Latest / Wildly Curious / Green Energy: Exploring Solar, Geothermal, and Renewable Resources

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Green Energy: Exploring Solar, Geothermal, and Renewable Resources · Wildly Curious

0:42
Laura: Hello and welcome to For the Love of Nature, a podcast where we tell you everything you need to know about nature and probably more than you wanted to know.
0:49
Laura: I'm Laura.
0:50
Katy: and I'm Katy.
0:51
Katy: And today we're going to be talking about green energy and renewable resources and energy, renewable energy in general.
0:58
Katy: What that means, kind of the different types, and it's something of a little bit of a different topic than what we've covered before.
1:05
Laura: Yeah, this is, it's gonna be in depth, but it's not like we can cover all green energy in like, you know, one episode.
1:12
Laura: We're just gonna focus on like two.
1:14
Katy: I picked my favorite one just because I knew a lot
1:17
Laura: Mine podcast.
1:18
Katy: Yeah.
1:19
Katy: Yeah.
1:20
Katy: All right.
1:20
Katy: Nature news.
1:21
Katy: Other, again, other than aliens, I'm just going to keep bringing up until this podcast gets famous enough that they're like, Hey, did you hear that?
1:29
Katy: Katy said that because nobody's done.
1:34
Katy: Right.
1:34
Katy: Oh my God, please.
1:36
Katy: We are not.
1:37
Katy: I just.
1:38
Laura: Can you even imagine if it was the two of us?
1:41
Katy: Hi! I would feel so honored though, and I feel like out of everybody on the planet, I feel like you and I would almost be some of the best candidates,
1:53
Laura: Cause we'd be pretty chill about it, but also so excited.
1:57
Katy: And have plenty of good questions because we both have not only the science and psychology background behind it But we're also just normal people and so we would ask Dumb questions as far as like scientific ones to like how do you breathe?
2:10
Katy: But also do you have two buttholes or like you know, and so we would ask such a range of questions that I feel like, how do you guys, operate on their planet?
2:20
Katy: Is it an economy like what we have?
2:23
Katy: How is it all set up?
2:24
Katy: How do you do X, Y, Z?
2:25
Katy: Because it'd be,
2:25
Laura: Are you carbon based?
2:27
Katy: it would be so fascinating because they're so, it would be so far advanced from us, but I feel like we would be.
2:34
Katy: Also, if you use the analogy that everybody keeps using, Okay, why, why don't they talk to us?
2:38
Katy: Okay, why would a human talk to an ant?
2:40
Katy: I feel like we would make great ants.
2:42
Katy: Out of all the people, We would, we would be the ones to pick.
2:46
Katy: So, if aliens are listening in on all of this, I throw my hat and Laura's hat, Yeah, reach out, via Twitter, Or Brainwaves.
2:56
Katy: Um, I would prefer not to be abducted because I do have my child 50% of
3:00
Laura: Or no, like, creepy dreams.
3:02
Katy: Yeah, I still really want, oh dude, I should totally get that mug now that says get in loser, we're doing butt stuff.
3:09
Katy: Cause I feel like, I feel like, I, because now that aliens are real, I feel like I gotta have that mug now.
3:16
Laura: Um, I have nature news that's both good and bad.
3:19
Laura: I have like one good, I'm just gonna shout out some titles here.
3:22
Laura: I, I haven't read the articles.
3:23
Laura: I just want us to be aware that these are things.
3:25
Laura: Okay.
3:27
Laura: Three things.
3:28
Laura: Thankfully, a friend of mine has been texting me these news articles.
3:31
Katy: Thank you, friend of Laura's.
3:33
Laura: Article 1, CDC warns not to kiss or cuddle your turtle as salmonella outbreak spreads to 11 states.
3:39
Katy: Ugh, stop kissing your turtles,
3:41
Laura: No kissing turtles.
3:43
Laura: Article number 2, a rabies scare in West Virginia turned out to be just raccoons drunk on crab
3:48
Katy: Did you, see that?
3:48
Katy: I sent, I sent you a picture of that.
3:50
Katy: Somebody commented on Twitter and said Hot Girl Summer.
3:53
Katy: Yeah.
3:53
Laura: you're right.
3:54
Laura: that was
3:54
Katy: And I was like, yes! What?
4:01
Laura: News, Plants in tropical forests have stopped undergoing photosynthesis due to global warming, scientists say.
4:09
Laura: I didn't read it.
4:10
Laura: I couldn't.
4:11
Laura: It's too, probably too, depressing.
4:12
Katy: We need to reach out to Planthapology and get his, Expert
4:15
Laura: Yeah, is this true?
4:16
Laura: Are they just calling it.
4:17
Laura: quits?
4:18
Katy: Man, I'll have to reach out to him and ask.
4:20
Katy: I'll find that article.
4:21
Katy: What did you say the title was?
4:23
Laura: It's on ABC News and it is...
4:26
Laura: Plants in tropical forests have stopped undergoing photosynthesis due to global warming, That is terrifying.
4:34
Laura: Considering they're literally called the lungs
4:36
Katy: Of
4:37
Laura: Of the world.
4:38
Katy: Alright, good place.
4:39
Katy: Okay, so aliens, please abduct us, cause we really probably should start scouting out some other places.
4:44
Laura: abduct the worst of us.
4:46
Laura: I mean, like, can you do just some spring cleaning here?
4:48
Laura: I'm seriously thinking about this today on the way home from work.
4:51
Laura: Because I was thinking about this article.
4:52
Laura: And I was like, okay, what if...
4:55
Laura: what if...
4:55
Laura: it seems scary and all the rich people leave because they're like, well, this place is dying.
5:01
Laura: Maybe we'll just all be fine then.
5:03
Katy: right?
5:03
Katy: All the greedy rich people will take off and then we're just like, Hey guys, just normal folks here.
5:09
Laura: Us normal people are left, and we'll figure it
5:11
Katy: figure it out.
5:12
Katy: Yeah.
5:12
Katy: I mean, I feel like that could be beneficial.
5:15
Katy: I feel like
5:15
Laura: can go to space.
5:16
Laura: They can have it.
5:17
Katy: They can have it.
