Questions tagged [energy]
The ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems.
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Does a webpage with a black background save energy?
Blackle is a search engine that claims to save energy because it uses a black background. Is there any evidence to back up their claim that a website using a black background will save energy, and if ...
user1936
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Do "solar panels require 10 times the minerals to deliver the same quantity of energy as a natural gas plant"?
Recently, the Washington Post published an article1 discussing Mark Jacobson's research2 positing that a strategy of 100% wind, water, and solar power can provide all the energy needs of the U.S. with ...
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Does one transaction on Bitcoin require 215 kWh? [closed]
This seems unbelievable:
This averages out to a shocking 215 kilowatt-hours (KWh) [sic] of juice used
by miners for each Bitcoin transaction (there are currently about
300,000 transactions per ...
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Can the US be powered by a 100 miles x 100 miles solar grid? [duplicate]
In this article Elon Musk is quoted to say that the US can be powered by a solar grid shaped as a square (in video he says "a corner of Utah or Nevada") 100 miles x 100 miles big.
“If you wanted ...
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Is it true that there is not enough electricity to power all vehicles in the United States if they were electric?
According to Scotty Kilmer, in his video, "The Truth About My Worsening Condition":
There is not enough electricity [currently] to charge the batteries of cars like Tesla that have lithium ...
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Did/does the US government keep secret papers by Nikola Tesla?
A popular conspiracy theory holds that Tesla invented a free energy device, but that the powers that be prevented him from publishing it, because it would hurt their investments. Of course, free ...
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Did wind power supply less than half a percent of global energy in 2014?
From The Spectator: Wind turbines are neither clean nor green and they provide zero global energy:
Here’s a quiz; no conferring. To the nearest whole number, what percentage of the world’s energy ...
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Did the town of Woodland, North Carolina, USA reject a solar plant because of cancer and photosynthesis concerns?
The Raonoke Chowan News Herald reported on 8 December 2015 reports that the town of Woodland, North Carolina, USA rejected a solar farm, citing concerns on photosynthesis and cancer:
Jane Mann said ...
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Can you recharge non-rechargeable alkaline batteries?
There are conflicting reports of whether it is possible to safely recharge alkaline batteries (not lithium) that are not sold as rechargable. The packaging for batteries regularly has cautions ...
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Does AI use lots of water?
According to Futurism:
Just how much resources are eaten up when you ask OpenAI's ChatGPT to write a simple 100-word email?
The answer may alarm you. The answer is about equivalent of a full bottle ...
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At the current rate are we going run out of fossil fuels by 2060?
British energy company Octopus Energy claims on their blog:
If we keep burning fossil fuels at our current rate, it is generally estimated that all our fossil fuels will be depleted by 2060.
This ...
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Is the "wind lens" a breakthrough in wind energy?
In this video a "brim" is placed around a wind turbine and the power generated doubles. A simple static mechanism that doubles the efficiency of a turbine seems too good to be true. Is this a ...
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Which baby diaper is more Earth-friendly -- cloth or disposable?
We have a lot of friends who use cloth diapers, and I've heard some say that cloth diapers are actually more un-ecologically friendly than disposable diapers. I have a hard time buying that. I can ...
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Are there fewer accidental deaths at nuclear power plants than others?
I have seen the stats on this website saying that the number of death caused by nuclear accidents was way smaller then those caused by any other energy production factory. Do you have any information, ...
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Is there any data on how efficient Tesla wireless power transmission was?
It's widely believed that Nikola Tesla not only demonstrated wireless power transmission but his works in this field were very successful.
Wikipedia only says this
The electric energy transmitted ...
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Are there 14,000 abandoned wind turbines in the USA?
A number of blogs and sites seem to repeat a claim 14,000 ABANDONED WIND TURBINES LITTER THE UNITED STATES, and in particular:
The towering symbols of a fading religion, over 14,000 wind turbines, ...
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Are there technologies that provide unlimited free energy?
