The Future of Solar Power

Solar power has been promised for decades as bringing us a bright future, and at last is beginning to see widespread use. What new innovations and opportunities await Solar in the decade to come?
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Credits:
Alien: Civilizations: Hibernating Aliens
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 325, January 13, 2022
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur
Editors:
Keith Blockus
Sig’unnr
Yamagishi
Evan Schultheis
Cover Art:
Jakub Grygier www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier
Graphics:
Fishy Tree www.deviantart.com/fishytree/
Jeremy Jozwik www.artstation.com/zeuxis_of_...
Sergio Botero www.artstation.com/sboterod?f...
Udo Schroeter
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound epidemicsound.com/creator

[@My_initials_are_O.G.cuz_I_am]

_"Solar?! That's just fusion power with extra steps!"_

[@howiefuzz6894]

I've been saying that for years, probably around the same time I started watching this chanel. I wonder if there is a relation.

[@dwyderdom]

Technically the truth , since the sun is experiencing fusion within it

[@calvingreene90]

Or fusion is solar with extra steps.

[@Troglor048]

@@calvingreene90 This.

[@dwavenminer]

@@calvingreene90 Eh, I'd say no, you can have fusion without solar, but you can't have solar without fusion...

[@Pyriold]

In my former house i had a solar roof not for electricity, but for heat. The sun would warm the pretty black panels and heating water was circulating there. Even in the colder seasons that water could still get pretty hot on sunny days. So this directly lowered my heating bills.

[@john-paulsilke893]

I’ve installed these old school heaters for swimming pools. They work amazing and the pumps use almost no power, a few lightbulbs worth typically and you can have a very warm pool.

[@bruhtonbruhkkinson6848]

Could they still do both anyways, though?

[@MrTaxiRob]

I grew up in Cleveland. In the winter the air may be 20 degrees, but it'll still be 80-90 degrees in your car if the sun is out. As long as the sun hits the glass it'll heat the interior enough to melt the rest of the snow on your car.

[@Markle2k]

@@bruhtonbruhkkinson6848 Photovoltaics are more efficient at cooler temperatures. Installation costs are probably the reason for not combining heating and electricity generation.

[@jdlessl]

@@john-paulsilke893 Especially in particularly sunny areas. My grandparents' solar heated pool could get above 100°F in the summer in Florida. 8000 gallon jacuzzi

[@lucasrodillo6739]

Perhaps one of the great unsung tragedies of the 19th century was the forgotten research into photovoltaics by Charles Fritts. His solar cells were about as efficient as the earliest modern examples, and could have led to a much earlier development of electronics.

[@unbreakableldorado7723]

It's crazy to imagine what kind of an impact that might have had on human history..

[@jonathonduhon9278]

Don't forget the early work on EVs, the first of which was produced in the 1830s. Studebaker started out as an electric vehicle company.

[@TheArtofFugue]

Honestly

[@ChicagoMicrofarm]

Just read The Three Body Problem, and its consideration of “technology explosions” currently has a chunk of my brain. Despite how rapidly things have advanced, there were so many shorter paths that could’ve been traveled.

[@wongkeehan]

Urm... no. They couldn't have. Charles Fritts use selenium cells, and their efficiency could never top 1%, because they were finicky semiconductors that were far far more expensive than silicon and weren't transparent to allow light to strike at the junction. Also, they could never have created electronics. For starters, no quantum mechanics.

[@boobah5643]

The problem with Solyndra wasn't that it was a failed solar company. The problem with Solyndra was that it was a poorly disguised graft operation using environmentalism for cover.

[@atk05003]

Yes, but that made it worse. Suddenly people became suspicious of other, legitimate, green-energy companies, which made it a little harder for them to raise capital to make faster progress, which skeptics and hecklers used as evidence that the tech wasn't viable and that it was all a scam.

[@AlRoderick]

Solyndra's product was an alternative to conventional silicon cells, the big bet it was making was that conventional panels would not get a lot better and a lot cheaper really soon. They were incorrect. More to the point, a lot of companies got loans in the same program as them, and they succeeded and paid the loans back. Shouting Solyndra as a stop-thought on funding solar research is the same kind of BS as shouting Chernobyl to shut down nuclear research.

[@calvingreene90]

You can store heat for decades as caustic soda. It was one of the pre-electric motor energy storage methods for smokeless locomotives. Only compressed air survived the electric motor but the risk is different for stationary plants instead of locomotives.

[@TS-jm7jm]

thats pretty neat i didnt know that

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

@@TS-jm7jm Me neither, and agreed, very neat :)

[@calvingreene90]

@@TS-jm7jm The other used compressed ammonia absorbed into water after the work was extracted.

[@PaulSpades]

Yeah, but sodium hydroxide is also used to digest organic tissue and dispose of dead bodies. It's very nasty stuff in concentratiom.

[@calvingreene90]

@@PaulSpades That is why it took less than a year for caustic soda engines to be removed from service after the first practical electric locomotive was introduced. But the risks of a stationary and fortified plant and a locomotive are different and there are a lot of dangerous chemicals used in home and industry.

[@sunspot42]

Quantum dots are being extensively used in the display panel industry already, but now they’re being looked at for photovoltaics as well. For example, they could be used to inexpensively convert wavelengths of light a silicon panel can’t convert to electricity - say, ultraviolet - into wavelengths like blue that they can convert. They’re also experimenting to see if quantum dots could allow a panel to produce more than one electron per photon converted. This is one of those examples of a seemingly unrelated sector developing and mass producing a technology that ultimately has a huge impact on some other sector. Quantum dots might allow us to build inexpensive solar panels with efficiencies in the 40%+ range, which would render most other forms of power generation obsolete.

