Storage is improving, the grid is becoming more interconnected and more intelligent. Th time/storage issue will be ameliorated. But the real promise of solar is in space where you can collect full-power 7/24. And even simplier and efficient than arrays of solar panels.
We are in transition. We need more nuclear and we need fusion.
dave
Modern nuclear plants are not the dinosaurs you guys are talking about. Those monsters were stop-gap. Just think of the tecjh that we have gained in the last 50 years.
dave
dave
well the new three generation centrals in Europe that are being made but not finished yet and have some delay problems, and the ones in China are not of huge quality, if you're talking about fusion.
Again, a problem in transition. Remember when NiCad batetries were such a big step forward? Now lithium. The batteries we have now are way better than when we first started making lithium batteries.
Huge amounts of research are being put into batteries. There is likely not enuff lithium to satisfy the demand and the car companies are inverting billions to make sure they do not have a problam of no material to make batteries.
dave
It is already happening.
As Charles suggests old auto battery paks (still scarce) are being repurposed into other roles. And mining the recycling for the key materials is already happening. It will grow immensly as we have more & more batteries.
dave
The cool new ones will be made (are starting to be made) in factories and wil go to their locations be truck or train. They wil be small and when they run out of fuel you ship it back to the factory for a rebuild and you install a new one (probably more advanced given 10 years or so of new tech and further development).
Transitory until we get fusion. Then it is a whole new ball-game. I hope to see it in my lifetime.
dave
Hopefully new tech such as high temperature liquid metal battery like Ambri would ease a lot of recycling.
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the earth is bathed in sunlight 24-7-365, i.e. somebody is receiving it! so long as we can find places to set up the collectors and send the power over long distances it could be a continuous supply
Morocco seems a good contender Solar power in Morocco - Wikipedia. Cover the Sahara with solar panels, why not?
But class A whatever the elec source is producing heat! If all the guys at Katmandou do have say 30W class A amps, will we have snow on the Everest yet ?...
If the solar cells are at the same place as the class A amplifier (say, on the roof) there is little change in energy distribution.
In this specific case: solar on snow largely bounces-off; solar on panels is significantly absorbed. So yes, snow melt.
If we could catch solar in Morocco and pipe it to northern Scotland, we would disturb the present balance. Marginally less heat in Morocco, more in Scotland.
I would say it is tough for man to grossly distort natural trends. However:
xkcd: Land Mammals
1338: Land Mammals - explain xkcd
Our domestic animals greatly out-weigh all the wild animals on the planet.
358 million tons of humans,
864 million tons of pets and livestock,
34 million tons of wild animals;
I for one still using Class A, but in the same time doing some researches how to make CLASS A more environment friendly and more efficient and finding a way to produce less waste of energy when not in use but still idle..and also use this kind of energy saver @ home already, when the amp is still Idle and next step is to shut down the amp with wake up function..
Discussion are always good but actions and activities are sure better..
We should worry more about all these Electric Cars which are thrown on the market..
As long not everyone has his own Sun Collector Producing small "electricity factory at home" on the roof, then the danger of hazardous environment Pollution is much bigger than using a CLASS A.
Just BTW: A good Class AB when really pulled up uses also much Energy. So the goal should be to research for efficient CLASS A, and Speakers with high efficiency SPL + 95 DB up.
My two cents.
Discussion are always good but actions and activities are sure better..
We should worry more about all these Electric Cars which are thrown on the market..
As long not everyone has his own Sun Collector Producing small "electricity factory at home" on the roof, then the danger of hazardous environment Pollution is much bigger than using a CLASS A.
Just BTW: A good Class AB when really pulled up uses also much Energy. So the goal should be to research for efficient CLASS A, and Speakers with high efficiency SPL + 95 DB up.
My two cents.
Low power class A is not a big concern, most people need a bit of heat. But I, personally, sort of fail to see any advantage to using class A in any scenario, to each their own.
I've had my fair share of amplifiers of various kinds, if I need low power, cheap, simple, reliable, stereo, from a 12v lead battery, my goto would be the TDA7297 which is class AB.