5:18
Katy: Please take space.
5:20
Katy: Oh, goodness.
5:22
Katy: Alright, aliens, we are your best ants.
5:25
Laura: Well, and on that note, I guess, like, photosynthesis, here's my Okay, transition, everybody.
5:31
Laura: Photosynthesis, photosynthesis makes green like, it needs green chlorophyll, green energy!
5:38
Katy: just gonna go plants.
5:39
Katy: Plants are green.
5:40
Katy: green energy! Way simpler.
5:44
Katy: All right.
5:44
Katy: So like we do, normally we give an overview of what we're talking about.
5:49
Katy: And then, like we said, Laura and I, we each pick then a type of renewable energy! to go ahead.
5:56
Katy: Dig in a little bit deeper about.
5:58
Katy: Alrighty, so the term green energy is often used interchangeably with renewable energy to describe energy sources and technologies that have a minimal impact on the environment and produce low or no greenhouse gas emissions.
6:13
Katy: However, the term green energy specifically gained popularity in recent years as a way to emphasize the environmentally friendly aspect of renewable energy resources, or
6:23
Laura: Right, because some because some renewable energy is not very green.
6:27
Katy: Yes, yep.
6:28
Laura: Like biofuel.
6:30
Katy: The exact origin of the term quote unquote green energy is difficult to pinpoint as it has likely evolved gradually over time, like most things do.
6:39
Katy: It gained significant prominence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, obviously as environmental concerns grew and the focus on sustainable and clean energy sources increased.
6:49
Katy: The earliest evidence of humans utilizing green energy sources dates back thousands of
6:55
Laura: I was just gonna say, right before we had, like, normal electricity.
7:00
Katy: One notable example is the use of wind power for sailing ships and windmills, which have been traced back to ancient civilizations like the Egyptians, Persians, and Chinese.
7:09
Katy: Additionally, the harnessing of hydropower for mechanical purposes such as water mills has been obviously well documented in various cultures throughout history.
7:18
Katy: So today there, there are multiple types of green energy sources.
7:22
Katy: Some of them More commonly recognized than others.
7:24
Katy: So the big, I don't know how many we have here, seven.
7:30
Katy: I think I listed some of them earlier.
7:32
Katy: Solar energy, solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, geothermal, biomass energy, tidal energy, wave energy.
7:41
Katy: While green energy sources offer numerous environmental benefits, it's essential to consider some potential downfalls.
7:48
Laura: yes.
7:49
Laura: And I definitely am gonna hit on pros and cons.
7:51
Katy: Okay, of, of yours or, uh, okay, okay, okay.
7:54
Katy: Well, I'll go ahead then and I'll skip the, the downsides for the end.
7:58
Katy: That way we can see what, how ours fit into it as well.
8:02
Katy: All right, so that's, a very broad overview on renewable And Resources, green energy, I keep saying resources.
8:10
Katy: I mean, I'm a natural resource major, so it just immediately keeps going in my brain.
8:15
Katy: So I focused on geothermal energy and Laura, who's gonna go first, you picked
8:20
Laura: Solar.
8:21
Katy: Solar.
8:22
Katy: Alright, so have at it solar
8:23
Laura: Let's do it.
8:25
Laura: Okay, so according to the U.
8:26
Laura: S.
8:26
Laura: Department of Energy, the amount of sunlight that strikes the Earth's surface in an hour and a half is enough to handle the entire world's energy consumption for a year.
8:36
Katy: That's insane.
8:37
Laura: It's insane.
8:38
Laura: If we could just figure out how to harness it better,
8:41
Katy: Yeah, better, better, is the key, yeah.
8:44
Laura: we're good.
8:45
Laura: So how does it work?
8:46
Laura: Solar radiation, which is just light, also known as electromagnetic radiation, hits all over the earth.
9:25
Laura: Although some spots do get more than others, that radiation, that light can be converted into electricity.
9:34
Laura: So for solar energy, this is referring to a couple different processes.
9:38
Laura: First one I wanted to hit up is electricity production, and the two main ways that people do that is either using photovoltaics.
9:46
Laura: Or, concentrating solar thermal power stations.
9:51
Laura: Okay.
9:51
Laura: It's a little technical, but I tried not to get too in the weeds.
9:54
Laura: Even though my husband's an electrician, I still don't really understand electricity.
9:57
Laura: I'm sorry.
9:58
Katy: We've, we've had this conversation in another podcast.
10:01
Katy: I don't remember which one it was.
10:03
Laura: I'm like talking about what I know.
10:05
Katy: Yeah, it is fascinating.
10:08
Laura: So, photovoltaics.
10:10
Laura: This is the, what we typically think of when someone's like, Oh, solar power.
10:13
Laura: You're thinking of panels, okay?
10:15
Laura: So, each panel is made up of lots of individual cells.
10:19
Laura: And each of these little teeny tiny cells, can produce one to two watts.
10:24
Laura: What does that mean?
10:24
Laura: Don't ask me, I don't really understand it, but it's not very much power.
10:28
Laura: They,
10:29
Katy: ask me, please.
10:30
Katy: Don't ask me,
10:31
Laura: they are made from different semiconductor materials, and semiconductors are basically something that doesn't conduct electricity well, like metal, but it doesn't insulate it either, so it's like somewhere
10:43
Katy: Yeah, it's not rubber.
10:44
Katy: It's not rubber, but yeah, it's not
10:46
Laura: but it's not
10:47
Katy: yeah.
10:48
Laura: The most common semiconductor is silicone, which is great, because it's the second most abundant element on Earth's crust.
10:54
Laura: So cool.
10:55
Laura: We got plenty of it, and it's in computers and a whole bunch of other stuff.
10:59
Laura: These little teeny tiny cells, some, many of them are less than four human hairs thick.
11:06
Katy: That's insane.
11:07
Laura: So small.
11:08
Laura: They're doing things with little teeny tweezers.
11:10
Laura: And these cells are sandwiched between protective layers so that they can last outdoors.
11:14
Laura: It could be between glass and plastic or plastic and plastic or something.
11:19
Laura: How effective a cell is depends on how much power comes out of it versus how much light is absorbed.