[@ColdHawk]

That would be awesome, assuming manufacturing costs aren’t prohibitive for some reason. Let us hope, my friend!

[@sunspot42]

@Eff KZbin What waste problems?

[@DFX2KX]

@@sunspot42 The costs of recycling panels. They're pretty energy intensive to recycle. Similar to other silicon-based E-waste. It CAN be done, but nobody seems inclined to do it

[@sunspot42]

@@DFX2KX It’s a non-issue. I’d imagine a lot of panels will end up getting reused as roofing for carports, shade farming and other things. Especially in the third world. I’m a lot more worried about the truly insane volume of disposable plastic packaging we’re pumping out every second, most of which isn’t recyclable. A great deal is just getting burned in the third world, leading to tremendous pollution.

[@FajitaBurger]

Does this also mean that a 2x reduction in pv cost would render other power sources obsolete? Or are there secondary benefits to efficiency besides cost?

[@harbl99]

"Where are we going to get the energy for this?" * points at giant ongoing fusion reaction in the sky *

[@joeisslow1638]

Yet that same fusion reaction can be blocked out for long periods by a small asteroid or large volcanic eruption that blocks out 80% of the solar energy reaching our planet. Like that old saying, don't put all your eggs in one basket !!

[@destroyer1667]

@@joeisslow1638 If that happens, all plant life will die and we'll all be dead anyway. Unless we leave into space where it wont be an issue

[@joeisslow1638]

@@destroyer1667 not necessarily. Indoor farming is very prevalent, I know it can not feed the entire planet but it would allow some portion of humanity to survive if the worst happened. If we go all solar and renewables and stop all use of fossil fuels, it will leave us very vulnerable to calamities that could render solar ineffective.

[@destroyer1667]

@@joeisslow1638 the best option to survive for as long as possible in a shelter proof against calamities is nuclear power. Oil and coal both rely on a large chain of infrastructure and industry which would likely implode completely in the event of a massive asteroid impact. But even a small batch of nuclear fuel rods can power a bunker for many centuries

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

@@joeisslow1638 There was one scientist that said with known thorium reserves there is enough to power the planet for something like 1000-10 000 years for basically unlimited power to do whatever like terraform the deserts with mass desalination and so on. That with current thorium reactor technology that's already been tested but not optimized power cost for the average Californian consumer would be 20 times cheaper than their current electric bill. The issue is the power plants cost a lot to build. So the upfront cost requires funding. We can already do it and be energy independent globally if we wanted...

[@markawbolton]

Gotta love that stock footage of actors doing sciency things. Looking at flacks full of diluted dye. Lighting a over rich Bunsen burner.

[@cannonfodder4376]

What ever the topic, I can always count on Isaac and SFIA to make an objective and informative video on it. Learned more about modern solar power and its potential future than I could with any other documentary or video else where. Fantastic work Isaac and team.

[@mjk9388]

Totally agree.

[@1957Shep]

Agree

[@misterflibble6601]

Well said. I wish I could've articulated my thoughts as well as you did

[@Markle2k]

Too bad his info was way out of date.

[@nekomakhea9440]

Synthetic liquid hydrocarbons sound like the most economical way to store hydrogen power, instead of burning hydrogen directly, given its backwards compatibility with existing machinery and infrastructure. Making ethanol fuel from CO2 makes a bit more sense than making it from corn, it cuts out a lot of intermediate steps and doesn't cause food prices to rise. How technology would evolve on a world with no fossil fuels would be a really interesting episode though.

[@thalljoben3551]

How technology would evolve if it was given free pursuit instead of harshly mandated by budgets coming from a government that prioritizes profit over any form of advancement would be nice too.

[@ColdHawk]

@@thalljoben3551 - Ok, you have a point but please “lighten up Francis,” as a great movie once phrased it. The question he is posing is deeper and actually doesn’t bar societal influences. Everyone here is capable of understanding the pressures of profit and special interest groups as they manifest in legislation. At the same time, there have been a lot of government subsidies supporting the development or adoption of new technologies that are not yet profitable. However, I find all of that much less interesting than the question of what technology could be like in a world without accessible hydrocarbon reserves…

[@nolan4339]

The main issue I see with implementing carbon neutral synthetic hydrocarbons for energy storage is that you need to implement a serious carbon capture market and then funnel that CO2 to your processing plants which means a fair bit of additional infrastructure and cost. That is why I think the first carbon-neutral product like this will likely be Ammonia, as pulling the needed nitrogen out of the air is quite a simple process compared to CO2.

[@calvingreene90]

Synthesizing ammonia avoids the expense of capturing C02.

[@bassmanjr100]

Seems like it would make more sense to use Solar or Nuclear to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere directly and let people continue to use fossil fuels until they actually become scarce. Honestly I, am not completely convinced that the Earth warming is a bad thing myself. More CO2 and warming is typically associated with better living conditions based on past history. The thought of some company or government pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere to control the climate is a little scary. Who gets to chose what the climate is? Who get to pick whether it goes up or down? Surely we cannot trust politicians or bureaucrats to make these decisions.

[@metalfatigue708]

It’s good to remember to check the loading on your roof before you slap the solar panels on it - House across the street from mine has spent the last month in scaffolding after the added point loads on the roof truss started to cave it in, so you may need to do some reinforcing if necessary, saves a lot of bother in the long run

[@artsmith103]

Does it snow in the area you're talking about?

