[jleyank]

The way modern society is going, a LOT of power is going to be required along with an increase in the distribution network (EV's). Where it comes from, and how the "wires" are made are critical areas of research. Unless some novel research succeeds, distasteful decisions are going to be made to keep things going.

[dane-pgp]

> The way modern society is going, a LOT of power is going to be required

What do you mean by "modern society"? According to the IEA, "energy demand per capita is likely to remain at current levels for the next 25 years. In other [words], peak per capita energy consumption may have already arrived".[0]

Most "modern societies" have less than replacement fertility levels, so energy use is only increasing because the population is living longer, and because of immigration. To give some aggregate numbers for a set of modern societies: "The EU-27’s population is projected to increase from 446.8 million in 2019 and peak to 449.3 million in 2026 (+0.6 %), then gradually decrease to 441.2 million in 2050".[1]

[0] https://www.businessinsider.com/bernstein-says-peak-energy-p...

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

[wbl]

Demand is a function of cost. There is a lot of things that having energy would permit that right now aren't possible like desalination, giant lasers to launch things to space etc.

[Manuel_D]

Energy per capita, yes. But electricity per capital not necessarily. Things like smelting, shipping, and air travel, all of which depends on fossil fuel must be electrified.

[zbrozek]

I'm actively trying to drive down my marginal cost of electricity explicitly so I can use more of it to make my life better. I am absolutely driving up my total energy consumption, not just switching fuels.

[PebblesHD]

I’m in the process of installing solar panels and storage for exactly this reason. There are things I want to do at home, running servers, air conditioning etc. that are prohibitively expensive and unnecessarily polluting under current conditions that I’d love to be able to run without thinking about it.

[zbrozek]

Yup, exactly! I am up to a little over 6 kilowatts peak and 20 KWh installed and I haven't drawn from the grid in months.

My next stop is 14 kilowatts peak and 36 KWh. With any luck I'll be able to leave my pool warm for 6 months of the year and remain off-grid.

[2Gkashmiri]

Hey. This is interesting for me. I now have a 6 kWh panel that are on grid for reverse metering.

Then I replaced the inverter with phocos one so that it will work without batteries in off grid mode.

I have thought quite a bit about water batteries, I want to install 200-400 Litre water solar heater so that my electric energy is reduced even more.

No batteries yet because they cost a fortune.

My idea was to heat say 500 Litre water tank in my basement with solar water + solar electric and pass that water through the central heating piping through he home but installer tells me the heat won't be there in this "water battery".

[jleyank]

When was this study done, as crypto and ev’s are going to throw a whole lot of strain on the power grid (taken from the gas distribution plumbing). In the kcal aggregate, they might be equivalent, but a whole lot of tanks and pipes have to become wires.

[ncmncm]

Electric power demand will increase by what it takes to keep our cars charged up, and to drive industrial production of hydrogen for steel and other industrial processes, ammonia for fertilizer, synthetic fuels (including ammonia and hydrogen) for bigger vehicles, carbon capture from the atmosphere, water desalination, and myriad other uses.

Build-out of renewables will increasingly displace fossil-fuel generation, then (as that is exceeded) bank energy in storage systems (batteries and pumped hydro, short-term, other tech for longer term). We will need a lot of new transmission lines to trade power between current users, current generators, and storage.

None of it requires new physics, although improvements in catalysts will improve round-trip efficiency and cost of storage systems and synthesis, and new chemistries will improve cost and efficiency of new photovoltaic build-out.

There is no place for nukes in that world. They cost way too much to compete on a fair playing field.