11:25
Laura: So when they're talking about like efficiency, it's What goes in versus what comes out.
11:30
Laura: And so far, we're about 20% efficiency here, which is not great, but better than nothing.
11:38
Laura: So, compared to the light that goes in, we are only able to harness 20% of that.
11:43
Laura: Although cutting edge, technology is improving, and we are, in lab settings, getting up as high as, 40.
11:49
Laura: So it's on the horizon, but, right now, the majority of things, it's 20%.
11:55
Laura: The cells are then joined together to form a panel or a module, like they're different, interchanged.
12:01
Laura: And then these modules can be joined together to form arrays.
12:04
Laura: The array is then connected to the electrical grid.
12:07
Laura: Or, they're just mounted on top of your house and, put into your, just, the grid of your house.
12:13
Katy: Mm hmm.
12:14
Laura: And the panels are always mounted to face the sun, obviously, and then you get as much light as they can.
12:20
Laura: They can be mounted in all sorts of ways.
12:21
Laura: Some of them are fixed.
12:22
Laura: Some of them can rotate on one axis.
12:25
Laura: Some of them can rotate, all over the place so they can follow the sun all day long in any direction.
12:30
Katy: Have you ever seen the Matthew McConaughey movie, Sahara?
12:33
Laura: oh, that's what I thought of the whole time.
12:34
Laura: Okay, well, we're gonna get to that.
12:36
Laura: Cause we're not even,
12:37
Katy: That is one of my favorite movies.
12:39
Katy: Back before The Office was that movie that you could do on repeat.
12:43
Katy: Sahara was that for me or the comedy Evolution with David Duchovny in it and I forget who else but...
12:50
Laura: both of those movies on
12:51
Katy: So good.
12:52
Katy: Continue.
12:53
Laura: Theatres and it's one of the best.
12:54
Katy: so good.
12:55
Katy: Continue.
12:56
Laura: Yeah, so the modules produce DC current that is then converted into AC current to power things inside your home, and it's done using something in it called an inverter.
13:09
Laura: The
13:09
Katy: just love your explanation.
13:12
Katy: it's done by something Called an inverter.
13:14
Laura: an inverter.
13:15
Laura: Yeah.
13:16
Katy: Meanwhile, Justin's, if he was Irani, he's probably like, Uh, uh, Laura.
13:22
Laura: We tried to explain DC versus AC and I kind of get it, but you know, this is for nature novices.
13:28
Laura: I'm not gonna,
13:29
Katy: That's what we'll go on.
13:30
Katy: That's what we'll say.
13:32
Laura: This can be done, like I said, for your house, but it can also be done on a large scale.
13:36
Laura: They're called solar farms and the biggest solar farms in the U.
13:39
Laura: S.
13:39
Laura: are in California.
13:41
Laura: The largest one is called Solar Star with 1.
13:44
Laura: 7 million panels
13:45
Katy: Holy crap.
13:46
Laura: on 13 square kilometers and they can produce enough energy to power 225, 000 homes.
13:54
Laura: Um, which is pretty awesome.
13:56
Laura: But that's not even the biggest one in the world.
13:58
Laura: That one is the Galamud Solar Park in China.
14:02
Laura: It has 7 million panels
14:06
Katy: Hm.
14:06
Katy: Dang.
14:07
Laura: on 1, 390 acres.
14:11
Laura: And they produce enough power to power 3 million homes.
14:15
Katy: that's still not even a lot for how many panels that is, you know?
14:19
Katy: Well, cause again, what you said, 20%?
14:22
Katy: 20%, you know what I mean?
14:24
Laura: if you could harness more,
14:25
Katy: Yeah, that would be super beneficial.
14:27
Katy: Imagine, imagine, I...
14:29
Katy: Says the one with, uh, dyscalculia.
14:31
Katy: Um, I can't do the math, so whatever...
14:35
Laura: Oh, right.
14:37
Katy: of more than 3 million.
14:39
Laura: 5 times that.
14:40
Laura: If you could get 100% efficiency, 5 times that.
14:43
Katy: 15 million.
14:44
Katy: I did it.
14:45
Katy: 15 million, 15 million, 15 million, but still for how much, for how many panels?
14:51
Katy: Yeah.
14:52
Katy: I don't know.
14:53
Laura: So so then you've, so that's photovoltaics, and that's the most common, and that's what we think of, and that's what everyone's pushing to get on your house, or things like that.
15:02
Laura: The other way, that's really done typically on a very large scale is the concentrating solar thermal power, and this is what we saw in Sahara.
15:11
Laura: So this is using a system of mirrors.
15:13
Laura: Sunlight is concentrated and projected onto what's called a receiver.
15:17
Laura: That's like a, typically like, Not always.
15:19
Laura: There's a couple different ways.
15:20
Laura: In the movie Sahara, they're using a central tower for it.
15:24
Laura: That's not the only way.
15:25
Laura: But these mirrors point the sunlight, and there is a fluid inside of that receiver.
15:31
Laura: The fluid then heats up.
15:32
Katy: That was all that goop right in the movie.
15:34
Laura: Yeah, they used it to do the nuclear
15:37
Katy: Yeah, Yeah.
15:38
Katy: Yeah.
15:38
Laura: waste, but typically it's for, like,
15:40
Katy: Yeah, not not nuclear waste.
15:43
Laura: it doesn't even have to be liquid water, some of the most efficient ones used, liquid salt.
15:48
Laura: Or like, salt metals.
15:50
Laura: Anyway, it heats up that fluid.
15:51
Laura: The heat from that fluid then spins a turbine to power an engine.
15:56
Laura: And produce electricity.
15:58
Katy: Okay.
15:59
Laura: Or, you could just straight up use the heat and not even turn it into electricity.
16:03
Laura: Like they did in Sahara.
16:05
Laura: So the heat, the heat could do something else.
16:08
Laura: Something like, they're actually using in industrial processes, like...
16:13
Laura: Creating steel like something because this Heat can be anywhere from 400 C to 1000 C.
16:21
Katy: insane.
16:23
Laura: That
16:24
Katy: Yeah.
16:25
Katy: Gosh.
16:26
Laura: Like I said, usually it's used for large scale utility stuff, but it can be smaller.