[@ColdHawk]

@@artsmith103 - You know, that’s a really good question Art. I’d think a set of solar panels, the size to power a residence, would not be heavy enough to buckle a roof in good repair. At least not a roof in decent shape that was built to code in most places. Still, I remember some past snowstorms in my relatively southern state that partially collapsed flat roofs on some businesses. I have no expertise in this area at all, so I went and looked at some info on the web - which can be dangerous, I know. Reading through several yielded fairly consistent estimations across sources. The average weight for residential panels in the US is around 40 lbs, with the heaviest weighing 50 lbs per panel. You would need to add maybe 10 lbs per panel for mounting hardware etc., so let’s call it 15 lbs to err on the side of caution. If you math it out that gives you roughly 4.15 lbs/square foot. The average US home needs 19 - 23 panels to cover their electricity - which works out to be for 1,495 lbs total weight on the high end (using 23 x 50 lbs per panel with 15 lbs of hardware each). That is a good bit of weight. I can imagine you might need more panels depending on how much sun you get and your power expenditures… Anyway I think most roofs in the uS are built to support at least 15 lbs/sq ft. Again, not an expert, and happy to defer to anyone with real knowledge. There are plenty of places in the world where roofs are not built to handle snow and where structural standards are different. I suppose that regardless of where your house is, the assessment of load bearing capacity for the roof and walls has got to be a crucial element in installing panels. Part of that calculation should probably include a margin of error to account for extra weight such as snow (or a roofing crew replacing shingles!) as well as unusual forces in weird directions such as from high wind catching the panels. If I ever do bite the bullet and decide to fork up the cash for panels, before proceeding I’ll get an opinion regarding load capacity from a trustworthy source NOT tied to the company trying to sell me the panels!

[@artsmith103]

@@ColdHawk Solar industry has racking worked out pretty well. I can only imagine a problem on an unconventional roof. 2x4s without proper bracing and such. Or maybe bolt diameter that removes too much wood. Rail is typically spaced about 50" and attached every 48" which is every other truss on 2' centers. Then each of the last 2 trusses on each end of the rail. It would take a deficient roof for that not to work.

[@xyz8512]

I really appreciate the fact that your videos always start without commercials first.

[@StarrDust0]

I hope you never run out of content Isaac, always enjoy watching your vids.

[@Andrew-zq3ip]

That's awesome to learn that one of my favorite heroes is a fan of one of my favorite heroes.

[@sachafriderich3063]

Don't think he's gonna run out of content so soon.

[@tmarti69]

Have you reviewed Helium 3 again, three new developments make it conceivable now. Once Space X gets orbital Refueling working retrieving it from the moon consistently is doable. Superconductor ribbons are testing out at 26 Tesla it was only 20 Tesla this summer, and not unthinkable to reach 30 T or even 40 T. That makes ultra small and light weight designs are going to be possible too. The last thing is 3d printing it all on one piece, possibly as small as 30 cm and as complex as a Stellarator. This could be done quickly in one material already mastered Titanium-non conductive, and Ti3Au-(Titanium/gold)-Conductive by simply sintering Titanium and inkjeting the gold on top of the sintered metal. Making complex wiring part of the print, but what has not been done yet is the superconducting ceramic in the same process, at about the same temperatures. Just over sinter and fill with a little ceramic or a little gold. Then you have a micro fusion devise with He3 direct electricity and no neutrons, no radioactive waste.

[@sully9767]

Oh hey! I'm currently working on solar power projects for my degree! This was a pleasant surprise to see my topic of work come up in a video. Sad that dye-sensitised solar power wasn't brought up, especially around the price point issue, cos that's where dye-enhanced solar panels shine, in terms of cost for energy, rather than sheer output or efficiency and they could really tip the price point in favour of a snowball of investment in solar.

[@aquilae1670]

Much succes for your degree man!

[@donaldhobson8873]

Actually, larger tanks work even better. If you make insulation 2x as thick, the rate of heat flow through it halves. So if an insulated tank is scaled up 2x in length, it has 8x the volume, and 4x the surface area. But the insulation is 2x as thick, so the bigger tank only looses 2x as much heat.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Good point, as with spaceship armor, the cube-square law means bigger really is better :)

[@notaname8676]

Damn it's early, that's amazing

[@duckgoesquack4514]

Just a thought: if batteries can be recycled to make new batteries, would it be possible to make a battery system that can repair itself?

[@virutech32]

you can probably make a self-healing battery, but battery degradation usually happens on the microscopic & nanoscopic scale so ud prolly need micromachinery(biotech/nanides/self-healing materials/structures).

[@AnalystPrime]

Given batteries have to be cheap and preferably compact and the self-repair system would cost money, space, weight and power that you could use to make more battery instead, it doesn't seem useful unless you are planning to send those batteries to outer space or something so you can't just replace them when they degrade. Also, by the time that battery needs fixing you might have a so much better and cheaper option available that it would be preferable to replace even the perfectly working ones. People saying Li-ion batteries are not or can not be recycled are talking pure BS, but the fact is there isn't actually much lithium in a li-ion battery and it is combined with some other materials that are hard to separate and they are all very cheap so it is not currently economical to recycle lithium out of li-ion batteries. So a lithium battery recycling company gets most of its revenue from stuff like cobalt, which is then used for alloys and refining oil because battery makers are moving away from battery chemistry with cobalt in them...

[@mannysong1752]

Nanomachines son

[@WolfeSaber9933]

Just in time to talk about as California is working on a stupid law to makes it impossible for average or low income households to have solar.

[@rhuiah]

Great episode. Every time I go to research it, I'm delighted at the progress in the solar industry (among others). Efficiency in terms of material usage (i.e. kilowatts per gram of polysilicon), in power generation, in slightly better forms of power storage, and so on.