But for anything else (more power and/or more channels) I have a hard time concidering anything else than class D or other relatively "higher efficiency" topologies, everything becomes cheaper and easier with an efficient power amplifier.
I've had my fair share of amplifiers of various kinds, if I need low power, cheap, simple, reliable, stereo, from a 12v lead battery, my goto would be the TDA7297 which is class AB.
But for anything else (more power and/or more channels) I have a hard time concidering anything else than class D or other relatively "higher efficiency" topologies, everything becomes cheaper and easier with an efficient power amplifier.
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@ KaffiMann
There is a BIG difference between Amplifiers, and please do not get upset. But sound quality of A Class A can not be reached with any other amp.. Especially not with a TDA..Chip Amp.!
I have several Class A, and just made a new one a few days back almost similar Circuit with the HOT ones, those which get hot FAST and stay hot. Burning between 200 and 400 Watts Idle current, the same as any class AB on full load..
Changing transistor will change Quality, changing Idle Current will change Quality.
It can be measured and also be heard.
Listen to these AMPS below 1 WATT output POWER and then you will know the truth.
What I try to achieve is a CLASS A AMP which runs on +- 20 Volts Rail voltage and uses not more than 40 Watts Idle per side. Output will be MAX 10 Watts @ 8Ohm.
And it get only 45 degrees Celsius with continues use..
Now there is no need to burn 40 Watts IDLE, when not in use and there is the point where all can help to save energy with some Energy saver which will kick in automatically..
This is what I'm working on for quite some time.
The latest CLASS A Circuit using MJE 15034 Rail +- 20 volts will burn 1.64 Amps Idle.
The same Circuit using 2SC5200 with same Rail Voltage will burn 4.3 Amps Idle. and Sound is completely different.
Config is almost the same,
And this amp is no Comparison whatsoever with the ones running on VRAIL +-40 Volts .
It's another Quality.. and then ask those who are running CLASS A on TUBES, there is nothing to compare when it comes from low mid to super high. Sub Woofer and Woofer frequencies then should be run on Transistors and or MOSFETS..
I rather listen to NO MUSIC at all than to MUSIC which is colored and multiplexed instead of PURE.
That's just my Point of view,
Thanks
There is a BIG difference between Amplifiers, and please do not get upset. But sound quality of A Class A can not be reached with any other amp.. Especially not with a TDA..Chip Amp.!
I have several Class A, and just made a new one a few days back almost similar Circuit with the HOT ones, those which get hot FAST and stay hot. Burning between 200 and 400 Watts Idle current, the same as any class AB on full load..
Changing transistor will change Quality, changing Idle Current will change Quality.
It can be measured and also be heard.
Listen to these AMPS below 1 WATT output POWER and then you will know the truth.
What I try to achieve is a CLASS A AMP which runs on +- 20 Volts Rail voltage and uses not more than 40 Watts Idle per side. Output will be MAX 10 Watts @ 8Ohm.
And it get only 45 degrees Celsius with continues use..
Now there is no need to burn 40 Watts IDLE, when not in use and there is the point where all can help to save energy with some Energy saver which will kick in automatically..
This is what I'm working on for quite some time.
The latest CLASS A Circuit using MJE 15034 Rail +- 20 volts will burn 1.64 Amps Idle.
The same Circuit using 2SC5200 with same Rail Voltage will burn 4.3 Amps Idle. and Sound is completely different.
Config is almost the same,
And this amp is no Comparison whatsoever with the ones running on VRAIL +-40 Volts .
It's another Quality.. and then ask those who are running CLASS A on TUBES, there is nothing to compare when it comes from low mid to super high. Sub Woofer and Woofer frequencies then should be run on Transistors and or MOSFETS..
I rather listen to NO MUSIC at all than to MUSIC which is colored and multiplexed instead of PURE.
