Solarpunk technology

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Technology for a Solar-Punk future.

Airships and hydroponic farms...

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China develops iron battery 80 times cheaper than lithium that can last 16 years. It provides a budget-friendly, high-endurance answer for the world’s massive energy storage needs. (interestingengineering.com)

submitted 4 days ago by HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org to c/technology@slrpnk.net

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/46526992

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2095495622003485

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[–] zout@fedia.io 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Compared to alternatives on the market, there is no high upfront investment - you can start saving money and CO₂ from day one. When ordering the system, you pay a refundable deposit. Monthly, you pay a fixed fee, which will be reduced by the revenues from energy trading. It is estimated, that you can save between 10 to 50 percent of your current energy costs with Photoncycle subscription.

Yeah, subscription model innovation, just what I need. The "technology" also looks sketchy to me, some vague talk about solar power, hydrogen generation by electrolysis and underground storage.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 days ago

Well the solar power you'll have to provide yourself (or apparently they'll also rent panels to you?). The technology doesn't seem too far-fetched, but the economics of it don't make sense for me at least.

Technology itself should be simple. Use excess solar power throughout the summer to produce hydrogen (not difficult), store it safely (more difficult - they claim to store it in solid form which makes me wonder how that would take place in an automated fashion underground). Then in the winter, turn hydrogen back into electricity and use waste heat for heating water.

But the fees exist all year round. If I had solar panels, electricity would be nearly free to me in the summer (at peak we get 18 hours of sunlight in the summer... and 18 hours of darkness in the winter). The annual cost of this system would pretty much add up to what my energy costs are already without any solar panels though. If I just got myself solar panels and a battery that can last me ~12 hours in the spring or fall, I'd only REALLY need to be paying for electricity for about 6 months a year.