[@jerryplayz101]

6:36 - A recent development has been made with regards to a 2D-polymer that is self-assembling and both liquid and gas repellant. From its specs, it looks promising. Its title for reference is "Irreversible synthesis of an ultrastrong two-dimensional polymeric material" - by Yuwen Zeng et al.

[@Inertia888]

With the many, many, needs today, for desalinating salt water, I would very much like to see more applications using salt to store or make energy. Even outside of energy, anything that brings salt to a more profitable stance in the world market will be greatly helpful.

[@franklinz8098]

I want to hear about a topic: how far are we from a self-replicating everything factory? I don't see any real huge bottleneck in building one. It just takes many tiny steps to engineer every small part. But this is one of the things that can put us in post scarcity.

[@Low_commotion]

I think Issac covered this in the "Santa Claus Machine" episode a few Christmas (Christmases? Christmasi?) back.

[@ericardperalta3578]

How about the future of halo arthur? Are you gonna make a video about that?

[@ColdHawk]

It might make a fantastic episode to analyze the different futures portrayed in video games! Personally, some of the games I would like to see included are: Halo, BF 2142, Detroit: Become Human, Horizon Zero Dawn, and (just because I know Isaac is into it) Warhammer - take your pick of title. I have only played a couple of those but I think the futures they envision are interesting.

[@andrasbiro3007]

Actually these technologies are a bit more advanced and common than this episode suggests. 1. Solar panels on roofs are pretty common already, and very often a lot cheaper than the grid. If your utility offers net metering, you are almost definitely better off with solar, even in less sunny climates. Not to mention that in certain areas it's a more reliable source of power than the grid. 2. The current best battery price is around $80/kWh, and very quickly going down. There's an enormous amount of R&D going into batteries, even just the common li-ion variant. One that just got commercialized, like a year ago, is a standard li-ion battery but with a new iron-phosphate (LFP) chemistry. It has many advantages apart from low cost, and it's main disadvantage is somewhat worse energy density compared to the more common chemistries. For many applications this is irrelevant, but Tesla made them work even in cars, and still get a decent range out of them, mostly thanks to their very efficient designs. Another one that is going commercial about now is Tesla's 4680 cell, which is based on the common nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) chemistry, but contains a lot of innovation in not just the cell design and the chemistry, but in the manufacturing process too. It promises higher energy density, higher cycle-life, faster charging, better thermal stability, and over 50% lower cost and drastically higher production volume. All at the same time. 3. Battery storage is also getting reasonably common. The cost is already acceptable, demand far outpaces supply. There are small batteries for home and huge ones for utility scale storage. The current largest battery farm is being built at the closed Moss Landing power plant. It's planned capacity is 2,270 MWh, with a 567MW power output, so it's equivalent of a medium sized power plant. Not long ago the largest battery farm was the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia with only 129MWh, so these things are getting bigger very fast. These can stabilize grids, lower the cost of electricity (by eliminating large price swings), and even provide backup power during blackouts. They are very popular, many are under construction all over the world. Demand is practically infinite, supply unfortunately not. But production capacity is growing very fast. 4. Considering the growth rate we are seeing, the continuous cost decline, and the production capacities coming online soon or planned for the future, it's possible that by the end of this decade almost all new cars will be electric, and most of the electricity will be coming from renewable energy. For more details on this I highly recommend Tony Seba's videos and books. 5. There's also a thing called "virtual power plant". It uses software and AI to combine a large amount of distributed energy sources and batteries into a single unit that can be controlled by grid operators like a conventional power plant. And of course will be able to do much more in the future. There are pilot project all over the world. An added benefit is that it not just efficiently uses excess power and storage, but owners of those assets also can earn money.

[@catprog]

13:47 If you are using x amount of power normally and y of surplus power, cheaper storage still means you have the same amount of power production to use and you need to find something to do with the y surplus power.

[@Grzyb032]

Love your videos. You're an excellent futurist and I hope at least some of your predictions will be proven correct in our lifetimes.

[@TheyCalledMeT]

solar is a great idea but without base load power plants carrying the majority of energy need during the night .. solar is insanely expensive and a predetermined breaking point for little longer periods with bad weather. or something requireing to build up buffers so increddibly big .. it becomes even more expensive

[@AlRoderick]

Solar has become incredibly cheap in the last few years. The intermittency issue is still there and needs a solution but in terms of price per watt solar is not "insanely expensive".

[@TheyCalledMeT]

@@AlRoderick ofc for peak load, for local supply etc it's great but for base load, especialy the guaranteed supply during darkness be it very cloudy or night is something that's required anyways so no matter how much solar you have, you have to have base load power plants. the real expensive part about solar is saving it for later and ofc .. the stress which is put on the grid by having thousands of fluctuations everywhere don't get me wrong .. i'm a fan .. but untill that problem isn't solved properly .. solar is a gimmic and not a backbone

[@sunspot42]

You can store solar energy as heat if you live in a climate where heating or cooling is required. Hook your heat pump up to a tank and run it while the sun is shining to either heat or cool the liquid, and then use the fluid in the tank to heat or cool your home when the sun is down.

[@popuptoaster]

Many off grid solar users already do this, except rather than for heating they generally use the excess power available after the batteries are fully charged to heat the hot water tank that's used for bathing and washing etc.

[@sunspot42]

@@popuptoaster You can do that, too. In warm climates simply turning down the thermostat and chilling your home using your air conditioner on sunny days can help you bank some of that energy. Once cooled, a well insulated home can take many hours to heat back up again, especially once the sun goes down.

