this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 113 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

Yeah about that.

Those are termosolar powerplant, they use the sun to boil water and spin a turbine.

[–] AzuranAurora@piefed.ca 4 points 20 hours ago

That's what they want you to think. I bet it also powers a secret orbital space laser. I should know, a man with a theoretical degree in physics told me.

[–] agentTeiko@piefed.social 22 points 1 day ago

Its even more metal they heat salt that heats water to spin the turbine. This keeps the power generation well after sun down.

[–] Gladaed@feddit.org 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That technology is a relic of the past. Solar panels are cheap and efficient now. Just use solar panels.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 5 points 22 hours ago

And much easier to operate and troubleshoot.

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Better solar power extractor.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 10 points 1 day ago (9 children)

If you think about it coal fired power plants are also solar powered 🤔

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

True, just that an intermediate step(of many steps) is to continually destroy the atmosphere.

[–] Aneb@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not like we need it to breath anyways. We'll just pay corporations for oxygen masks and "Atmo-tanks" to breath. We have commodify everything because Capitalism requires it.

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

C'mon Cohegan, give dees peepul aihhhhhh

[–] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Only that sun fell on plants millions of years ago. We really don't want that million year old carbon dioxide in the atmosphere alongside the recent stuff

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 4 points 1 day ago

Very true, the conclusion I'm drawing is that solar power is actively harming the environment and causing climate change. No new solar!

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[–] RavingGrob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] arrow74@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 day ago

The sun heats the planet unevenly, this causes wind. Wind is solar

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

do you not know how those work?

the sun shines on the side angled upwards and heats it up. everybody knows hot air rises, so this raises the blade, creating the spinning motion.

it's basic, really. third grade stuff.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I really love how it's almost that simple.

the sun shines on the ~~side angled upwards~~ planet and heats it up. everybody knows hot air rises, ~~so this raises~~ creating winds that drive the blade, creating the spinning motion.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Omg every body knows wind is created when god sighs at the collective sin of the world.

Some people so dumb.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

the great orc father mungnog's farts propel the wind, all know this.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

I declare bankruptcy!

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Why do I have an overwhelming urge to climb that

[–] Hedup@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You know if you're a moth, you can just fly up there.

[–] humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

BRotHeR i cRaVe foR tHe ForBiDDen liGhT

[–] Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 day ago

You played too many Ubisoft games.

[–] fascicle@leminal.space 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Are you perhaps living in a place where it snows or something

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[–] T156@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Although they're falling out of use these days, both because they're not very environmentally friendly on account of being instant bird death-rays, and also because regular solar panels are cheap enough that it's not worth it to make a big thermosolar plant.

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Habitat destruction, air pollution, and pesticides are unfathomably worse for birds.

[–] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 2 points 14 hours ago

And I'm not sure how much alive things are in the Atacama (except when there is a blooming desert fenomenon.

[–] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 5 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Idk, my country just inaugurated a gigantic one of these.

Also, fotovoltaic pannels decay with time and have to be replaced, 15 years I think? Their manufacturing isn't also the greenest thing on earth.

You build one of these, and you can run it for a long long time.

[–] drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 1 day ago

15 years I think

This number gets lower every time I see it.

First, manufacturers typically guarantee their panels for 25 to 30 years.

Second, while we can extrapolate from existing data and perform accelerated aging tests, we're actually not completely sure how long PV panels last in the real world because the oldest ones from 1987 are still going.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The usual warranty period is 20 years generating 80% of the nameplate generating Watts

They keep generating reasonable amounts of power 50 or 100 years later, though they tend to get overtaken by new technology in 10 to 20 years, and since they pay for themselves in about 4 years in my area they get replaced while still working well

I think we export our obsolete panels to developing nations

[–] asg101@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 day ago

fotovoltaic pannels decay with time and have to be replaced, 15 years I think?

much longer: https://www.slashgear.com/1989112/solar-panel-lifespan-longer-new-study/

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Lies! Well the thermal plant is also fine but photovoltaics are really, really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

[–] MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I wonder if it could be worth it to make one of those on other planets/the Moon one day. No birds to worry about there.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 5 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Solar panels are still cheaper and easier. Most spaceships and probes rely on them.

[–] MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

Yea, I should have guessed as much.

[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Not a lot of atmosphere on the moon.

Transmitting heat across distances in effectively a vacuum doesn't work too well.

Just look a the size of the radiators the ISS has to have, and they're not even sending heat anywhere in particular, that's just getting it off station

[–] A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 2 points 14 hours ago

Or in the Atacama, the Desertiest desert on earth!

Where the gigantic Cerro Dominador Termosolar Power Plant opened a couple years ago.

[–] Doxin@pawb.social 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're getting thermal radiation and convection confused. The ISS has giant radiators because it's a right pain in the ass to turn heat into thermal radiation, and it cannot rely on convection to cool things like you can here on earth. Turning thermal radiation into heat on the other hand is pretty trivial. Just don't reflect it and it'll turn into heat. These things aren't transporting heat across distances. They are transporting thermal radiation across distances. That works as well in a vacuum -- if not better -- as it does on earth.

If thermal radiation doesn't work in a vacuum, how is the sun heating anything up?

[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 3 points 22 hours ago

I stand corrected

[–] Riverside@reddthat.com 3 points 1 day ago

The mirrors on Earth don't transfer the energy using the air between the mirror and the collector, they just bounce the spicy photons which can travel even better in a vacuum.

[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Ahkshually, those tend to boil salt...which is later used to boil water.