16:30
Laura: These plants might have a power tower system, which is that Sahara one, or what's called a linear system, and basically it's like mere troughs, and there's pipes.
16:39
Laura: That go in them, and, it's all concentrated to the pipe in the middle.
16:43
Katy: gotcha.
16:44
Laura: like lots and lots of pipes.
16:46
Katy: Hm.
16:47
Laura: Then there's a smaller system that sometimes you can even just have on your house, and it's called a dish engine system.
16:52
Laura: Basically, it looks like one of those, old school, satellite dishes.
16:57
Laura: And it's just got a little power receiver it's pointing at.
17:01
Laura: So it's just on a much smaller scale.
17:03
Katy: Yeah.
17:05
Laura: The largest one in the world is the Noor?
17:09
Laura: Noor?
17:10
Laura: I'm not sure if I'm saying it right.
17:11
Laura: Complex solar power plant in Morocco, which is located in the Sahara Desert.
17:15
Katy: Yep.
17:16
Katy: Sahara.
17:17
Laura: be from.
17:17
Laura: It can power about 95, 000 homes.
17:21
Katy: Hm.
17:21
Laura: And it's got a combination of concentrated solar power as well as a solar farm, it's got both.
17:28
Katy: Okay.
17:29
Laura: again, we just need to get better about, harnessing stuff.
17:33
Laura: So that's how it works, but why is it beneficial?
17:36
Laura: So here's the pros.
17:38
Laura: First off, both always, no air pollutants or, CO2.
17:42
Laura: So it is what is considered green and clean, it's clean energy.
17:47
Laura: Photovoltaics, the pros of them.
17:50
Laura: can be built to meet large scale or small electrical needs because they can be built at any size.
17:56
Laura: You can actually integrate them into building materials, and that's happening more and more.
17:59
Laura: You can just put voltaic cells in windows.
18:02
Laura: So when you build skyscrapers, it's just included.
18:05
Laura: There's no panel, and it's in the window material.
18:08
Laura: You can utilize batteries to store extra energy so that you can use it for later.
18:13
Laura: When they're installed on buildings, they can have low environmental impact, because you're really not doing anything extra, you're just putting them on the roof of the building that's already there, like in Maryland, they're using Walmarts and Targets, just stick it on the roof, you're
18:25
Katy: Okay.
18:26
Laura: really not changing anything.
18:28
Laura: They can be connected to the electrical grid, they can provide electricity in areas with no power lines.
18:34
Laura: They can be installed quickly.
18:35
Laura: You can save money in the long term.
18:38
Laura: You can have energy independence from the grid.
18:41
Laura: It increases home values.
18:43
Laura: They have low maintenance costs, and you can get tax credits, co ops, and incentive programs to get the money, and it can actually provide habitat for wildlife.
18:51
Laura: There's a lot of places out there that, they've built a field, and then wildlife take shelter under it.
18:56
Laura: Or you're doing two things at once.
18:58
Laura: They might have sheep out there that are grazing, so you don't have to mow under the solar panels.
19:02
Laura: It's providing feed, like an area for the sheep, but you're also doing solar, you can do both.
19:09
Laura: The concentrated solar power plants, I couldn't find as many pros, but there still are some.
19:14
Laura: This, rather than storing something in a battery, this is, again, this is all about heat.
19:19
Laura: They're using heat to spin a turbine, but first, it's just heat.
19:23
Laura: So you can actually, they store the extra energy as heat.
19:27
Laura: It's called thermal storage, and it's like these giant containers, where they're just keeping it hot.
19:32
Laura: When they're used for industrial purposes, it makes things highly efficient and cost effective.
19:37
Laura: Things like food production, chemical processes, enhanced oil recovery, mineral processing, cement manufacturing, iron and steel production, and large scale desalination.
19:49
Laura: That you just need things to be hot.
19:50
Katy: Mhm.
19:51
Laura: of this is the company Horizon Nut.
19:53
Laura: That has worked with, one of these places.
19:56
Laura: Generating heat to make steam, which is directly used to blanch, pasteurize, and roast nuts, like pistachios and almonds.
20:04
Laura: So they're not,
20:05
Katy: Solar energy! Pistachios for everyone!
20:08
Laura: yeah, and they're doing all the processes just using solar energy.
20:12
Laura: They're not having to use, extra energy, it's all renewable.
20:15
Laura: From start to finish.
20:17
Laura: Companies like Trevi Systems Inc.
20:20
Laura: are using thermal energy to heat water.
20:23
Laura: Which is a bold about the desalination process to create fresh water.
20:27
Laura: You don't have to use any additional chemicals to do this Making it more resource efficient, cleaner water, Just all around better.
20:35
Katy: Where was that?
20:37
Laura: That's a company that?
20:38
Laura: does desalination, it's called Trevi, T R E V I, Systems Inc.
20:43
Laura: I said folded voltaics are about 20% efficiency, that concentrated solar thermal stuff, 20 40%.
20:51
Laura: So it's a little bit more efficient than just plain old panels.
20:54
Katy: Yeah.
20:56
Laura: The cons though, In general, the sun isn't always constant, it's just the way it is.
21:03
Laura: Whether it's always sunny there, some days it's not.
21:07
Laura: Or just other, some parts of the world just aren't that
21:09
Katy: Yep.
21:10
Laura: You need a large surface area to collect enough energy for it to be useful.
21:15
Katy: And I mean, that's, that's with a lot A lot of these renewable energy, like Laura said, some places are doing it smart, where they're trying to make the habitat, and they're trying to balance it all out, but, it still requires land to do this stuff, more so than flumping down a coal plant somewhere.
21:29
Laura: Right, so because of the large surface area, it can cause habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation.
21:35
Laura: You've gotta do, you've gotta take up space.
21:38
Laura: The best way, I definitely think, is to utilize already existing structures, but otherwise.
21:43
Laura: You have to figure out the space, with the habitat, it can alter stuff like it can, it's altering how much sun is hitting the soil.
21:52
Laura: So it's affecting plant life.
21:53
Laura: It's affecting moisture levels because It's not getting rained on if there's a panel over it or all the runoff from the panels is then just going to flood one spot.