[@popuptoaster]

@@sunspot42 Aircon uses a lot of power though, you need a fairly big solar array and energy storage to run a homes worth of of A/C

[@joeisslow1638]

Everyone seems to miss the fact that even a small asteroid impact or large volcanic eruption can block 80% of the solar energy reaching our planet. If we move to entirely solar generation or mixed solar and wind, we will be up the creek WHEN one of those events happen. Also coronal mass ejections can completely fry a solar installation and those happen more than most people know.

[@sunspot42]

@@popuptoaster Depends on the size of the home, the efficiency of the panels and how well-insulated (and shaded) the home is. You can actually air condition a large home with a fairly small unit, or use a larger unit in conjunction with solar power to chill the home (or a fluid, or both) while the sun shines for use later. (You can also use it to bank cheaper grid energy for later use for climate control, for example when power rates dip overnight.)

[@serbannicolau3489]

A new great episode! Thanks!

[@MrEvil4994]

Semiconductor solar panels are good but optical rectennas are my baby. Get that nice efficiency rate of up to around 90%. Made 2 videos about them if you are interested.

[@robertanderson5092]

And their operation should also have a cooling effect. Last I investigated, scientists had no idea how to harness the power at such high frequencies.

[@MrEvil4994]

@@robertanderson5092 there are antennas made that can do this, the problem comes with converting the energy into usable power, which requires a special diode (one that hasn't been made yet that can handle such frequencies.)

[@johnandrews1334]

I put solar and battery on my house this year, nothing has shaken my faith in solar power more than doing that, and i did the math and knew what i was getting into. Unless you're in orbit go nuclear, stay nuclear for your grid.

[@HondaWombat]

See.

[@reicherreinhardtvonkesslri9847]

I live on an off grid Homestead in Wyoming USA.... Been living on solar for 8 years. I would never go back to grid power.

[@danielschmidt2186]

Agrivoltaics will be revolutionary. Land management is a significant cost to large ground mounts. Large ground mounts are already the most profitable form of solar. Ecological restoration fits nicely within large ground mounts. Then grazing sheep improves the ecology and soil health while adding additional yields to the space. Massive greenhouses or other systems can be devised to grow all manner of crops below large ground mounts. Fully electric tractors and harvesters can be devised that could even use the racking system as a track potentially. Carbon sequestration, sustainable agriculture, and large scale utility solar will inevitably overlap quite a bit

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

Real carbon sequestration would be mandating farms across the world turn all the waste into biochar instead of just leaving the material to rot in the field and release the co2 back. It is low tech, and cheap and it can sequester up to around 90% of the carbon while tilling it back into the soil improves the soil biome, water holding capacity, and future crop heath and yields. It also holds the carbon for hundreds of years. If "global warming" or what they now call "climate change" was an actual tangible real threat to the planet like it's constantly being parroted then this would be mandated across the world and the "carbon" issue would be solved/addressed almost immediately. The solution has always been known. Think of the millions of tons of left over waste from crops grown. That's largely carbon. But nah lets "carbon tax" lol. I think we all get the message.

[@danielschmidt2186]

@@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep biochar is a great solution. I support some form of carbon tax as well as a range of carbon credits. The whole economy will shift with abundant renewable energy. Resources and environmental impact will be accounted for with blockchain systems. A global marketplace will have underlying AI infrastructure

[@freddyjosereginomontalvo4667]

As always say excellent channel with excellent quality and great content 🌍💯

[@altha-rf1et]

second! would like to get solar panes for my house least enough to power the living room in case of black out and a way to store power for a few days worth

[@mikelfunderburk5912]

Whoo! Happy Arthursday!

[@Electric_Bagpipes]

Its been raining since 3 AM, gonna need a bigger microwave beam for me.

[@shannonparkhill5557]

great topic!

[@vastaebeirnvalkier2804]

great episode champ

[@SpottedHares]

Their was a game that I played that for the solar planes the deception stated. “Has the highest energy output to mass ration, but produces energy slowly and or intermittently”

[@FesteringGhoul]

That was a very whimsical intro. I love it.

[@halilzelenka5813]

The solar blimps floating above the weather idea is really cool. Hopefully, advances in material science will get us there

[@lengould9262]

When you do solar panel types, include the Optical Rectenna. 50%++ efficiency for the cost of a few carbon nanotubes and bits of metal to form diodes. Cost just a few % of current solar.

[@catprog]

14:55 It is possible to generate electricity when fresh and salt water mix. July 29, 2019 Energy from seawater from Stanford University

[@dansands8140]

As long as we're building, and not tearing down, as so many current policies are focused on, any development plan will be unbelievable progress.

[@stormhawk31]

I'd love it if you could talk about home thermal updraft towers

[@12q8]

Your intros are amazing.

[@thebaccathatchews]

🎵Nobody does it like🎵 🎵Molten Salt🎵

[@MrKIMBO345]

Solar is a power for the personal house. However, for having the industry, I doubt.

[@colinsmith1495]

That's just a matter of scale. Build a massive solar satellite array and beam the power down, and suddenly you've got industry taken care of. I won't say it's the most cost-effective today, but the fundamental concept of the technology doesn't have that limit.

[@nolan4339]

Yes it is great that you can place solar anywhere, but personally, I think solar is best used by pairing it with those industrial chemical processes which can allow for the ramping of production based on input available power thus taking advantage of the cheapness of the unregulated power. The home, and many commercial businesses need very reliable sources of energy. To make an intermitted source like Solar reliable enough for these uses requires a fair bit of effort and costly infrastructure to manage it and make it reliable. These efforts are likely better done by those in a specialized sector than amatures. Feel free to put efforts and dabble in getting some energy savings, but those efforts are a cost and additional complication in life that many will not choose to pursue.

