this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2024
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Science Memes

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nuclear (mander.xyz)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Only alternatives that I'm aware of:

  • solar cells (converting photon energy into electricity)
  • acid batteries (converting chemical energy into electricity)
  • peltier devices (converting heat differential energy into electricity)
  • induction (converting electrical energy into electricity on a different circuit)
  • bioelectricity (using biochemical energy to produce electricity)
  • static buildup (using friction between various materials to produce a voltage differential)

I think there's a way to use lasers to generate electricity, too.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

Piezo converting pressure or vibration to electricity

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

I think it's note-worthy that while the list is long, only 3 of them are practical to supply/regulate electricity on a large/industrial scale: solar, spinny things, and acid batteries.

We use all three of them in today's and in the future's electricity network.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Producing acid batteries, or any batteries isn't power generation. It's turning chemical potential (which was generally produced in an energy-consuming process) into a storage device for electrical potential.

Induction is just changing the properties of your electricity, not generation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

They are all just ways of converting energy from one form into electricity. Every single one of the ways we "generate" electricity ultimately comes from gravitational energy. By the time we use it to power electrical circuits, it all has gone through various energy-consuming/losing processes.

The list wasn't so much a "ways to create electric energy that aren't spinning turbines" as a "power sources for electric circuits that aren't spinning turbines", which is why I included chemical and electrical, even though they often aren't very useful without another source of electric power.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Fair enough. As you said, none of these are net producers of electricity if your thermodynamic system is big enough to count as closed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I think there’s a way to use lasers to generate electricity, too.

i've read some really cursed direct photonic conversion theory from nuclear energy. It's uh, novel. Definitely a pipe dream though.