22:01
Laura: So it's impacting that stuff.
22:03
Laura: And there is some correlation of bird mortality with, solar energy.
22:09
Laura: Scientists actually still aren't sure
22:11
Katy: if it's a thousand degrees Celsius and they fly close enough, you just get chicken legs.
22:16
Katy: Yeah,
22:17
Laura: Um, but they also think that with both the mirrors and the panels they're not positive.
22:23
Laura: But the leading theory is it's called lake effect.
22:25
Katy: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say,
22:27
Laura: that looks like water.
22:29
Laura: So, they land and then they just break their poor necks as they crash into it.
22:34
Laura: Specifically with photovoltaics they ironically do not do well in high temperatures.
22:39
Laura: Which considering you're baking them in the sun all day
22:42
Katy: Yeah.
22:43
Katy: And, and, and most places that have the most sun are hot.
22:48
Laura: Yeah.
22:49
Laura: They, it actually, the higher the temperature, the less voltage and it actually can permanently damage those cells.
22:56
Laura: Of course, they can become, those panels can become soiled or dirty and then that can make them lose as much as 10% of their energy.
23:03
Laura: So if they're only 20% efficient, you've cut your energy efficiency in half if they just get dirty.
23:08
Katy: Yeah,
23:08
Laura: them clean.
23:10
Laura: Some are impacted significantly by shade.
23:13
Laura: Some are not.
23:14
Laura: It just, depends on the system.
23:15
Katy: I mean, yeah, it's just it's just a funny statement.
23:17
Katy: Solar panels, Some are
23:20
Laura: Maybe affected by shade, yeah.
23:22
Laura: They have a high initial installation cost.
23:24
Laura: Although, long term, worth it.
23:27
Laura: But you gotta up front the money.
23:28
Laura: Although that's where the tax breaks
23:30
Katy: that's what I was gonna say.
23:31
Katy: yeah, they're starting to try and do more incentives and things
23:34
Laura: Oh yeah, here in Maryland, there's Boo koo, tax credits, co ops, your city might help you, it's like, push, push,
23:40
Katy: hmm.
23:41
Katy: Hmm.
23:42
Laura: Yes.
23:44
Laura: there are space constraints for these panels.
23:47
Laura: The batteries can be incredibly expensive.
23:51
Laura: Their manufacturing in general just has an environmental impact, our energy efficient vehicles.
23:55
Laura: They're great, but they do still take a lot of resources.
23:59
Laura: So, data has shown that solar panels pay for themselves in terms of greenhouse gas emissions within one to four years.
24:06
Laura: So the amount of greenhouse gases it takes to make a solar panel, you will offset that after one to four years, depending on your efficiency.
24:14
Laura: They're hard to move.
24:16
Laura: You have to dispose of them properly.
24:18
Laura: And, that's pretty much it for the voltaics, and the, the CSP, the central solar thermal stuff requires high levels of sunlight for extended periods of time, so really the only places that you're seeing these,
24:33
Katy: The Sahara Desert.
24:35
Laura: The Sahara is, is Southern Europe and Northern Africa.
24:39
Laura: High cost to produce this energy.
24:41
Laura: It's not cheap energy.
24:42
Laura: Like, once you've actually produced the electricity, it costs a lot per watt because of what goes into
24:47
Katy: Yeah.
24:48
Katy: So is it really worth it at that point?
24:51
Laura: it's got, we've got a, I mean, maybe costs will come down as things become easier to make And we've got the blueprints for everything and all that stuff.
24:57
Laura: But until then, it's not very cheap.
24:59
Laura: And like Katy said, there actually can be such a high temperature, it will actually burn wildlife to death, like insects and birds, like just fried as they go through.
25:08
Katy: minding your own minding your own
25:10
Laura: it with a magnifying glass.
25:11
Katy: just minding your own business, flying south for the winter.
25:15
Katy: all of a sudden, just, your cousins cooked, And oh, poor birds.
25:21
Laura: And then, before I finish, I just wanted to mention two more things.
25:24
Laura: One is, solar energy doesn't necessarily have to be, Electricity producing.
25:30
Laura: It could just be heat.
25:33
Laura: Sometimes people just want heat.
25:34
Laura: They don't even need the electricity.
25:36
Laura: Because sometimes, most people use electricity to create heat.
25:39
Laura: Like with their electric heating.
25:41
Laura: There are passive, there's something called passive solar tech.
25:44
Laura: Which is just designing buildings so that some sun comes through a south facing window and stores the heat in materials throughout the building.
25:53
Laura: So if you have a certain type of floor, it absorbs the heat through the day and then dissipates it through the evening so you don't have to pay for heating.
25:59
Katy: Nice.
26:00
Laura: Yeah,
26:00
Katy: That would be, that would be interesting down here in Texas because the evenings, the afternoons and evenings are so freaking hot.
26:06
Katy: You don't want, they say you don't want a backyard that faces west.
26:10
Katy: and it's because it just gets So freaking hot in the evenings in the summer.
26:14
Laura: Bakes the inside of your
26:15
Katy: Yeah, it just bakes the inside of your house.
26:17
Katy: And then yeah, you have to turn up your cooling even more.
26:19
Katy: And yeah, and we're still having energy conservation issues and stuff down here.
26:25
Katy: Good lord.
26:26
Laura: Solar water heating, which is what it sounds like, where it's just, it's heating systems that collect thermal energy and use it to heat water in homes and businesses.
26:35
Laura: They just have big collection tanks to do that.
26:37
Laura: And then there's solar process heating, which is it's like a commercial industrial thing where they use solar processes for things like water heating, ventilation, and cooling.
26:49
Laura: So the water, I don't know, you'll have to look into it, there's diagrams, but basically air is being heated up as it comes in the building by the sun so that they don't have to raise the temperature much higher.
26:59
Laura: Kind of like how geothermal
27:00
Katy: Yep.
27:00
Katy: Yep.
27:03
Laura: And then finally, the future.
27:05
Laura: The future is promising for solar.
27:07
Laura: It has.
27:08
Laura: gotten so cheap, so fast,
27:12
Katy: It has.
27:12
Katy: Yeah.