[@mikeohawk95]

solar energy and upgrading the panels, can lead to more energy input also which where a single panel can charge a baseline required thing like houses,cars,buildings,etc

[@leclubdaventuredoutre-mer]

In the short story "Bounty Hunt in the City of the Stars: Stellapolis" by Kai Kean there is a very interesting use of solar sail propulsion. It is like the concept of powering a solar sail with a laser but slightly different. The concept is of having a satelite network beaming intesified light out from the sun in a web structure, where ships then enter the beam to "sail" to the destinination in the sunbeam. This means that the ship is always going downwind as satelites at the other end beam another path in the opposite direction. Basically making something like a light based highway system for travel in the solar system. The system also works as a power grid as the intensified light is beamed to far away station providing a power supply and light is transmitted unto the gasgiants heating them up to work like small suns. The story centers on what happens when someone has access to the codes that control this network. I would love to see a video about such a lightbased transit system in the solar system from Isaac Arthur.

[@lomiification]

From a futurism side, I wonder if there are band gaps more capable of turning the dangerous-to-humans radiation into electricity that could be manufactured in space. Not only would the give shielding for the people in the station or town, but also power them

[@jdlessl]

There's also solar towers. Cover a large area with transparent plastic sheeting, and build a tall hollow tower in the center. The heated air under the plastic seeks an escape and finds one up the chimney to the comparatively colder, thinner air at the top. Put a few wind turbines in the way, and it generates power. It's not terribly efficient, only equivalent to about 1% of the solar energy, but the land underneath doubles as a greenhouse.

[@BlackEpyon]

A critic of solar power pointed out to me, and it is a valid topic that needs to be considered, is energy density when it comes to moten salt heliostats, and keeping them warm when the sun don't shine so the system doesn't solidify. Smaller systems will need to have heaters installed, so energy can be piped in from a generator, or elsewhere on the grid, to keep them warm. After all, the energy you're storing IS being lost as heat and mechanical energy during electricity generation. The larger the storage system, the longer it will retain heat.

[@infurnessfire4452]

This is a awesome video

[@nolan4339]

a small box that bubbles and gurgles away to produce your own hydrocarbon or maybe ammonia fuels would be great. I would love to see that sort of technology miniaturized and available enough that typical consumers could take advantage of it.

[@GeoFry3]

Roads make great future deployment for power grids and solar panels. They run between cities and the power could be used by vehicles through an induction system (right charge lane, on ramps, etc) in the road or more traditional plug in points at rest stops. Another use that I am surprised has not occurred are solar panels installed on top of train cars. Trains are already electric (diesel electric) and modern panels are light/productive enough to be of use. Even if it is doing nothing more than keeping tracking transponders and sensors charged up.

[@OldCurmudgeon3DP]

It wasn't too many years ago I ran the math on install cost, useful life, and ROI for a solar panel system. The break-even point was at the EoL for the panels. Not much incentive to go through the process of installation & maintenance, sadly.

[@replica1052]

(in deserts solar panels give shade and shelter to crop and animals)

[@sachafriderich3063]

Realy like the new music, :)

[@DavidEvans_dle]

A while ago, took out a fantastic Wind & Solar Energy Book - that said the government would engage a national wide solar Energy plan. That was decades ago, "best laid plans of mice and men."

[@lanebowles8170]

I am curious on your take of "Energy Victory" by Dr. Robert Zubrin? Particularly the science of Methanol as a way to gain energy independence. at least in the area of liquid fuels for vehicles and portable generators.

[@ClanHawkins]

Hey thanks for yet another great video. I used your link to sign up for curiosity and don’t see a way to get the nebula access with it. Any suggestions?

[@silverismoney]

People ask me, does solar even work in the UK? Yes. Yes it does. 21Megawatts since 2016 thanks. I only wish I had more solar panels. Also, I love how Isaac makes his videos international, use stock footage from across the globe, a real global citizen. KZbin can be very USA centric sometimes, but not IA's channel.

[@deanpeterson8627]

What about the heat given off by solar panels? I remember hearing that Israel was looking at putting some kind of thermal conductive gel behind the solar panels to harvest some of the heat as electricity as well, and it would continue to generate electricity like the molten salt. Also, what about the atmospherics of having massive fields of solar panels? Do they increase the temperature/pressure of the local area?

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

11:50 It was thought that the butcher ate good meet but many would sell the good ones and eat the leftovers rather than throwing that away.

[@JonahRoyes]

Im Early ,We love you Isaac form jamaica 🇯🇲 💕

[@cyberherbalist]

For an aerostat, you could actually make the interior a vacuum. That would be an even better lifting "gas"1

[@calvingreene90]

But that takes an extremely rigid envelope that is very heavy so it has to be extremely large and use active support structures.

[@cyberherbalist]

@@calvingreene90 Indeed! But with the right materials and design it need not be so heavy. To start with, the shell would need to be mostly carbon fiber. And it need not be a complete vacuum. It would interesting to see it done!

[@calvingreene90]

@@cyberherbalist There was a thing in the news about carbon fiber compressive structure failing in the news recently several tourists died and something about an old shipwreck.

[@harmonyspaceagency1743]

How do alternate forms of energy storage compared, like pumped storage hydropower. If we never get crazy good batteries?

[@the1exnay]

Too many people focus on storage per kilogram. The exciting thing for solar is storage per dollar. When that gets low enough the problems with solar pretty much disappear. But, ofc, storage per kilogram is important for electric cars and phones

[@catprog]

And planes/ships for weight

[@the1exnay]

@@catprog I'm not sure electric planes will become popular in any nearby century. I suspect we'll keep using hydrocarbons (or similar), we'll just start using carbon neutral hydrocarbons. With our current technology carbon-neutral jet fuel is only like twice as expensive as fossil jet fuel. Which would represent like a 30% increase in the cost of a plane ticket. Not trivial, but doable. And I'm sure that'll improve. But, that's a good point with boats. Boats seem ideal for solar power, if only you could put a solar-panel roof on it without blocking access to the shipping crates.

