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Battery tech certainly needs to improve -- I agree with you there -- but the reality is that it will not improve without consistent funding for research and development, and that is going to require some government involvement. Private investment as a primary source of funding just isn't reliable as most investors want fast results with large payoffs. Investors are also notorious for pulling out whenever setbacks occur.
The US government is already spending huge sums of money on battery technology. While I like Elon Musk, his entire business is just government-subsidies. From his contracts with NASA, to his Gigafactory.
The National Science Foundation alone doles out about $8 billion a year. And trust me, the United States wants to be on the cutting-edge of any future-energy technology. And we are the leaders in basically all technological fields, and have been since we stole all those German scientists after WWII.
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Originally Posted by ryanst530
And setbacks WILL occur with this sort of stuff. That's just how it is... battery tech is generally a high risk area of investment as the vast majority of prototypes never see the light of day.
I agree, and virtually every company that Obama gave money to in the stimulus package went bankrupt. Did any of that money make a difference at all?
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Originally Posted by ryanst530
Tesla is selling their current lithium packs because they need some way of funding their R&D. Not ideal, but what are they supposed to do? They're the ones taking the biggest risks developing battery technology right now.
Tesla is selling their current lithium packs because they are trying to make money, and there really aren't better alternatives to the current lithium technology. The government could give them billions more than they already are and it wouldn't make a difference.
And the vast-majority of actual research and development is not being carried-out by people like Elon Musk. It is being done in university laboratories. Elon Musk is just taking existing technology and finding ways to mass-produce it cheaply.
9,571 MW Solar serving load
1,956 MW Wind serving load
64% of load met with wind and solar. That's not "supplemental" power. Right now fossil fuel is supplementing the renewables and it's working great.
Fossil fuel baseload never has mechanical breakdowns? Of course they do.
Despite the high usage of solar and wind we rarely ever have power outages, and when we do, it's because a storm knocked a tree into an overhead line.
Solar and wind are reliable, dependable, and sustainable. Granted it makes the job of managing the mix of generation a lot more difficult, but it can be done. California proves it every day.
Right now fossil fuel is holding up the grid and maintaining 60hz so your computer keeps working.....
Not totally no. The wind charges said batteries granted the MORE wind the BETTER the charge and there’s no telling how long the batteries will hold the charge. It wouldn’t make sense to have a wind generator where there is little no no wind. Wind power works best in conjunction with something else if placed in a bad area. It’s like saying that solar power ONLY works when the sun is out.
People still fighting the inevitable. It's really pathetic and sad to see. Renewable's rising, gasoline cars dying, Cancer-causing Coal lovers crying. We want pollution! We want health epidemics! We want to plunder our resources! Crazy the thought process in some! Screw our children's future, right?!
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