this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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Solar photovoltaic is the only one i can think of that isn't just a fancy way to make steam
EDIT
ok let's clarify to say a method that isn't related to movement of a fluid that spins a turbine. So not windmills (air is a fluid), not hydro, not geothermal, etc.
there are also fuel cells
The peltier effect can be used to generate electricity from a thermal gradient. It's not very efficient, though. There's a reason mechanical means of electrical production predominate.
Aerokinetics/hydrokinetics as well. With steam, we're creating the source fluid that turns the turbines to make electricity. Those source fluids can also exist as wind/tides/rivers naturally.
What about Wind Mills?
Wind is just dry steam
You know that's a stretch 😉 but I'll give it to you. But we are not MAKING wind/steam there.
Seriously though
Also hydroelectric
That's just condensed steam.
By that logic, solar is just a huge pile of steam undergoing fusion.
Plasma is spicy steam
Hydro power uses running water not hot water.
Squeezing can be converter to electricity with pizeo electric. Heat difference can be converted into electric directly with peltier devices. Both of these are very inefficient ways to make electricy.
I'm the spirit of this comment, water is just cold steam.
How do you feel about water ice being a mineral?
I guess aeolic energy also doesn't use steam (unless we count the air humidity), but still involves turning a turbine.
Excuse my blatant ignorance, but what is aeolic energy? I've never heard about it before.
Garlic power.
Nah, just a non-traditional way of saying wind generators like turbines.
Apparently it's the fancy word for wind power.
or just french
French words are the fancy words in English. French was the language of the upper classes for a long time.
What a dissapointment.
Piezoelectricity is the only other I can really think of. But it's not like we are out here smacking crystals with hammers to make power.
Wait a minute, what IF
piezoelectricity is just simple electric motor
?
piezo crystal is electric motor. you input deformation of the crystal and get potential difference on opposite sides. other way around also works
Oh! Gotcha! Makes sense. Forgot about crystal vibrations for clockworks. Thanks!
it's a special case there, because for frequencies in question mechanical quartz resonator has much higher Q than any electrical resonator you can practically build. that is, mechanical properties of piezo crystal stabilize voltage oscillations
Even if we used piezo, the movement of the hammer would still have to come from some power source, which would still be the same sources like moving steam, water, or wind.
Give buskers the acoustic guitar with a link to the grid and every time they play they’ll generate a ton of electricity (in relative terms…)
Electro-Acoustic guitars use piezos to pick up the audio if you didn’t know
Why not, though?
On a serious note: that's exactly what we're doing with lighters. At least some of them use piezo elements and not the sparkly wheel thingy to ignite the gas. And it's real fun to zap yourself with it.
The conversion rate isn't great.
There were talks of using them in sidewalks, but it doesn't really make much sense really. Piezo almost always only works as energy recovery, which isn't nothing but you will need the infrastructure which also isn't nothing.
Yeah, it was a fun journey of learning to look into it. It’s quartz btw. Very piezoelectric and extremely common.
All power generation is either solar or 'make thing spin', unless we're including RTGs and Piezoelectrics.
Peltier Effect?
That's the principle used by RTGs right?
But not all electricity generation is based on boiling water. Wind, hydro and tidal don't need to generate large amounts of heat to make steam that spins a turbine, they just use natural movement to do so.
Yes, make thing spin
Solar thermal power…
Yes? Makes things spin.
All of these are in some way heat engines
Yeah but those heat engines don't rely on spinning things inside a magnetic field. Heat on one side, less heat on the other side, and you have current. No motors.
even photovoltaics are heat engines in broad definition
We're all heat engines on this blessed day if you broaden the definition enough.