Many different sources claim to be able to produce "unlimited free energy". For example:
UNLIMITED FREE ENERGY IDENTIFIED
Company claims to have developed new technology that provides unlimited free ...
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Will SpaceX's fleet of rockets triple the entire United States demand for methane/natural gas?
According to Energy Consulting Group's "SpaceX's Starship May Nearly Triple US Natural Gas Demand" page,
Our analysis indicates that a fully configured Starship launch (booster and Starship)...
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Does using electricity from the grid in the U.S. result in more greenhouse gas emissions than using propane?
A recent opinion piece, Why the EPA shouldn’t favor school bus electrification, makes the following claim (link in original):
At last check, the average carbon intensity of the U.S. electric grid was ...
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Does the amount of land needed to get the USA to zero-carbon electricity correspond to a small area of Texas?
After watching Elon Musk's presentation regarding the Tesla Powerwall, I had a question.
On his diagram of the USA, he claims that a "tiny blue square" on the top of Texas that consists of solar ...
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Do wind turbines kill many birds each year?
It has been claimed that due to their large size, and the velocity of their blades that wind turbines kill large numbers of birds that run into them at night, or in fog, and die.
http://www....
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Are 1 to 4 tons of coal required to create only one solar panel?
In the There's No Tomorrow video, they affirm several things about solar panels (and a lot of other things).
The one I'm the most curious about is this:
All the world's photovoltaic solar panels ...
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Is nuclear fusion energy as safe as its proponents claim?
With my limited knowledge of the process of nuclear fusion energy, this seems like one of the most promising methods for producing huge amounts of energy, with relatively very low risk, once ...
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Is this tealight-flowerpot heater more efficient than just tealights?
This article at the Daily Mail describes a small heater based on tealights and flowerpots.
It claims that
[the system] "make[s] the heating more efficient" (I assume in comparison to just tealights)
...
user5582
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Does nuclear power cause fewer deaths than other forms of electricity production, accidents included?
There have been several questions related to nuclear power in comparison to other forms of electricity production:
Are there fewer accidental deaths at nuclear power plants than others?
Do coal ...
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Does keeping a fridge or freezer full improve its energy usage?
It's sometimes cited that a full fridge or freezer helps reduce its overall energy usage (for example, this source says so, based on the amount of cold air that 'can escape' when you open the door). ...
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Does the digestion of some foods burn more calories than it supplies?
Calories in food is a measurement of the amount of energy it will provide to the body. I've heard that eating some foods actually make you USE more calories than you consume. Do any foods actually ...
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Does the UK have enough wind to power the country five times over?
Greenpeace UK tweeted about the UK having enough wind to power the country five times over:
MT @1010: The UK has enough wind to power the country five times over. Let's use it!
After a bit of ...
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Can thorium end the energy crisis?
It seems that, as of lately thorium is steadily increasing in popularity, as an alternative to traditional nuclear fuels. Here's Mr. Kirk Sorensen in a TED video advocating the use of thorium. Thorium ...
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Did the USA increase oil imports from Russia after the Ukraine invasion?
According to Zhao Lijian of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RDCY)
[...] Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Mikhail Popov said, in a contrasting ...
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Are electric cars beneficial to the environment compared to low consumption modern cars?
Imagine an electric car in a country where most energy come from coal (which i believe is the dirtiest). Add this to the pollution that disposing the batteries will create, or the carbon footprint ...
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Is widespread adoption of the electric car unlikely due to lithium scarcity?
Although lithium is very abundant in sea water, only lithium mineral extraction seems to be economically viable. The world's total reserves in lithium minerals is estimated at 13.5 Mt (not sure ...
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Is the net output of CO₂ from Nuclear Energy lower than the net output of other energy sources?
While CO₂ is not produced directly when producing electricity from nuclear power, it is obvious that obtaining the radioactive material and preparing it for its use in a plant inevitably produces some ...
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Are claims about saving power by turning appliances off instead of leaving them in standby accurate?
