The ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems.
Questions tagged [energy]
87 questions
179
votes
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Does a webpage with a black background save energy?
Blackle is a search engine that claims to save energy because it uses a black background. Is there any evidence to back up their claim that a website using a black background will save energy, and if so, how much energy will be saved?
user1936
68
votes
3 answers
Do "solar panels require 10 times the minerals to deliver the same quantity of energy as a natural gas plant"?
Recently, the Washington Post published an article1 discussing Mark Jacobson's research2 positing that a strategy of 100% wind, water, and solar power can provide all the energy needs of the U.S. with no pollution or emissions.
Many on Twitter have…
LShaver
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Does one transaction on Bitcoin require 215 kWh?
This seems unbelievable:
This averages out to a shocking 215 kilowatt-hours (KWh) [sic] of juice used
by miners for each Bitcoin transaction (there are currently about
300,000 transactions per day).
Source: One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as…
Dan Gravell
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Can the US be powered by a 100 miles x 100 miles solar grid?
In this article Elon Musk is quoted to say that the US can be powered by a solar grid shaped as a square (in video he says "a corner of Utah or Nevada") 100 miles x 100 miles big.
“If you wanted to power the entire United States with solar panels,…
Paul Smith
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Did/does the US government keep secret papers by Nikola Tesla?
A popular conspiracy theory holds that Tesla invented a free energy device, but that the powers that be prevented him from publishing it, because it would hurt their investments. Of course, free energy as such does not exist, and literally speaking,…
gerrit
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Is it true that there is not enough electricity to power all vehicles in the United States if they were electric?
According to Scotty Kilmer, in his video, "The Truth About My Worsening Condition":
There is not enough electricity [currently] to charge the batteries of cars like Tesla that have lithium ion or lithium iron phosphate batteries. There would have…
Evan Carroll
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Did wind power supply less than half a percent of global energy in 2014?
From The Spectator: Wind turbines are neither clean nor green and they provide zero global energy:
Here’s a quiz; no conferring. To the nearest whole number, what percentage of the world’s energy consumption was supplied by wind power in 2014, the…
Andrew Grimm
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40
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Did the town of Woodland, North Carolina, USA reject a solar plant because of cancer and photosynthesis concerns?
The Raonoke Chowan News Herald reported on 8 December 2015 reports that the town of Woodland, North Carolina, USA rejected a solar farm, citing concerns on photosynthesis and cancer:
Jane Mann said she is a local native and is concerned about the…
gerrit
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38
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Can you recharge non-rechargeable alkaline batteries?
There are conflicting reports of whether it is possible to safely recharge alkaline batteries (not lithium) that are not sold as rechargable. The packaging for batteries regularly has cautions against recharging. However, there are also claims…
Chris Dennett
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At the current rate are we going run out of fossil fuels by 2060?
British energy company Octopus Energy claims on their blog:
If we keep burning fossil fuels at our current rate, it is generally estimated that all our fossil fuels will be depleted by 2060.
This doesn't seem very far away. Is this true?
Stupid_Intern
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Is the "wind lens" a breakthrough in wind energy?
In this video a "brim" is placed around a wind turbine and the power generated doubles. A simple static mechanism that doubles the efficiency of a turbine seems too good to be true. Is this a legitimate breakthrough?
Additional links (but they all…
Larry OBrien
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Which baby diaper is more Earth-friendly -- cloth or disposable?
We have a lot of friends who use cloth diapers, and I've heard some say that cloth diapers are actually more un-ecologically friendly than disposable diapers. I have a hard time buying that. I can find some sources going both ways online:
From the…
Hendy
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Is there any data on how efficient Tesla wireless power transmission was?
It's widely believed that Nikola Tesla not only demonstrated wireless power transmission but his works in this field were very successful.
Wikipedia only says this
The electric energy transmitted by means of electrostatic induction can be utilized…
sharptooth
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Are there fewer accidental deaths at nuclear power plants than others?
I have seen the stats on this website saying that the number of death caused by nuclear accidents was way smaller then those caused by any other energy production factory. Do you have any information, studies that can confirm that? And numbers for…
Zenon
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Are there 14,000 abandoned wind turbines in the USA?
A number of blogs and sites seem to repeat a claim 14,000 ABANDONED WIND TURBINES LITTER THE UNITED STATES, and in particular:
The towering symbols of a fading religion, over 14,000 wind turbines, abandoned, rusting, slowly decaying. When it is…
Brian M. Hunt
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