63
All renewable energy is fusion energy with a really round about way of collecting it
(sh.itjust.works)
this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
63 points (93.2% liked)
Showerthoughts
29732 readers
654 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Avoid politics
- NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
- Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
- Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct-----
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I could be wrong, but I think geothermal may be the (sole?) exception to that. That heat is from the formation of the planet and radioactive decay (fission). That heat/energy would have coalesced during the accretion process regardless of whether the sun was adding energy. Again, I think. If I'm wrong, please enlighten as this is an interesting topic.
Edit: I was thinking I might be technically wrong since we can't really "renew" geothermal energy, but Wikipedia does have it classified as renewable:
Radioactive elements were formed in the last moments of a collapsing star, so even those were formed during fusion.
That is true. I guess it depends on how much of the heat is generated via fission processes and how much is just stored from planetary accretion. I don't have any numbers for that at this moment, but I will certainly concede that geothermal is fusion-assisted lol.
Maybe tidal energy would also be an exception? It's from the motion of the moon, which is the result of ancient planetary collisions?
Ooh, yeah. Didn't even think of tidal energy. I don't think we get any significant amounts from it currently, but it's being actively developed.
I guess if we want to get super pedantic about it, it would also be fusion-assisted since without the sun's energy keeping the oceans in a liquid state, it would be frozen and unable to generate any power.