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A team of physicists led by Stephen Jardin of the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has discovered a mechanism that prevents the electrical current flowing through fusion plasma from repeatedly peaking and crashing. This behavior is known as a "sawtooth cycle" and can cause instabilities within the plasma's core. The results have been published online in Physical Review Letters. The research was supported by the DOE Office of Science.
The team, which included scientists from General Atomics and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, performed calculations on the Edison computer at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Using M3D-C1, a program they developed that creates three-dimensional simulations of fusion plasmas, the team found that under certain conditions a helix-shaped whirlpool of plasma forms around the center of the tokamak. The swirling plasma acts like a dynamo -- a moving fluid that creates electric and magnetic fields. Together these fields prevent the current flowing through plasma from peaking and crashing.
(Score: 1) by Knowledge Troll on Friday November 27 2015, @07:08PM
yes it is because you started with the economic argument bullshit several posts ago.
Yep I'll gladly help you out with understanding your energy production capability. So you have a typical house in Eastern Oregon and fully invested in a roof top solar system. You are 100% off the grid which is a very admirable accomplishment I must say. And you recycle your own panels and cast them at home which is pretty damn cool. You have access to super sexy battery technology so you don't need to worry about integration with the grid because you have 100% independence from everyone else. Also you bought the best possible efficiency solar panels on the market at around 18% just no one else has heard of them yet and you don't remember the brand name. That's ok I'll take your word for it.
It is certainly handy that you are a perfectly average use case in power consumption but have access to all that cutting edge high performance gear. I bet it was expensive. Lets see if I can estimate what a winter day is like for you and your 2.2 kids. It is also very handy that you reviewed the Oregon State University web page I linked and agree that their model fits you perfectly. That makes stuff a lot easier.
Amount of captured solar energy depends critically on orientation of collector with respect to the angle of the Sun.
Under optimum conditions, one can achieve fluxes as high as 2000 Watts per sq. meter In the Winter, for a location at 40 degrees latitude, the sun is lower in the sky and the average flux received is about 300 Watts per sq. meter A typical household Winter energy use is around 2000-3000 KWHs per month or roughly 70-100 KWH per day. Assume our roof top area is 100 square meters (about 1100 square feet).
In the winter on a sunny day at this latitude (40o) the roof will receive about 6 hours of illumination.
So energy generated over this 6 hour period is:
300 watts per square meter x 100 square meters x 6 hours
= 180 KWH (per day) more than you need.
But remember the efficiency problem:
5% efficiency 9 KWH per day
10% efficiency 18 KWH per day
20% efficiency 36 KWH per day
At best, this represents 1/3 of the typical daily Winter energy usage and it assumes the sun shines on the rooftop for 6 hours that day.
With sensible energy conservation and insulation and south facing windows, its possible to lower your daily use of energy by about a factor of 2. In this case, if solar shingles become 20% efficient, then they can provide 50-75 % of your energy needs
Another example calculation for Solar Energy which shows that relative inefficiency can be compensated for with collecting area.
A site in Eastern Oregon receives 600 watts per square meter of solar radiation in July. Asuume that the solar panels are 10% efficient and that the are illuminated for 8 hours.
How many square meters would be required to generate 5000 KWH of electricity?
each square meter gives you 600 x.1 = 60 watts
in 8 hours you would gt 8x60 = 480 watt-hours or about .5 KWH per square meter
you want 5000 KWH
you therefore need 5000/.5 = 10,000 square meters of collecting area
So either you cover the roof and give up something like heating a few rooms and use only low power computing devices or you spill over into your yard. That's not so bad.
if you can't win an argument, change the goals!
That is true, changing the argument around as well as not doing research or bothering to contribute in any useful way is a problem. I'll make sure I stop doing that.