27:12
Katy: I mean, yeah.
27:13
Katy: Comparative to other things.
27:15
Katy: Yeah, for sure.
27:16
Laura: that we've invented.
27:17
Laura: And some scientists and working to improve cell efficiency, like I said, layering different semiconductors, making things called multi junction solar cells.
27:28
Laura: And, there are things called thin film solar cells.
27:33
Laura: Perovskite cells, organic photovoltaics, and quantum dots.
27:38
Laura: Just Keep your ears open for that kind of stuff, because that's what's coming, and hopefully it will be better.
27:43
Katy: Keep your ears open for quantum dots, everyone.
27:46
Katy: So.
27:47
Laura: And that's the solar energy.
27:49
Katy: Alrighty.
27:50
Katy: So.
27:50
Katy: mine isn't gonna be quite as long.
27:51
Katy: Mostly because geothermal is, it is what it is.
27:56
Katy: Like,
27:57
Laura: right, like mine's into a whole bunch of categories.
27:59
Katy: no, geothermal is.
28:01
Katy: Geothermal, and they've, gotten that, the system down for using it pretty darn well because they've been doing it for a long time, and it
28:09
Laura: high school in Waynesboro actually did some stuff with geothermal, which is mind blowing
28:14
Katy: yeah.
28:15
Katy: you're a little,
28:15
Laura: Little podium of Waynesboro, trying to get on that.
28:18
Laura: Back in two thousand and...
28:21
Laura: Like five.
28:22
Laura: I
28:23
Katy: Yeah, that is crazy.
28:24
Katy: That is crazy.
28:25
Katy: So geothermal energy is basically tapping into heat stored within the earth's crust to generate electricity to provide heating and cooling.
28:34
Katy: And we can use this energy to power our homes, schools, and even whole cities is what we see.
28:39
Katy: So let's go ahead and dive into a little bit of a detail here and then talk about there's one place on earth that pretty much this is predominantly used so inside Earth's crust, there's a lot of heat going on, obviously.
28:51
Katy: This heat comes from when the Earth was formed, from the natural decay of radioactive materials, and from general frictional heating.
28:59
Katy: Geothermal energy is all about capturing that heat regardless of where it comes from and turning it into something useful that we rely on.
29:08
Katy: There are different ways, though, to use geothermal energy.
29:11
Katy: One way is to use the steam from underground reservoirs to spin turbines and generate electricity that way.
29:19
Katy: Which is basically a steam windmill.
29:22
Katy: Another way to use geothermal energy is to take hot water from the earth and use it to heat buildings.
29:28
Katy: When it's used to heat a building, it's more commonly called radiant heating or hydro...
29:34
Katy: Hydronic radiate, radiant heating, I'm going to talk a little bit about Iceland here in a minute, because that's predominantly where Geo, just because of where it is.
29:44
Katy: I mean, they are
29:45
Laura: And like, out west, I just did a summer camp where we were kind of analyzing where in the U.
29:51
Laura: S.
29:52
Laura: are the best places for different types of renewable
29:54
Katy: Oh, that's
29:55
Laura: and essentially Texas has it all, from what we saw on our
29:58
Katy: of course.
29:59
Laura: Or Arizona, energy, you're that part of the country.
30:02
Laura: Geothermal, solar, all of it, it's all over there.
30:05
Katy: Yeah.
30:06
Katy: Except for not being used very effectively because we have the worst freaking power issues in the nation right now.
30:12
Katy: But the radiant heating, like that's pretty popular in flooring for houses.
30:16
Katy: And that's starting to be used more and more commonly.
30:18
Katy: Especially in, in colder regions.
30:20
Katy: Cause, I
30:21
Laura: Where you don't want to get up
30:22
Katy: Yeah.
30:23
Katy: that's
30:23
Laura: your tootsies be all
30:24
Katy: right.
30:24
Katy: That was one of the worst feelings that and sitting on a cold toilet seat.
30:28
Katy: Some of the worst feelings in the morning.
30:29
Katy: I mean, I'm thankfully don't have to deal with that anymore because, you know, we're just baking down here in Texas.
30:34
Katy: But but but radiant floor.
30:38
Katy: I mean, that would feel me because imagine getting up in the morning and your floor is not just like a normal room temperature.
30:44
Katy: It's actually cozy, warm, that would be I don't know.
30:47
Katy: That would be amazing for me.
30:48
Katy: As somebody who always chronically had cold feet growing up, that's my paradise right there.
30:53
Katy: Radiant Fuller.
30:54
Katy: One of the cool things about geothermal energy is that it's always there for us to use.
30:59
Katy: It doesn't depend on the sun shining or the wind blowing, so it's 24 7.
31:04
Katy: And Okay, I was gonna say that's a thin line to walk though, because just because it is available all the time doesn't mean that we should use it all the time kind of thing.
31:14
Katy: Using geothermal energy is also, for the most part, good for the environment.
31:18
Katy: It doesn't produce a whole lot of pollution or greenhouse gases like other energy sources do.
31:23
Katy: But the best part is the main byproduct of geothermal power plants is steam or hot water.
31:29
Katy: Which then we can just put back into the earth as we're just like, just done using it and use it for other things.
31:35
Katy: So really, geothermal, it has a lot of really good...
31:39
Laura: I agree.
31:40
Laura: There's really hard for me to think of the downs.
31:42
Laura: I can't wait to hear what you have for the cons.
31:44
Katy: what I'm going to go into right now.
31:45
Katy: So, of
31:46
Laura: Besides, I guess, I guess, I guess, one of the cons I've heard maybe is, potential earthquakes.
31:51
Laura: It's almost like fracking.
31:53
Katy: I didn't, I didn't find too much on that.
31:55
Katy: Just because I don't know...
32:00
Katy: Fracking, a lot of what they're saying the problems is dealing more because it's your gushing all that stuff down it's chemicals, I mean you're
32:08
Laura: Well, right.
32:09
Laura: I mean, the biggest thing with fracking, yes, is definitely the chemicals in the water.
32:13
Laura: But I know that there was also, with geothermal and fracking, there was also, because you're cracking apart the earth, there's the potential for,
32:20
Katy: I I mean, again, I'm not a geologist, but I feel like that would have to be significant.
