• JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      11 hours ago

      “Power Plant” won’t be a fitting term until we can generate electricity (at a viable scale) from chloroplasts.

      And wouldn’t that just be solar with extra steps?

      • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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        57 minutes ago

        fun fact: chloroplasts generate an electric potential across the cell membrane during photosynthesis. essentially, they have membrane proteins in their chloroplast membranes that push electrons from one side of the membrane to the other side whenever a photon hits the protein. It’s essentially a natural photovoltaic cell.

        That electric potential is then used to create ATP in nature, while we just directly extract the electrical power through cables.

      • JATth@lemmy.world
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        40 minutes ago

        You should look at mitochondria:

        • The power plant of the cell.
        • Runs on a proton-gradient.
        • ATP synthase is essentially a molecular turbine and a generator.
        • oh. a turbine. Damm thing spins ~18000 rpm at medium throttle, pumping out elec- ATP. ATP.

        Oops… it’s turbines all the way down.

    • dublet@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      I dunno if “power plant” quite fits for solar and wind

      Why not?

      The First Law of Thermodynamics: Energy Cannot Be Created or Destroyed

      Fossil fuel power plants merely convert chemical energy into another type.

      • JakenVeina@midwest.social
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        5 hours ago

        Just that “power plant” I think most people associate with large enclosed facilities that house power generating equipment, which doesn’t quite describe wind and solar farms. Hence that most people refer to them as “farms”.