[@catprog]

@@the1exnay kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3mXk2apdthgopo Short haul planes are quite suitable to be electric.

[@calvingreene90]

Solar generator hydrogen is probably best converted to motor fuel by combining it with nitrogen making ammonia. It is also lighter than air and less leaky than hydrogen and helium.

[@markawbolton]

Wouldnt that generaate a heap of Nitrogen Oxides and also be very dangerous if there were a catastrophic leak?

[@calvingreene90]

@@markawbolton Look at the dangers of gasoline and diesel. Ammonia disperses fast being lighter than air and dumping water on it elimates the problem not spread it. And ammonia being nearly impossible to ignite at atmospheric pressure means no explosions or fires. 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen the production of nitrous oxides is mostly dependent on pressure and how much oxygen is left after the hydrogen and/or carbon is burned. Also existing gas and diesel engines can be easily converted to run on ammonia unlike pure hydrogen.

[@Lawofimprobability]

@@calvingreene90 Ignition is not the only danger. Ammonia dispersing into populated areas is distinctly scary in a way that gasoline is not. Combined with water, the acidity can be risky as well. Storing and transporting the ammonia would also have to bear that in mind and one would desperately hope vehicle accidents are only mild.

[@calvingreene90]

@@Lawofimprobability Yep. You are not use to the risk of ammonia and you are use to the risk of gasoline and diesel. Gasoline is a serious carcinogen and is not detoxified in your body nearly as well. And again ammonia is lighter than air so the toxic cloud disperses much more quickly.

[@NullHand]

Ammonia gas is hella hard on human lungs. Lethal in concentrations that could be expected in occupants trapped in an automobile wreck. Explosive risk would be at least as high as CNG or gasoline. My choice for synthetic auto fuel would be Methanol. Racecar grade internal combustion performance PLUS there are already functional methanol fuel cells for electricity production. It does have the side effect of causing blindness or death in hopeless alcoholics who try to drink it, but that might be a net safety benefit if you consider the collateral death and dismemberment they cause on the roads.

[@boren81]

I always remember an article I read years ago where MIT was working on an artificial photosynthesis solar panel. Anyone ever hear what happened with that?

[@harmonyspaceagency1743]

would you need a 0g environment to make allot of the 2d materials needed for the super efficient solar panels?

[@Procyon95]

Would love to see a video about lava tunnel cities on the moon.perhaps even terraforming then

[@Lukegear]

Praise the sun!

[@Feefa99]

☀️🙏

[@spencervance8484]

Praise the suuuuuun!!!!!!!

[@sharkastic2633]

Just gave me a wonderful idea to write something about crews going up to low-orbit graphemes balloons to collect charged batteries and pirates.

[@kennyholmes5196]

Here's an idea: Hot air baloons for lofting the stuff. [EDIT]: Mythbusters did a thing where they tested the "honey versus vinegar" thing; turns out, flies actually prefer vinegar!

[@pizzas4breakfast]

You may catch flies with honey but vinegar is an essential ingredient in traps for drain flies

[@Lawofimprobability]

I think it might be worthwhile remembering that there are theoretical limits to the maximum output of solar panels. The physics bear consideration when imagining future possibilities such as how the "cover the Sahara in solar panels" proposal needs to be considered based on what the maximum output would be. The increasing affordability of solar panels is what can drive some of the decentralized efficiencies (vaguely referenced in the beginning) by avoiding the same heavy infrastructure investment.

[@MrRich2u]

I have read an article several years ago, which breaks down the energy cost for solar panels. The current rated lifespan of a commercial panel is 20 years. The energy needed to make said panel would require the panel to last 50 years. To break even. Then you have to figure in the battery as well.

[@DrewLSsix]

@@MrRich2u source?

[@mickeyg7219]

That's just a thought experiment to visualize how actually little space you need to produce electricity for the entire world though, not a serious proposal. In practice, rooftop and other decentralized solar arrays will not take up the area for other uses.

[@MrRich2u]

@@DrewLSsix I can't remember . It was seveal years ago. Makes sense though, you have to make the glass, and that takes a butt ton of energy.

[@edwardiris58]

@@MrRich2u I'm fairly certain that that article is out of date I've heard figures of panals lasting 20 to 30 years and paying themselves off at least by 20 years

[@I.C.Weiner]

Plants/algae collect light. Use it to store energy. A long time a bunch of plants and algae died. They became oil. Oil is used to make gasoline. Gasoline became be used to generate power. Therefore all gas vehicles are solar powered.

[@funkervogt47]

6:10 - What if you floated a smaller "refueling balloon" up to the bigger solar balloon, and had the former transfer some of its gas to the latter to keep it afloat? The solar balloon would never need to land.

[@danielcooper5698]

I fkin love you man!

[@tan-ze6tu]

on a side note but similar topic, The Schmid group in Germany are developing nanotechnology based solar panels that create Hydrogen without any external energy input

[@HorzaPanda]

I remember seeing a blimp concept that used steam as a lifting gas, not sure how viable that’d be for floating solar cells 🤣

[@ryangrant3414]

Probably not very considering hot air(steam) only has lift while warmer than the surrounding air, if there is no energy(heat) gradient, then the lift will cease. This is basic thermodynamics, DUH! LOL, jp, but ya, hot air/steam will only work while it's hotter than the surrounding air. While something like helium/hydrogen is just atomically lighter than oxygen/nitrogen/carbon dioxide(air) and will always provide lift provided the air surrounding it is more dense than the float gas.