32:26
Katy: Like we would all of a sudden have to be taken over by a geothermal wave of people, you know, just that's all they want to do is make geothermal for that to really be an issue.
32:36
Katy: But some of the challenges is it can be expensive to find the right place to tap in the earth's heat and set up.
32:42
Katy: The power plants.
32:43
Katy: So it can be expensive, definitely be expensive to find the right place and set up the power plants and not every place again has the perfect conditions for geothermal energy.
32:52
Katy: But scientists and engineers are always working on new ways to make it easier and more accessible as far as how can this be the most efficient?
33:00
Katy: If it was like how to travel over a long distance, is that, you know, how far would it have to go would if we had to solely rely on geothermal.
33:08
Laura: yeah.
33:08
Laura: It's really, it seems more place based
33:10
Katy: Yes, yes, for for sure.
33:13
Katy: But overall it is clean, reliable and it helps keep us warm and powered up.
33:18
Katy: And again, the warmth comes from the steam and everything.
33:20
Katy: But let's take a little bit of a closer look at some real life examples of the geothermal energy in action again.
33:26
Katy: One place I said where geothermal power is widely used widely studied and everything is Iceland.
33:33
Katy: So Iceland sits on a hot spot of geothermal activity, making it a perfect area for geothermal energy.
33:39
Katy: In fact, more than 80% of Iceland's energy comes from geothermal sources.
33:45
Katy: In Iceland, they have tapped into the Earth's heat to create geothermal power plants.
33:50
Katy: These plants drill deep into the ground where they can access the hot water and steam that lie beneath the surface.
33:56
Katy: So they do both.
33:57
Katy: The hot water and the steam.
33:59
Katy: They use the steam to turn the turbines and generate electricity like I was saying earlier.
34:04
Katy: But that's not all they use.
34:05
Katy: Iceland does take advantage of the geothermal energy for heating too.
34:10
Katy: They have a network of pipes that transport hot water from geothermal reservoirs to nearby towns and cities.
34:16
Katy: This hot water is then used to warm up buildings, heat swimming pools, and even melt snow on the streets during winter.
34:23
Laura: Wow.
34:24
Katy: Yeah, so I'm like, they're,
34:25
Laura: I know that they were thinking about doing that with solar stuff on roadways, even in America.
34:31
Katy: America.
34:31
Katy: is just so, I, I, America is just so freaking far behind the rest of the world.
34:36
Katy: Whenever we have the technology and the know how and the knowledge here, and the money, it's just a matter of, like, freaking, America could be a
34:45
Laura: It's just getting everyone to agree.
34:47
Laura: That's the problem.
34:48
Katy: It could be a, we could make, like, America literally could be a utopia of just, an incredible futuristic living.
34:56
Katy: If people would just stop being idiots and just be like, hey, this is gonna be better for all of us, let's...
35:01
Katy: Stop being political and let's just do this.
35:03
Katy: So yeah, so it's, it heats the streets.
35:06
Katy: Iceland's geothermal energy success story shows us just how powerful and versatile, which is the big thing, how versatile that geothermal energy can be.
35:15
Katy: It's not just about generating electricity, but also about providing sustainable heating solutions.
35:20
Katy: Because again, like Laura and I are from the Northeast and predominantly that was, it's coal country and, and now natural gas country.
35:27
Katy: But this is a much more sustainable solution to that.
35:31
Katy: So with their abundant geothermal resources, Iceland has become a shining example where people from all over the world go to study their geothermal, their plants, how they do everything, because they really do have this process down.
35:43
Laura: if only we could utilize the old coal mines as, pre built shafts For these geothermal,
35:49
Katy: yeah, right?
35:51
Katy: That would be beneficial.
35:53
Laura: already in the ground!
35:54
Katy: right, they're already they're already, there.
35:57
Katy: All right, so that was it on geothermal.
35:59
Katy: So some of, I think Laura and I have really touched on all the, the downsides that there are for green energy in general, which is the intermittency.
36:08
Katy: Again, Laura, Laura talked about that with her, solar panel The sun comes and goes, same thing with wind power, like wind farms.
36:14
Katy: We have some huge, I think out of the top 10 wind farms, size wise in the world, Texas has several of them here and they are ridiculously huge.
36:24
Katy: But again, you can drive by there.
36:25
Katy: Some days are all spent in some days or nothing.
36:28
Katy: And so again, the land and resource requirements that's needed, some need a lot more.
36:33
Katy: area, than others do.
36:36
Katy: The cost and economic viability, a lot of these have a very high upfront cost.
36:42
Katy: And then it will dissipate, down over time and you get your money back, I guess you could say, but at the same time,
36:49
Laura: able to front it.
36:50
Laura: Yeah.
36:50
Laura: And
36:50
Katy: yeah, at the same time though, yes, I understand I'm getting my money back, however,
36:55
Laura: even afford to start.
36:56
Katy: yeah, can you afford to start?
36:57
Katy: Let's say you can afford to start it is money really that big of an option if you know you're going to be doing what is right for the world to help them.
37:06
Katy: And, and again, that's where it comes into the politics side of all this.
37:10
Katy: Because, you know, people start throwing out things like talking about the environmental footprint and.
37:15
Katy: And what's low or what's not, and there's so many different narratives out there of people who are like, you know, how many times around have we heard about, well, it takes X number of fossil fuels to create everything for a wind farm?
37:29
Katy: And okay, we, well, how much does it take to create the Computer that you're getting all your information from or your phone.
37:36
Katy: You know what I
37:37
Laura: all relative.
37:38
Katy: Yeah, and and so there's a lot of backlash and but again, unfortunately a lot of it comes down to politics instead of people being like Hey, this works
37:46
Laura: I actually know somebody who's related to someone who was trying years ago, was inventing a new type of battery to hold solar power that was going to be great, and they could not get a patent because the lobbyists for the larger companies couldn't
38:06
Katy: Yeah.
38:07
Laura: Like oil and coal would not let it through,
38:10
Katy: Yeah.
38:11
Katy: Not even shocking.
38:11
Katy: And again, it goes back to politics that control everything.
