Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Point out news stories, on the net or in mainstream media, related to polywell fusion.

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pbelter
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by pbelter »

Maui wrote:2016 was the year solar panels finally became cheaper than fossil fuels.
As prices for solar and wind power continue their precipitous fall, two-thirds of all nations will reach the point known as “grid parity” within a few years, even without subsidies.
In August, energy firm Solarpack contracted to sell solar electricity in Chile at just $29.1 per megwatt hour, 58% below prices from a new natural gas plant.

Why did you provide a link to greyhound in Milwaukee? A typo?

Solar energy getting cheaper every year is great news, but if the same billions of incentives and subsidies were provided instead to fusion research such as Polywell, cheap fusion would be much bigger news.

choff
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by choff »

The whole thing reminds me of the Dilbert Cartoon where Dilbert tells the marketers his design will satisfy all their customers current and future needs. Hours later he's being told to put more bugs in it. Nothing would make the left lose it's collectivist $hit more than a safe low cost fusion reactor.
CHoff

pbelter
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by pbelter »

choff wrote:The whole thing reminds me of the Dilbert Cartoon where Dilbert tells the marketers his design will satisfy all their customers current and future needs. Hours later he's being told to put more bugs in it. Nothing would make the left lose it's collectivist $hit more than a safe low cost fusion reactor.
I always thought that when we have cheap fusion we could heat the sidewalks and highways during winter so there wold be no need to need to get rid of snow making our cities and roads safer and nicer places.
Snow? Melt it away.

But not that I think about it, such solution would contribute to Global Warming, hurting mother Gaia I bet they would say, so no, you can't have it.
Its like the increased CO2 in the atmosphere increasing the global biomass. Instead of being happy about it they say it will cause devastating warming.

There is a great book "Merchants of Despair" by Bob Zubrin, about the mind set that says humans cannot do any good and anything we do is bad, requiring regulations and austerity measures

Maui
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by Maui »

pbelter wrote: Why did you provide a link to greyhound in Milwaukee? A typo?
You don't find that relevant? :wink:

... too many browser tabs. I had accidentally sent my car keys home (3hrs away) with my wife. I don't recommend doing that.

Maui
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by Maui »

happyjack27 wrote:i give up. you guys are beyond all hope.
Economics will take over and accomplish nearly as much as the best policy changes we could have hoped for anyway. Let them believe whatever they want at this point.

pbelter
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by pbelter »

Maui wrote:
happyjack27 wrote:i give up. you guys are beyond all hope.
Economics will take over and accomplish nearly as much as the best policy changes we could have hoped for anyway. Let them believe whatever they want at this point.
I could not agree more.
Let people live their lives without being forced to pay for other peoples beliefs. Unfortunately I live in California, and the governor promised I will still have to pay :x

Maui
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by Maui »

pbelter wrote:
Maui wrote:
happyjack27 wrote:i give up. you guys are beyond all hope.
Economics will take over and accomplish nearly as much as the best policy changes we could have hoped for anyway. Let them believe whatever they want at this point.
I could not agree more.
Let people live their lives without being forced to pay for other peoples beliefs. Unfortunately I live in California, and the governor promised I will still have to pay :x
Don't mistake me for saying we should always do what's best for business, tho-- in this case it's just working out that way. Anyway, as far as whatever cost your are referring to, just think of it as an investment that will reduce the long term cost of energy for some up-front investment. Sound business all around.

Maui
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by Maui »


pbelter
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by pbelter »

Maui wrote: Don't mistake me for saying we should always do what's best for business, tho-- in this case it's just working out that way. Anyway, as far as whatever cost your are referring to, just think of it as an investment that will reduce the long term cost of energy for some up-front investment. Sound business all around.
Would you invest in a solar energy power plant?
Solar panels are great for decentralized energy generation like homes or traffic signs but solar power plants are extremely risky investment. I think there is a chance commercial fusion is gong to pan out in the next 10 years and if so, one can retrofit a coal power station to be a fusion power station.

The solar plants will be just scrap.

