Paradigm changes – Profitability transitions – Culture shocksWe can neither achieve energy transition nor stop climate change if we do not constantly review all parameters and abandon unsuitable views.While the German heavy-carrying worriers are whining about too little lithium, the Chinese have been developing the sodium battery across the board. The leading battery manufacturers CATL and BYD are on board. If there were no sodium batteries, in a few years, lithium from seawater would have been a solution.
A dramatic example of a viability transition is from the GEMINI inhabited solar power plant in 1992 to the GEMINI next generation house. What is the cheapest way to generate 30,000 kWh of solar power per year? In 1992, the calculation was: 30 kW of south-facing photovoltaics are more expensive than 23 kW of sun-tracking photovoltaics plus a rotating mechanism. Around 2010, both variants were about the same price. Today, a rotating mechanism would be totally uneconomical because photovoltaics has become so much cheaper.
Once upon a time, in 1960, it was quite clear. Solar power was not even available for satellites, nor was solar heat. Let's take a huge apartment block and calculate surface area divided by living space. A lot of heat is lost in winter on the surface, which was extremely poorly insulated at the time. The result was absolutely clear: apartment block good, single-family house bad. But in the meantime, very good thermal insulation and ventilation systems with heat recovery from exhaust air have been developed. Electricity is just becoming the single currency in all energy matters. Solar power is becoming the most important source of energy.
Of course, this does not mean the old single-family house, as some suppliers still want to sell it, but new single-family houses according to the Building Standard KlimaSchutzÜberlegenheitsHaus. Less production effort, very much power generation per square meter of living space. |