38:16
Katy: And we don't want to turn this into a conspiracy podcast, but there are so many, people forget you can make money off of anything.
38:26
Katy: And it's the same thing with green energy.
38:29
Katy: There's money making opportunities here if you really want to do it and do it well and do it right.
38:35
Katy: You could be rolling in money if, if you developed the right product or, or whatever, pieces of the product to get all of this going.
38:43
Katy: So there, there are...
38:45
Katy: smart and good ways that we could be using this stuff.
38:50
Katy: So that's most of the downfalls of it.
38:51
Katy: It's just the upfront cost, the land and resource requirements, the
38:56
Laura: habitat loss,
38:57
Katy: Yeah.
38:58
Katy: So, those would be definitely, definitely some of the big ones there.
39:02
Laura: but we, listen, guys, we have to be real about this.
39:06
Laura: There's going to be no alternative here soon.
39:09
Laura: Like, this isn't a matter of, we should do this.
39:13
Laura: This is, we need to do this.
39:15
Laura: I
39:15
Katy: die.
39:16
Laura: there's, well, we know there's finite resources, alright?
39:20
Katy: But, but nobody looks at that that way.
39:22
Laura: No, but I mean, they even, like, scientists have projected maybe 200 years left of oil.
39:27
Laura: Okay?
39:28
Laura: Even if it's that wrong, even if it's 500 years, there's still an end!
39:32
Katy: yes.
39:33
Katy: And that blows, that ticks me off because again, my master's in Parker Resource Management.
39:38
Katy: Resource Management, folks.
39:39
Katy: And so it drives me insane that there is, it's
39:44
Laura: oil just doesn't magically appear, man.
39:46
Katy: Well, it doesn't, but also at the same time, it's a balance, and because of politics have gotten involved in it, it's one side doesn't want to use anything at all.
39:54
Katy: The other side wants to use everything.
39:56
Katy: There is a balance.
39:57
Katy: There is a give and take.
39:58
Katy: There's the
39:59
Laura: Well, because we're definitely, we definitely have to use oil to even make the plastics to make solar.
40:05
Laura: So, like, we need to use the oil before it's all gone to make the renewable stuff that we need to make.
40:11
Katy: yes, no, exactly, and,
40:13
Laura: Otherwise, we're gonna be using wooden windmills in another
40:16
Katy: again.
40:17
Katy: Yeah, because we have nothing else to use, but it's that balance.
40:21
Katy: Again, just so many people don't, they'd rather fight and argue about it and see one extreme to the other, other than just realizing Hey, we need to use these resources.
40:30
Katy: We, like you said, we need to use gas.
40:32
Katy: Let's use it intelligently and let's use it.
40:35
Katy: It's going to work out best in the long run.
40:38
Katy: And then, take a hit now to better off down the road kind of thing, but people would rather just argue about it instead of, finding a solution for it.
40:47
Katy: I feel like it's the millennials passing the torch down of, hey, we really need to do something and hopefully we can just keep going, keep this generation at least going in a better and a right direction.
41:01
Katy: Because it's not gonna end well for them, for sure.
41:06
Laura: Well, and on that note,
41:07
Katy: We always ended on such a tragedy, but I mean, it's a hopeful, it's a hopeful spot again, again.
41:15
Laura: Move to Maryland, man.
41:16
Laura: There's a lot of, a lot of incentives here for green energy.
41:19
Laura: It's all about, Solar.
41:21
Laura: They're installing, EV chargers.
41:23
Laura: You can't throw a rock soon
41:24
Katy: Oh my gosh.
41:25
Katy: Yeah, those are honestly down here everywhere too, Hopefully the next generation, like I said, we'll start thinking that way.
41:30
Katy: So Alrighty.
41:32
Katy: Well If you would like to nominate us to to be the alien, I don't want to say sacrifice The
41:40
Laura: my gosh, no.
41:42
Laura: Yeah.
41:42
Laura: Liaison! I wanna be the
41:44
Katy: thank you.
41:45
Katy: Liaison!
41:46
Laura: Sacrifice.
41:47
Katy: Liaison.
41:48
Katy: I guess reach out to us on Twitter.
41:50
Katy: And...
41:51
Katy: If the aliens would want to do like a social study on us, of like...
41:55
Katy: You know they've got to be all over Twitter to be like...
41:58
Katy: What the heck are
42:00
Laura: We're X.
42:01
Laura: It's not called Come
42:02
Katy: Yeah.
42:02
Katy: sorry, X.
42:03
Katy: Yeah, so dumb.
42:05
Katy: But they have to be looking at that.
42:06
Katy: So, reach out to us on Twitter, nominate us as, liaisons.
42:10
Katy: And, go on to Patreon, too, and support us at Laura, and I can keep doing this kind of stuff.
42:14
Katy: Keep bringing you education and chaos, I guess.
42:17
Laura: aren't your football thing, or our football
42:19
Katy: Yeah, those will be dropping on Saturdays and Sunday mornings.
42:22
Katy: Saturday we'll be going over college football.
42:24
Katy: And if you miss the explainer for that, we're going to to take two or three games for each day and then they're going to be taking the football side of things, making a prediction and then Laura and I are just going to make their mascots fight, like who would win if the mascots fight and that's what our prediction is going to be based off of how we're going to pick the winner.
42:43
Laura: Cause that's honestly how I do predict football.
42:45
Laura: Cause I don't sport.
42:47
Katy: Laura doesn't sport.
42:48
Katy: I love football.
42:49
Katy: But I grew up in Pittsburgh.
42:50
Katy: Yeah, you have to.
42:51
Katy: Alright guys, so anyway, like I said, reach out to us on Twitter, reach out to us on, and support us on Patreon so we can keep bringing you this content.
42:57
Katy: If you want to go ahead and visit our website and check out our merch, it's thenaturepodcast.
43:01
Katy: com
43:02
Laura: do it.
43:03
Laura: Alright, well thanks again guys.
43:05
Laura: Hopefully you learned just a little bit more, you care just a little bit more, and you're a little bit more curious.
43:10
Laura: Tune in next week.
43:11
Laura: Bye everybody.
43:11
Katy: Bye.