Of course we don't know if fusion is going to work out in the short term, but the possibility that it does significantly increases the risk on positive ROI for a solar power plant.

paperburn1
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by paperburn1 »

I don't think so, solar will still work because infrastructure in place is always cheaper than new structure. So anything installed will run its natural life cycle. Fusion reman will be profitable at first but eventually someone will need to clean up those ash ponds that were left over and that will eat into the profit margin keeping solar viable longer.
until new pure fusion generation with direct conversion rolls around we are going to be seeing solar for years.
I am not a nuclear physicist, but play one on the internet.

JoeP
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by JoeP »

There is still environmental impact for wind and solar of course. The bird cooking Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System comes to mind.
And wind turbines are notorious for doing similar damage. I'd hate to see how bad that will get on a much larger scale.

If the dream of cheap nuclear power (fusion or new fission) ever happens, then you know we will probably increase energy usage by an order of magnitude world-wide. Now we are getting into the realm of vast amounts of waste heat instead of CO2 being the main problem causing AGW. I haven't seen the math on this but waste heat is probably already a significant contributor -- isn't this cited as why certain temperature recording stations have a heat increase due to their surroundings getting developed? Heating streets and sidewalks to keep them ice and snow free with cheap power? Ugh.

pbelter
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by pbelter »

paperburn1 wrote:I don't think so, solar will still work because infrastructure in place is always cheaper than new structure. So anything installed will run its natural life cycle. Fusion reman will be profitable at first but eventually someone will need to clean up those ash ponds that were left over and that will eat into the profit margin keeping solar viable longer.
until new pure fusion generation with direct conversion rolls around we are going to be seeing solar for years.

Ash ponds from fusion reactor ?
You mean the pile of helium gas? If you ever get substantial quantities you can actually sell that to keep the new Amazon drone mother ships afloat.

paperburn1
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by paperburn1 »

No ash ponds, the first step is most likely a plug in replacement for the boiler that burned coal to make the steam. This still leave the waste from the previous system in place and needing to be taken care of the new system should have minimal trash to worry about.


This is what we are dealing with in NC state
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/20161 ... duke-plant
Environmentalists say Duke Energy failed to inspect a potentially dangerous 50-year-old pipe at its Allen Steam Station in Belmont.

According to Catawba Riverkeeper Sam Perkins, Duke Energy failed to inspect the aging 2-foot-wide corrugated metal pipe, which protrudes from an inactive coal ash pond, discharging water pollution into Lake Wylie.
I am not a nuclear physicist, but play one on the internet.

charliem
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by charliem »

In every discussion about AGW, at some point someone throws the accusation of the other side following a religious creed.

It is funny because in these cases -unless one of the positions is held by a professional climatologist- BOTH sides rely in the word of others so, in the sense this slur is thrown, both are "religious" in nature.

I've tried in the past to study a bit of climatology (starting from a degree in physics), and after many months and hundreds of hours of research, the only conclusion I reached is that I had just started to scratch the topic ... and that those from us, the general public, that think we can learn about the subject googling for a few afternoons, are simply deluding ourselves.

It just boils down to this: Who do we trust? Do we trust the "official" sources, or do we not?

So, the problem is not the science, the problem is that paranoia is in fashion.

Don't get me wrong, I'm of the opinion that being a bit paranoid is healthy, that there are forces around that ARE trying to manipulate us -marketing, anyone?- but in some cases -too many cases- this has grown out of proportion. If I'm allowed the simile, drinking some water is good for you, drowning in it is not.
"The problem is not what we don't know, but what we do know [that] isn't so" (Mark Twain)

JoeP
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Re: Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund to combat climate change

Post by JoeP »

Scott Adam's blog today: http://blog.dilbert.com/post/1550732421 ... -challenge

excerpt:
This question is a subset of the more interesting question of how non-scientists can judge the credibility of scientists or their critics. My best guess is that professional scientists will say that complicated prediction models with lots of variables are not credible. Ever. So my prediction is that the number of scientists who ***fully*** buy into climate science predictions is closer to zero than 97%.

But I’m willing to be proved wrong. I kind of like it when that happens. So prove me wrong.
Oversimplification.

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