All power generation is either solar or ‘make thing spin’, unless we’re including RTGs.
Comment on Hooooooooooooooooooot
Glowstick@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Solar photovoltaic is the only one i can think of that isn’t just a fancy way to make steam
Voyajer@lemmy.world 11 months ago
rainynight65@feddit.de 11 months ago
But not all electricity generation is based on boiling water. Wind, hydro and tidal don’t need to generate large amounts of heat to make steam that spins a turbine, they just use natural movement to do so.
Voyajer@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yes, make thing spin
wewbull@feddit.uk 11 months ago
Peltier Effect?
Voyajer@lemmy.world 11 months ago
That’s the principle used by RTGs right?
Steve@startrek.website 11 months ago
Solar thermal power…
Turun@feddit.de 11 months ago
Yes? Makes things spin.
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
All of these are in some way heat engines
herrvogel@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah but those heat engines don’t rely on spinning things inside a magnetic field. Heat on one side, less heat on the other side, and you have current. No motors.
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
even photovoltaics are heat engines in broad definition
lledrtx@lemmy.world 11 months ago
What about Wind Mills?
drolex@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
Wind is just dry steam
lledrtx@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You know that’s a stretch 😉 but I’ll give it to you. But we are not MAKING wind/steam there.
ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Hydro power uses running water not hot water.
Squeezing can be converter to electricity with pizeo electric. Heat difference can be converted into electric directly with peltier devices. Both of these are very inefficient ways to make electricy.
Zorg@lemmings.world 11 months ago
I’m the spirit of this comment, water is just cold steam.
NegativeInf@lemmy.world 11 months ago
How do you feel about water ice being a mineral?
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
there are also fuel cells
frezik@midwest.social 11 months ago
The peltier effect can be used to generate electricity from a thermal gradient. It’s not very efficient, though. There’s a reason mechanical means of electrical production predominate.
Faresh@lemmy.ml 11 months ago
I guess aeolic energy also doesn’t use steam (unless we count the air humidity), but still involves turning a turbine.
lens17@feddit.de 11 months ago
Excuse my blatant ignorance, but what is aeolic energy? I’ve never heard about it before.
oxideseven@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
Garlic power.
Nah, just a non-traditional way of saying wind generators like turbines.
TheTetrapod@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Apparently it’s the fancy word for wind power.
lens17@feddit.de 11 months ago
What a dissapointment.
Resonosity@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Aerokinetics/hydrokinetics as well. With steam, we’re creating the source fluid that turns the turbines to make electricity. Those source fluids can also exist as wind/tides/rivers naturally.
NegativeInf@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Piezoelectricity is the only other I can really think of.
agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 11 months ago
Why not, though?
On a serious note: that’s exactly what we’re doing with lighters. At least some of them use piezo elements and not the sparkly wheel thingy to ignite the gas. And it’s real fun to zap yourself with it.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah, it was a fun journey of learning to look into it. It’s quartz btw. Very piezoelectric and extremely common.
oxideseven@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
The conversion rate isn’t great.
There were talks of using them in sidewalks, but it doesn’t really make much sense really. Piezo almost always only works as energy recovery, which isn’t nothing but you will need the infrastructure which also isn’t nothing.
Jyek@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Wait a minute, what IF
bl_r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
Give buskers the acoustic guitar with a link to the grid and every time they play they’ll generate a ton of electricity (in relative terms…)
Electro-Acoustic guitars use piezos to pick up the audio if you didn’t know
Glowstick@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Even if we used piezo, the movement of the hanger would still have to come from some power source, which would still be the same sources like moving steam, water, or wind.
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
piezoelectricity is just simple electric motor
NegativeInf@lemmy.world 11 months ago
?
skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 11 months ago
piezo crystal is electric motor. you input deformation of the crystal and get potential difference on opposite sides. other way around also works