Internal combustion engine based generators aren’t fancy steam engines either - however, they have a lot in common still. It’s still just a way to move around a shaft.
Comment on Reactor goes brrr
Yondoza@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks agoHydro, wind, solar, and wave/tide energy capture are not.
The crazy part is photovoltaics are the only power source that doesn’t spin something to make electricity. Truly an outlier.
boonhet@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Not entirely true, there is the thermoelectric generator too. Though it’s not too practical
gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
There’s one more outlier though which is Electrochemical cell, like galvanic element or voltaic pile
It was used around 1800 as a major electricity source, but I guess it quickly became uneconomical in 1866 or sth when the dynamo was invented.
Disclaimer: I haven’t studied the history of electricity generation, I just happened to read the history of electricity article on Wikipedia once.
Yondoza@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Great call! Completely forgot about batteries and potato power sources!
Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Which requires them to output DC rather than AC, so they require inverters to change it to AC. It’s handier for battery storage though.
vaionko@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Except the ones that are. (Concentrated solar power)
Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
…and the fancy steam engine version of solar is probably greener to build that photovoltaics, since it’s basically just a boiler and some mirrors.