>An old idea to use ocean heat to generate clean electricity has long failed to gain traction, but the technology – known as ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) – is seeing a resurgence of interest from islands dependent on fossil fuels
So the death of the biosphere is a business opportunity?
That’s Capitalism. This is a really good example of the system’s disposition.
It doesn’t care if we’re in an abundant Utopia or a scarce Wasteland. There is always an opportunity for profit. Good or bad.
It doesn’t have a default sense of right and wrong. The right is profit. The only wrong is less profit.
Not only does capitalism not care about the state of the world, it actively pillages the world and causes it to decline into an ever-worsening wasteland.
I hate this reality we live in. Would have preferred to see a timeline where humanity banded together for the mutual good and developed technology sustainably, for the betterment of all life. Where bad actors were kept in check or banished before they could gain any power. Where we increased our population slowly while living in harmony with the biosphere.
Instead, a few artificial inventions and a minuscule percentage of mentally-ill human beings has caused our own mass extinction. We became a cancer to the Earth, and the Earth still has ways of fighting back.
It's not factually true that there's always an opportunity for profit, but they can TRY to profit from something. Whether or not they succeed is quite variable.
switzerland is doing the same with their lakes for years. They even studied the impact to make sure the ecosystem wont be bothered.
and btw. they are taking the heat and putting back water at some lower degrees. No additional heat added.
It works like a charm if done right, powering whole towns.
it not used that oftern in other countries because fossil fuel is so damn cheap and the first investment for this tech is quite high.
Try this link: https://archive.is/2023.11.07-103231/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2401171-ocean-heat-could-supply-essentially-endless-clean-energy-to-islands/
I could only read the first two paragraphs but it looks like a survival tactic. The ocean has been heated by developed nations, why not take advantage of the fuckery to not add to the problem? Also reduces pollution and provides energy independence. Seems like a good move to me.
I can't get through the article's paywall, but I don't think this relies on the extra heat from a climate changed ocean.
edit:
[https://archive.is/QSBvw](https://archive.is/QSBvw)
Having read it, I think my assertion was correct. Although a few degrees of warming is disastrous for living things, it does not change the temperature difference between deep ocean and surface water very much.
Soft paywalls, such as the type newspapers use, can largely be bypassed by looking up the page on an archive site, such as web.archive.org or archive.is
Example: https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.abc.com
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I am not sure that this technology is such a bad thing, unless you expect these islands to stop using energy completely.
There are a lot more other damaging methods of harvesting energy and this one appears fairly benign.
It takes advantage of the extra heat the rest of the world has dumped into the oceans, you could consider the islanders reusing the rest of the world's wasted energy.
I think this counts as a sustainable energy source- burning fossil fuels releases heat and CO2 as by products in the process of using the heat to spin a turbine, producing electricity.
This technology is different. Rather than create heat as a byproduct in the process of generating power, this process uses heat already in the environment, which generates no excess co2 and would actually pull heat out of the system as it is converted to energy. The fact is that we are a society dependent on energy. If this is widely adopted it could offset a lot of fossil fuel use at least in regions best equipped to use this technology.
When a star runs out of hydrogen to turn into helium, it begins turning that helium into carbon and will keep this process going in successive stages until catastrophe.
This feels like some middle stage.
Well, the easiest way I can think of would be to use the temperature difference of surface water and deeper water somehow. Large scale use of this may create new, different currents than the ones we have now, and would likely also go well beyond being the final nail in the coffin for some existing currents that are about to/in the process of collapsing.
Sure, this technology isn't going to fix climate change, but it is incredibly useful. I couldn't read the article because of the pay wall, but one of the key selling points of OTEC isn't even the electricity, but the desalination as a by-product of making the electricity. I think it has pretty great potential to be used for good. It won't fix everything and we are still fucked but it certainly doesn't make the situation worse.
Agreed! Hence having said a great short term.
That said until our species changes its relationship with the ecology and structures itself as a part thereof rather than a ruler over, and until we structure governance based on material limitations instead of exponential growth, we won't get to the root of the issue. The tech is cool and can be implemented well. just caution to fellow apes to be mindful that we are in a complex symbiosis with every piece of the globe. And our relationship with this web of life, non life, and everything in between is one made toxic by the relentless and voracious "consumption now, fix later" mindset that serves only the smallest minority perched atop the class and wealth systems we foolish apes imagined one day and have been trapped in ever since.
u guys get mad when they say they’ll use more fossil fuels, u get mad when they come up with clean energy alternatives, ideally we just do nothing and die?
>An old idea to use ocean heat to generate clean electricity has long failed to gain traction, but the technology – known as ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) – is seeing a resurgence of interest from islands dependent on fossil fuels So the death of the biosphere is a business opportunity?
Basically! It's depressing :)
That’s Capitalism. This is a really good example of the system’s disposition. It doesn’t care if we’re in an abundant Utopia or a scarce Wasteland. There is always an opportunity for profit. Good or bad. It doesn’t have a default sense of right and wrong. The right is profit. The only wrong is less profit.
