rssoconnor

Such thermal storage is quite leaky compared to the stability of thermochemical battery. As such it needs a large volume and low surface area, so it only works at scale. But yeah, there is some sufficiently large crossover point where the pile of dirt works better.

One alternative to a freezing pool of water that I'm intrigued by is using thermochemical heat batteries to transport heat energy from summer to winter.

For example, evaporating a 40,000 L solution of calcium chloride brine can store 4.6 megawatt-hours(*) of thermal energy and release it in the winter by passing water vapour over the solution to dilute it. This can heat geothermal temperatures from 10°C to 27°C which can be used in in-floor heating.

But the big asterisk is that only 11% of that 4.6 megawatt-hours of that thermal energy being "stored" is held in the enthalpy of dilution, and 89% of that heat is coming from the enthalpy of vaporization, and acquiring water vapour in winter isn't so easy.

One would probably need a source of water and use geothermal heat to raise dry cold air temperature to the needed 10°C, while absorbing water vapour from a (relatively small) tank of water. The net result is more of a thermochemical heat pump rather than a thermochemical battery per se. But the point is that, other than some fans, this is not electrically powered.

Then there is the issue of storing such tanks safely underground, and more problems. Still, there might be some innovative solutions lying in this direction. For example, one can replace this open-loop system with a closed-loop vacuum system to boil water, but at the cost of far more complex and dangerous engineering.

Naming an externally linked function with the prefix "str" is by itself UB since that prefix is reserved for <string.h>.

Time for scientists to return to the Invisible College: a guild of science that keeps their research to themselves for the benefit of their own membership.

I was lamenting the other day that we used to have SGML SHORTREF, then XML came along because supposedly SGML is just too hard to parse. But XML is for computers, not for humans. So then we got Markdown, which is worse than where we started from.

Not that I'm disagreeing with your main point, but I will say that Toyota's hybrid design is one of the best ICE engines out there. The transmission is replaced with planetary gears and the starter and alternators are replaced with a pair of motors to control the throttle and continuously variable transmission, making it one of the gentlest engine designs out there.

But yes, there is engine oil to be replaced and whatnot.

And also, to your point, my experience with my PHEV is my short range driving is electric, but it turns out most of my miles is consumed by annual long range trips. If I commuted to work, things would tip more in favour of EV driving. All to say how much EV you get out of your PHEV will depend highly on the type of driving one does.

I'm pretty sure Carney is a Progressive Conservative.

I don't actually know anything, but I've been wondering lately: is higher house prices simply a consequence of Baumol's cost disease? If so, then there is kinda nothing we can do about it, right?. Higher house prices is simply a consequence of improved productivity elsewhere, and thus it is necessary to spend a larger fraction of one's income on housing.

> I think the answer to the question “how do we stop technology X from destroying us?” lies in licensing and regulation enacted through legislation.

In the golden age of the 90's we were able to ban CFCs, but I'm skeptical we could do that today. We no longer have that political ability, and I doubt we will get it back any time soon.

When I'm trying to plug my PS/2 keyboard into the port in back of my computer which I cannot see, instead of needing to try two orientations, I need to try every orientation.

How does the arXiv manage the same feat for one tenth the cost?