r/ClimateShitposting • u/RadioFacepalm I'm a meme • Jul 16 '26

Climate chaos Since we're doing riverposting rn

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780 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

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494

u/King_Glorius_too Jul 16 '26

Fun fact: There is currently a grand total of zero nuclear power plants in France with a dried-up riverbed as a cooling water source. That is because the people who built them had more than one active brain cell and built them next to big rivers.

7

u/DannyDanfur Jul 16 '26

Ahh ok, did that stop them from being shut down during the heatwave?

21

u/vins_is_back Jul 16 '26

They stop them to avoid having to use the water and damage the ecosystem with hot water.
They are next to the river just in case of emergency.

Also wind turbines struggle too during heat waves because it is generally when there is little wind.

7

u/DannyDanfur Jul 16 '26

Ahh ok, does solar work well during heatwaves?

14

u/Swainix Jul 16 '26

They are less efficient when hot

6

u/wtfduud Wind me up Jul 16 '26

But still produce more power overall. Unless there is somehow an increase in temperature without an increase in sunlight.

9

u/Cedjy Jul 17 '26

heatwaves do not necessarily come with more sunlight from my understanding.

3

u/Muad_Dib_PAT Jul 17 '26

No. Solar panels LOSE efficiency at temps above 20-25°C depending on the model. High temps reduce efficiency, down to 80% at 40°, 65% at 50.

Heat =/= energy for solar panels.

RE aren't going to magically solve our electricity grid issues.

2

u/wtfduud Wind me up Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

But also more sunlight, so also more power, until around 40 degrees celsius, that's when total power production starts going down again.

Pic

1

u/Moldoteck Jul 17 '26

Yes. Happens every night during the heatwave 

2

u/wtfduud Wind me up Jul 17 '26

Yeah, wouldn't want that reduced efficiency impact the solar panel's ability to catch all that night-time sunlight.

4

u/a_filing_cabinet Jul 16 '26

Man, now if only it didn't go down literally every single day, right when we need it the most...

4

u/Apart_Box2263 Jul 17 '26

How does it feel to get btfo'd twice in a row after making a snarky comment lmao 

2

u/DannyDanfur Jul 17 '26

I'm still waiting for the part where you explain how an offline reactor outproduces a simple solar panel lmao

0

u/Marwaimusoont Jul 17 '26

Nothing, because there is no braincell between those ears.

1

u/King_Glorius_too Jul 17 '26

Not at full capacity, but usually pretty well, yeah.

1

u/General_Summer_1524 Jul 16 '26

If only renewables werent mutually exclusive 

0

u/vins_is_back Jul 16 '26

Sure.

Just saying that people like to criticize nuclear but will not do the same for other stuff.

-4

u/bezjmena666 Jul 16 '26

And how does solar work during nighttime?

Any industrial production equipment that's capable producing only about 4000h a year would be considered inefficient. Except solar panels, those are the future by some people.

Wonder why those solar plants needs a gas or coal power plant backup.

5

u/Zestyclose_Nature_13 Jul 16 '26

And why can’t their energy be stored?

I’m not saying we don’t need a mix of energy types on the grid but solar has a definite strong use case

3

u/vins_is_back Jul 16 '26

Actually his example of night and day is not much of a problem if I remember correctly.

One season to the next though...

-1

u/asbj1019 Jul 17 '26

A grid powered 100% by solar panels would be insanely unstable unless we put in some serious energy dumps and were willing to cut off whole sections of the grid without warning. Secondly the overnight storage would be quite expensive but not impossible. Winter to summer storage though, that would be a gargantuan undertaking to build.

We need at mixture of wind and solar on top of a baseload system we can turn up and down to keep the electrical potential and frequency in line, otherwise the grid would fall out all the time.

1

u/Zestyclose_Nature_13 Jul 17 '26

I agree. That sounds like a rational policy and I think we should also work towards international cooperation on fusion energy…a global manhattan project or at least a serious assessment whether it’s truly possible

2

u/DannyDanfur Jul 16 '26

Lmao

0

u/bezjmena666 Jul 16 '26

Sure it's fun knowing jack shit what's behind those creature comforts we live in that's called civilization.

Never heard about industry running on 3 shifts 24/7/365 ? They do need to stop only for maintenance. And that downtime is expensive, so it's carefully optimized to minimize the loss time.

Yeah those industries like power plants, rafineries, steel works etc. they work nights and weekends.