That's just my Point of view,
Thanks
Yeah, we will see it both of us. I already know that very small nuc local unit for town have already been POCed here in France. But the green pressure is too high rightnow for that, even if sea cooled near the costs. In Germany for instance they prefer fossil carbon instead nuc... it's more a political problem than a technical one. We risk to see it sooner in some countries wher ethe public opinion have few importance in the Asia side imho.
When you see Tokyo or Las Vegas at night, you fully understand than electricity cunsumption is complex subject...
Back to topics
But now if Speaker Manufacturers, would produce Speakers with high SPL and really linear Quality, so all these problems could be solved with low VOLTAGE CLASS A AMPS, which would be able to produce the same Sound Quality with Higher Current, and lower Voltage but with these high SPL Speakers the Ultimate Sound.
It's no need I think to have more than 20 Watts RMS in the living room, unless you do have a PARTY everyday.
And here is the point where we can use the full specific Class A Quality if the Amplifier has 10 Watts RMS limit, because this is still some 25 Watts Peake to Peak power, far enough and loud enough to listen to music..
But to create a 10 Watt Class A we can use less Voltage and also Less Current which will give use less Wasted IDLE Current and heat. So easy..
Check out some of the First Watt Series Amplifiers and there you can see that these work very efficiently and with some of the best sound there is out there.
So most of our Problem because of wasting power on Idle would be cleared, and anyone who has more in mind than EGO, may go a step further and controls that IDLE of Class A current respectively Watts, which going out in heat instead of sound.
I for one doing exactly that,. Using full power when listening to music on the CLASS A but when it's on idle, just running it on low level or even switched off. BTW in the meantime I using a circuit which allows my 230 Volts AC Class A to run on 110 Volts, and still having the full sound of it. but using only the half of Voltage, and therefore also less than 1/3rd of the Idle Current and the sound is still CLASS A.!
But now if Speaker Manufacturers, would produce Speakers with high SPL and really linear Quality, so all these problems could be solved with low VOLTAGE CLASS A AMPS, which would be able to produce the same Sound Quality with Higher Current, and lower Voltage but with these high SPL Speakers the Ultimate Sound.
It's no need I think to have more than 20 Watts RMS in the living room, unless you do have a PARTY everyday.
And here is the point where we can use the full specific Class A Quality if the Amplifier has 10 Watts RMS limit, because this is still some 25 Watts Peake to Peak power, far enough and loud enough to listen to music..
But to create a 10 Watt Class A we can use less Voltage and also Less Current which will give use less Wasted IDLE Current and heat. So easy..
Check out some of the First Watt Series Amplifiers and there you can see that these work very efficiently and with some of the best sound there is out there.
So most of our Problem because of wasting power on Idle would be cleared, and anyone who has more in mind than EGO, may go a step further and controls that IDLE of Class A current respectively Watts, which going out in heat instead of sound.
I for one doing exactly that,. Using full power when listening to music on the CLASS A but when it's on idle, just running it on low level or even switched off. BTW in the meantime I using a circuit which allows my 230 Volts AC Class A to run on 110 Volts, and still having the full sound of it. but using only the half of Voltage, and therefore also less than 1/3rd of the Idle Current and the sound is still CLASS A.!
FWIW I really like a good class A amp, but the best sounding class A amps I've experienced are a bit "sweet & warm" sounding. In quite a few of the designs like Nelson does or other examples like the MOFO there's a nicely balanced amount of 2nd and 3rd order harmonic distortion that does make a good "sweet & warm" sound. It's a bit of the same in a good tube amp, nothing wrong with that, and it does sound very nice, but it's not exactly neutral.
Some years ago I would probably agree with you about the generalization in regards to mosfet vs tube vs whatever else. But now I'm leaning more towards the most important factors being circuit design and implementation.
PWM amplifiers require less cooling, less heatsink, less complicated psu - everything else being equal - than class A and AB.
There are some very nice sounding amplifiers around, regardless of class. End result is that I am having an increasingly hard time justifying the cost, increased material useage, and heat output of lower efficiency topologies. And especially so when we now have PWM amplifiers that actually sound very nice, I can have my cake and eat it.