Today's discussion about the news
Comments
-
I can't see how fusion can ever become economically viable even if it becomes scientifically viable, so I say it will be trains.
That said, I still can't believe it is possible to deploy an offshore wind turbine and there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. For all @focuszing723 idealises Musk's electric cars, building a 250m high wind turbine 100 miles offshore is a remarkable achievement.
0 -
I Idealises wind turbines too and solar panels.
0 -
My dad always used to mutter about horse owners as the worst payers. I'm sure you've instilled an aptitude for good credit control, though 🙂
So, confirming TBB's second hand information.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
And hydroelectric power stations.
0 -
And geothermal power station.
0 -
Whaddayamean?? Noomarket is lovely! Apart from a background whiff of horse pee, and some 'interesting' driving from an occasional Arab in an AMG who seems to think red traffic lights don't apply to him...
0 -
She has done several placements at equine vets over the last year or two and seems OK with that aspect of it. She is more concerned about getting hoofed ('scuse the pun) by one of her patients...
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I think she just wants to be an employee rather than own her own practice, so hopefully billing and payment will be an SEP (Somebody Else's Problem).
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I'm only offended that you think I'm a pedant.
In any case, it can kind of mean what vets do.
0 -
That's a big achievement that.
0 -
He's outside the capsule in space looking at the Earth.
0 -
that's not a spacewalk
this is a spacewalk...
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
going untethered is even more of a spacewalk...
but sticking yourself half through the door, that's not a spacewalk any more than a passenger in an open cockpit biplane is wing walking
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Sure, it's getting back into it though and it looks like this is an evolving situation now rather than canning it because it was so costly to do.
0 -
I feel like fusion (or at least the idealized vision of it) is more enticing economically than the trains.
I would hazard a guess that with trains, you're looking at either, a large chunk of money for something that is probably more or less as good as a human at driving trains. Or an absolute shit ton for something that is better. The first would mean accidents that could be blamed on the automated system, the second wouldn't be economically viable.
0 -
Are we seriously debating whether something that is technically possible already will be implemented sooner than something that is still 50 years away and always will be?
0 -
Pretty sure that fusion is scientifically viable, given it has been happening all over the place for 13.8 billion years, more or less.
1 -
Apologies that my post was hard to understand. Please refer to yours for a clearer argument.
0 -
0 -
Is the sun technically possible? I think I need more proof.
0 -
So now you've even got the cheek to question God's technical ability.
0 -
Unbelievable!
0 -
You seem to be imbuing the word "technically" with some special meaning. It is absolutely technically possible, because fusion has been carried out for about 70 years on a small scale on earth.
Fusion R&D is fascinating, actually. But for someone now old enough to remember when it was just over the horizon, it is a bit depressing how far over the horizon it is. There has now been a few seconds of positive energy generation, but my understanding is that, as yet there is no real concept of how to get that energy out in a form that could actually be used, just some vague concepts that are on hold until it is clearer what the generating part would look like.
It may turn out not to be worth the trouble, given we have a large fission reactor to hand and some as yet not very efficient ways of harvesting energy from it that are susceptible to improvement.
0 -
Can you have the argument with yourself and come back with a conclusion?
I think the majority of posters know this about fusion which is precisely why Jezyboy asked the slightly tongue in cheek question in the first place.
0 -
Did Musk make the sun as well?
0 -
The Telegraph showing us what it is. Read below the screaming headline about migrants and into the detail, and we learn that overall migrants are good economic news. But notice the sleight-of-hand, 'contrasting' a low-paid migrant with an "average British-born worker".
"The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the average low-earner who came to Britain aged 25 cost the Government more overall than they paid in from the moment they arrived. The cumulative bill rose to an estimated £151,000 by the time they could claim the state pension at 66, the watchdog said. This is because low-paid migrants – who the OBR assumes earn half the average wage – put more demand on public services such as the NHS compared to their relatively low-tax payments. The OBR estimated the cost to the public purse rose to almost £500,000 if they lived to 80, and more than £1m if they lived to 100.
By contrast, the average British-born worker boosts the public finances by £280,000 by the time they reach 66, even adjusting for education and health spending before they start work.
While low-paid migrants are a drain on public finances, the OBR found that the average migrant worker pays more in tax than they receive in public services throughout their lives compared to British-born workers. This is mainly because they are not educated in the UK.
Migrants also pay visa fees and health care charges, which the OBR estimates at around £12,500 for a migrant on a Skilled Worker visa who settles in the UK. Most migrants are also not eligible for welfare benefits for the first five years of their stay.
The watchdog also highlighted the benefits of attracting more highly-paid migrants to the UK. Workers earning 30pc more than the average salary could expect to contribute a net £925,000 to the Treasury’s coffers until state pension age, the watchdog said. These people would “still be a net benefit to the public finances even if they lived to 100”, the OBR said in its latest fiscal risks report.
By contrast, the OBR’s long-term tax and spending projections showed “an illustrative low-wage migrant worker arriving at 25 and earning half the UK average becomes less fiscally beneficial than the average UK resident in their early 40s”. David Miles, an OBR official said: “I think the characteristics of migrants, in terms of their earnings and how long they stay, are as important, if not more important, than the absolute numbers.”
0 -
I wonder how low paid migrants compare with British born on the dole.
The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
We will never generate electricity at scale by way of terrestrial fusion, because there are better alternatives. But it will be made technically possible, eventually.
0 -
The twitter thread linked by Rick yesterday had some interesting points. It seems that low skilled low wage migration is a financial drain on the uk and migration from a swathe of countries has been shown elsewhere in Europe to be a net drain. We know with tax that a lot of it gets paid by a relatively small percentage - so with immigration if we are judging it in those terms we should be looking at large reductions and try and capture those more likely to be in that upper bracket.
[Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0 -
^^^this
the usual schemes are based on fusion releasing fast neutrons
turning their energy into usable form by heating up a surrounding neutron absorber, and transferring that heat to boil water/whatever to run turbines
essentially a fusion powered steam engine
another way is use the neutrons to breed nuclear fuel for fission reactor use, but afaik it's less economic than traditional fission plants
there're also some innovative start ups, helion for instance, who are attempting to skip the steam cycle, there are several others taking their own approaches
fast neutrons cause material damage, which may limit operational life, they also make materials radioactive, but these decay much faster than waste from fission reactors, 'only' hundreds of years until safe rather than umpteen times recorded human history
my gut feel is there's a better chance of success from one of the start ups, the state-sponsored multinational research reactors are great for researchers and look like enormous fun, but that's not a recipe for fastest path to successful economic power generation
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0
