this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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'Limitless' energy: how floating solar panels near the equator could power future population hotspots (theconversation.com)
submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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'Limitless' energy: how floating solar panels near the equator could power future population hotspots::New research shows densely populated countries in Southeast Asia and West Africa could harvest effectively unlimited energy from solar panels floating on calm tropical seas near the equator.

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[–] infamousta@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Half a trillion dollars over seventy years is nothing. How large is the waste site compared to the habitable surface? A few square kilometers is nothing.

The power needs of a small country is also essentially nothing over a seventy year span.

Nuclear energy is not ideal but it beats the hell out of coal plants, and it gives us a bridge to something sustainable. Solar has its own drawbacks and no nation is going to maintain a bunch of floating panels out in the ocean.