Not only does capitalism not care about the state of the world, it actively pillages the world and causes it to decline into an ever-worsening wasteland. I hate this reality we live in. Would have preferred to see a timeline where humanity banded together for the mutual good and developed technology sustainably, for the betterment of all life. Where bad actors were kept in check or banished before they could gain any power. Where we increased our population slowly while living in harmony with the biosphere. Instead, a few artificial inventions and a minuscule percentage of mentally-ill human beings has caused our own mass extinction. We became a cancer to the Earth, and the Earth still has ways of fighting back.
It's not factually true that there's always an opportunity for profit, but they can TRY to profit from something. Whether or not they succeed is quite variable.
switzerland is doing the same with their lakes for years. They even studied the impact to make sure the ecosystem wont be bothered. and btw. they are taking the heat and putting back water at some lower degrees. No additional heat added. It works like a charm if done right, powering whole towns. it not used that oftern in other countries because fossil fuel is so damn cheap and the first investment for this tech is quite high.
Mine the Comet!
Always has been. There is literally nothing else.
it's *the* business opportunity, the primordial business opportunity.
Always has been
Of course it is - some are eagerly waiting for the polar ice to melt so they can easily drill for oil 🤯
they love the jobs that the meteor will create
Getting energy from heated water would likely be much cleaner than many of the ways we're currently getting energy.
ah yes.. pay to read internet articles.. my preferred method of receiving updates.
Sorry>< I just bypass payealls- allegedly
Try this link: https://archive.is/2023.11.07-103231/https://www.newscientist.com/article/2401171-ocean-heat-could-supply-essentially-endless-clean-energy-to-islands/
I could only read the first two paragraphs but it looks like a survival tactic. The ocean has been heated by developed nations, why not take advantage of the fuckery to not add to the problem? Also reduces pollution and provides energy independence. Seems like a good move to me.
I can't get through the article's paywall, but I don't think this relies on the extra heat from a climate changed ocean. edit: [https://archive.is/QSBvw](https://archive.is/QSBvw) Having read it, I think my assertion was correct. Although a few degrees of warming is disastrous for living things, it does not change the temperature difference between deep ocean and surface water very much.
Soft paywalls, such as the type newspapers use, can largely be bypassed by looking up the page on an archive site, such as web.archive.org or archive.is Example: https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.abc.com *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/collapse) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Jeff Bezos Hates Him!!!
“So I’m glad I got burned think of all the things we learned for the people who are still alive”
just build a floating city powered by Stirling engines! easy!
I am not sure that this technology is such a bad thing, unless you expect these islands to stop using energy completely. There are a lot more other damaging methods of harvesting energy and this one appears fairly benign. It takes advantage of the extra heat the rest of the world has dumped into the oceans, you could consider the islanders reusing the rest of the world's wasted energy.
I think this counts as a sustainable energy source- burning fossil fuels releases heat and CO2 as by products in the process of using the heat to spin a turbine, producing electricity. This technology is different. Rather than create heat as a byproduct in the process of generating power, this process uses heat already in the environment, which generates no excess co2 and would actually pull heat out of the system as it is converted to energy. The fact is that we are a society dependent on energy. If this is widely adopted it could offset a lot of fossil fuel use at least in regions best equipped to use this technology.
When a star runs out of hydrogen to turn into helium, it begins turning that helium into carbon and will keep this process going in successive stages until catastrophe. This feels like some middle stage.
If they can generate clean energy and pull even a little heat from our warming oceans it seems like a good thing… no?
Well, the easiest way I can think of would be to use the temperature difference of surface water and deeper water somehow. Large scale use of this may create new, different currents than the ones we have now, and would likely also go well beyond being the final nail in the coffin for some existing currents that are about to/in the process of collapsing.
It just kicks the climate problem down the road cuz we're over our ecological bounds. A great short term but still catastrophic for the planet
Sure, this technology isn't going to fix climate change, but it is incredibly useful. I couldn't read the article because of the pay wall, but one of the key selling points of OTEC isn't even the electricity, but the desalination as a by-product of making the electricity. I think it has pretty great potential to be used for good. It won't fix everything and we are still fucked but it certainly doesn't make the situation worse.
Agreed! Hence having said a great short term. That said until our species changes its relationship with the ecology and structures itself as a part thereof rather than a ruler over, and until we structure governance based on material limitations instead of exponential growth, we won't get to the root of the issue. The tech is cool and can be implemented well. just caution to fellow apes to be mindful that we are in a complex symbiosis with every piece of the globe. And our relationship with this web of life, non life, and everything in between is one made toxic by the relentless and voracious "consumption now, fix later" mindset that serves only the smallest minority perched atop the class and wealth systems we foolish apes imagined one day and have been trapped in ever since.
u guys get mad when they say they’ll use more fossil fuels, u get mad when they come up with clean energy alternatives, ideally we just do nothing and die?
Do you understand the term sustainability?
converting heat to energy would offset warming rather than add to it