.
And Harris called Biden a racist before joining him as his VP
Comment A discount in September affected sales in October? (Score 1) 312
OMG who would have thought that a massive coupon expiring at the end of September would cause people to move purchases up. It's just shocking. Nobody could have seen this one coming, it's just unprecedented
Comment This race was won in 1969 (Score 1) 51
The United States won the race to send humans to the moon 56 years ago. We stopped going because the program cost over 500 billion dollars in today's money and it was unclear what more we were going to get out of it. Sue, we all thought that once we made it to the Moon, Mars would be the next step. But the technology just wasn't there and what would we accomplish sending humans that robots could not? So I fail to see what the urgency is here, and it seems unlikely any company will produce spacecraft faster or more cost effectively than SpaceX.
Comment Re:Actually worth a read and debate (Score 1, Troll) 51
His intended audience is I think the COP30 in Brazil, and those are thoughtful folks who can handle nuance, buuuuut then there are Americans.
Ah yes, COP30 in Brazil. The climate conference that required the destruction of the Amazon rainforest to build a four-lane road to travel from the private planes to the conference. Amazing show of support for saving the planet. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fartic...
Comment Re:The Trump regime illegally withheld funding (Score 0) 75
Yep, they'll get over it though. There are plenty of operational off-short wind farms off Europe, it's stupid to waste that resource
Wouldn't that same logic apply to the hundreds of years of coal the USA has? That it's stupid to waste that resource?
Comment Re:The Trump regime illegally withheld funding (Score 1) 75
data do not support your partisan talking points. Many scholarly articles published over the last few years on the topic. I suggest you do some reading.
On what exactly? The high cost of offshore wind energy is well documented. Here's the AI summary:
Yes, offshore wind energy is currently more expensive than onshore wind energy and other power sources like natural gas, due to high costs for construction, installation, and maintenance. However, the costs are expected to decrease over time with technological advancements and a growing industry pipeline.
Cost comparison
Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE): The LCOE for offshore wind is higher than for onshore wind and some other sources like existing nuclear power.
Capital costs: Building an offshore wind farm is significantly more capital-intensive than an onshore one, with higher costs for foundations, towers, and grid connections.
Operation and maintenance: Offshore turbines have higher maintenance costs due to the harsh marine environment and the complex logistics of performing repairs at sea.
Factors contributing to the high cost
Complex construction: The logistics of building structures and installing turbines in the ocean are more complex and expensive than on land.
Harsh environment: Seawater causes corrosion and requires specialized equipment and procedures for maintenance, increasing operational costs.
Transportation and transmission: Transporting electricity from offshore farms to the shore requires expensive underwater cables.
Why it is still being developed
Higher capacity factor: Offshore wind farms generate power more consistently because of stronger and steadier winds, which can make them more efficient in the long run despite the high upfront costs.
Less land use conflict: Offshore wind has minimal impact on land and can be sited further from shore, which can lead to higher social acceptance.
Potential for lower costs: Costs are expected to fall as the industry matures and new technologies and economies of scale are realized.
Comment Re:The Trump regime illegally withheld funding (Score -1, Troll) 75
That's the point - we were shutting down old polluting plants that were costing us billions in extra health care costs and replacing them with renewable sources, but then Trump decided that windmills don't help his donors enough so shut down those. The only scam here is the billions being diverted from legitimate programs into Trump's secret police force
Offshore windmills are very expensive to build and operate so they usually come with a guaranteed high price for the energy produced. They also piss off the locals so they get tied up in court for years, driving up the costs further. The rich liberals who live on Nantucket were really pissed off when a blade broke and the debris washed up on shore https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.n-magazine.com%2Fvin...
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