[@bentuovila5296]

Sounds like step one to a glorious steam punk future.

[@HorzaPanda]

@@ryangrant3414 Man, not sure why I missed replying to this earlier, but no, actually. H2O is atomically lighter than N2 and O2. It'd have to be pure steam, no air, but it's actually lighter than air, roughly half the molecular weight. It's still a weird idea that I don't think is practically feasible, but an interesting one

[@slimeinabox]

3:26 So we use Solar to make Gasoline, which in this situation is carbon netural. A sort of chemical battery with a moderatly complex method of 'discharging' it.

[@catprog]

15:50 The big problem with iron-air batteries are they are slow to discharge meaning you need 10 times as many of them to delivery the same amount of power. This makes them cost a lot more.

[@thomaslisankie342]

It's Arthursday! 😁

[@davidweikle9921]

So early that I almost missed the opening pun.

[@destrobatman5640]

Get well 🙏🏽soon

[@raymondrollins4032]

Is it soon plausible to expect solar powered desalinization reactors that will simultaneously produce energy as well as clean drinking water?

[@matthewc9806]

Lol this is so funny, I just turned down a job (more like pyramid scheme) to sell solar door to door then this pops up

[@katm9877]

Two nitpicks: 1) how can graphene protect from supply chain issues? It might be a wonder material, but I am afraid it will come with its own supply issues, even if we figure out how to produce it at industrial quantities and 2) deserts aren't good for solar panels because of all the sand/dust

[@catprog]

Why do you need a graphne supply? If you have enough power for your area do you need more graphene?

[@WarGiver]

This strikes close to home, in my home province we have a system where people can sell excessive (solar) power to the local power provider. However they recently announced they were considering charging people to sell their power. The provincial government slapped down their idea expressing extreme disapproval. If good batteries become smaller and cheaper that will help reduce such insanity.

[@ZontarDow]

The issue is that battery density is near the physical limit already and prices are going up because supply can't keep pace with demand.

[@WarGiver]

@@ZontarDow "Modern Battery" density, however as this video mentions new battery designs are on the horizon which change the limits.

[@ZontarDow]

@@WarGiver such batteries would be a black swan event because right now basically all battery development is minor improvements of existing technology to inch us closer to that hard limit set upon us by the laws of physics.

[@WarGiver]

@@ZontarDow Right now yes, but Black swan tech has been hit or miss in the past, at one point solar powered homes were Black Swans, Safe Nuclear Power plants were Black Swans. Modern Military Drones were at one time Black Swans. Just because something is a Black Swan today does not mean things will stay that way. Tech does make leaps on occasion, and its usually comes about for non-sense reasons. A Black Swan is an event that nobody can predict, not an impossible tech.

[@user-zn4pw5nk2v]

Now that you mentioned it(solar calculator) i was one of those when i was a wee lad back last millennium, now (kinda' *) living the dream (*earth still needs more), of having the whole planet covered in those 10% efficient solar cells (2 toe nails sized and brown, on said calculator) i had from the (1) dollar store i got back then(made in china?), and not having to care about energy at all, no wood, coal or oil(not really for the green, but because those all cost the other green, and back then i thought the panels had "warranty for life" while they still exist(only physical damage making them not useful), i have no idea why/how i stopped my self(was stopped) from buying every solar calc i saw just for the PV. Would have cost 3 times more(ball-parking 33% efficient now), but would have run me for 20 years now(2000 days return on investment (are current PV's paying themselves off in two years by themselves (no other costs associated) or is my math wrong, because that sounds off(heard five)) to be more precise at flat cost: no subsidy or inflation or day-night cost flux, as if straight from the outlet, before everyone got solar), meaning it would have paid for itself "sometimes noon tomorrow" and paying me more onwards, should check if i still have it somewhere to see if it still works, just to sulk in dread if it does.)

[@heathmcrigsby]

Unfortunately a floating balloon power plan wouldn't be viable due to the impossibility of defending it against hostile actors.

[@LordMoriancumer]

13:50 most houses only use 20-25kwh per day and $5000 would by a 50kwh battery or 2 days of power not 10 hours.

[@glenndennis6801]

Some forms of batteries will only last so long when depleted below 50%. I don't believe there is a battery made than can stand total discharge for more than a very short number of cycles. Some of our best batteries in use today, the ones in our phones, if fully discharged everyday will lose capacity in weeks or months.

[@darksun4523]

Can you do a future of wind power? 🥺😁. There's some really interesting concepts on the horizon. "Wind power has the most de-carbonisation potential per megawatt." Surely there's enough potential energy in Scotland and the Midlands to power the whole of the Uk🤔 Not talking about the bird battering HAWT either, Infact with new technology points toward local and residential small scale generation.

[@richb2229]

It’s most likely that the future energy supply will include distributed solar (homes with batteries) and large solar and non-solar power generation. The grids will have large batteries (mega and giga packs) that will even out large scale power over time.

[@Aelov]

It will be amazing when one of those gigapacks shorts

[@stevesedio1656]

Orbit an array of mirrors totaling 200,000 square miles, to keep solar farms lit 24/7. No need for storage, and the number of solar panels required is 1/3 to 1/5 what would be required for only daytime solar collection. Mirror construction is simple, pushing against a reaction mass (gryo) for aiming. We launch them into low earth orbit and use the mirror as a solar sail to achieve high earth orbit. Solar cells are most effective in IR frequencies. We can filter the reflected light, so night stays dark (unless you are wearing night vision goggles).