I keep hearing this argument that if you powered down all the appliances you normally leave on standby (TV, hifi, set top box, DVD/Blu ray player, computer, etc) you'll save nearly £90 a year in ...
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Does streaming a video to smartphone consume 1000W of electricity?
The German test magazine "Stiftung Warentest" tested video streaming platforms in the magazine 1/2020. As a side note they write on page 35:
Laut Studien der grünen französischen Denkfabrik "The ...
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Solar energy in place of conventional energy sources [closed]
The first time I came across these arguments against solar energy was in "Overload" by Arthur Hailey. Admittedly, this is fiction, but the arguments seems to have some merit.
Using solar cells to ...
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Does one SUV tank of ethanol "take as much grain as could feed a person for a whole year?"
From The Great Transition, (c)2014, by Lester R. Brown (preface, page xiii):
[F]illing the tank of a large SUV one time with ethanol takes as much grain as could feed a person for a whole year.
...
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Is a car's fuel consumption increased when the headlights are on?
I have read in many sites that a car with lights on will consume more fuel that with lights off. The (hand-waving) justifications that I see tend to mention that "energy has to come from somewhere" ...
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Has wholesale electricity price in France increased to €1000 per MWh, up from €85 per MWh?
This broadcast ...
France to restart all nuclear reactors by winter amid energy crunch • FRANCE 24 English
... says:
The wholesale price for 2022 was €85 per MWh and the price for 2023 has gone up ...
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Are CFLs always more ecologic than incandescent light bulbs?
Incandescent light bulbs are now being phased out in many countries. In practice, the replacements are mostly compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). In many cases, the energy savings created by CFLs justify ...
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Are wind turbines harmful to human health?
The so-called wind turbine syndrome has received quite a bit of attention of late. For example, on How Stuff Works:
Until recently, there were three main issues regarding the possible downsides of ...
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Is each step in the food chain 10% efficient?
I remember learning in school many years ago that each level of the food chain is only about 10% efficient. So when an herbivore eats a plant, they get 10% of the energy that the plant had, and a ...
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Can drilling for geothermal energy trigger a major earthquake?
I remember reading about this geothermal project being cancelled due to concerns over (relatively) small seismic events caused by the drilling. Have there been any instances of, or reasonable ...
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Can permanent magnets be exploited to create energy?
There are many videos on youtube in which permanent magnets are used to make a motor. Although it might be possible in an ideal environment (e.g. no friction). As these devices are rotating ...
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Do all the Li-ion batteries in the world have just enough power to meet peak demand in the U.S.?
From the December 2, 2024 article "Batteries are a missing piece in Illinois’ clean energy transition. Engineers and lawmakers are racing to add them to the power grid." in the Chicago ...
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Does streaming an album 27 times consume as much energy as manufacturing a CD?
According to an article on TheConversation:
So which is the greener option? It depends on many things, including how many times you listen to your music. If you only listen to a track a couple of ...
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Does the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission require weatherized pipelines and equipment (but Texas's doesn't)?
The Houston Chornicle writes:
Texas has the only American electricity grid with no rules for resiliency. Instead, the GOP majority argued that a system that pays higher prices when demand goes up ...
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Do windmills in freezing climates require power so they don't seize up?
This graphic shared on Facebook, says windmills require active heating in freezing climates when not producing electricity. Its exact text reads,
Germany's millions of solar panels are blanketed in ...
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Is Amazon powered by 85% renewable energy?
In a video on the TED YouTube channel, Chris Roe, Amazon's director of energy and sustainable operations, makes a claim that Amazon is powered by 85% renewable energy.
I suspect 85% is too optimistic ...
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Is flying the worst choice of travelling, considering the greenhouse effect and carbon-dioxide emission? [closed]
The communities I live in in Germany keep telling everybody that flying should be avoided by all circumstances, because it has a far bigger ecological footprint than any other mode of transportation. ...
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