I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think he is scamming.
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Scamming what?
I have my opinions but would like to hear yours.
Perhaps scamming is too strong; how about all hype, no substance; with people losing a lot of money.
He wouldn’t be the first...
How are reusable rockets with precision landing capabilities a scam?
That's not all he has done tho, the Tesla car is looking at this point like a financial disaster.
He built the largest storage battery in South Australia in less than 100 days' It's out performing its specs and shoving coal right back up[ the governments rectum. That alone is ok by me.
Outperforming coal at what?
@ TD
Response times, cost/efficiency down time.
Take a read, this is mainstream media, in fact Australians' most trusted media....but I can hear you squeal already...
The world's biggest lithium-ion battery — built by tech billionaire Elon Musk's company Tesla last year — has survived its first summer in South Australia's mid-north.
Key points
AEMO says the Hornsdale Power Reserve is capable of charging at a rate of 80 megawatts and discharging at 100 megawatts
It has a storage capacity of 129 megawatt hours
That means it could operate for about 75 minutes at full capacity
And according to a new report by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), it's outperforming coal and gas generators on some key measures.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-06/tesla-battery-outperforms-coal-and...
It smooths out spikes caused by the windfarm.
Not a viable solution to power consumption.
I'm for renewable sources but atm they are expensive hype that needs to be subsidies to be competitive.
Nuclear is a better option for Australia.
But sure more renewable is on the right path.
Back on topic I see Musk has been dubbed the Donald Trump of silicon valley.
@TermDog
"I'm for renewable sources but atm they are expensive hype that needs to be subsidies to be competitive."
The price of renewables is falling all the time, and it always depended on how you figured the costs to begin with- start up costs for coal fired plants are ginormous and coal's subsidised up the wazoo. If we had to pay the unsubsidised price of coal fired electricity, nobody would call it a bargain.
"Nuclear is a better option for Australia."
Totally agree - and not just in Australia - but it ain't gonna happen, TermDog. People are terrified of it. It's that old inability to assess risk realistically, again. Plus start up costs of nuclear plants are also ginormous. The private sector wouldn't do it- why would they when they can get away with using coal and other fossil fuels? The plants would have to be built by the public sector as a public service, and the right wing wouldn't wear that. Or they'd permit the state to fund it, but insist the state then hand it over to the private sector to make a profit and everyone would be up in arms on the centre and the left. The public resent losing their assets.
I am fairly knowledgeable on this subject, and sushisnake's summation here nailed the reality of energy production and nuclear.
What's this about needing subsidies to stay afloat?
That's the definition of oil, coal, nuclear.
Why hold back from newer alternatives unless your ignorant and on the take from big coal or oil...
Meh, we need to go back local supply and fuck all that lossy grid mechanism and bidding on consumption.
I volunteered to get a old power plant running with a bunch of very old guys that ran it, runs now as a tourist attraction for an about a day.
Takes a not so small air bomb to start it, pretty cool actually.
@TermDog
Re: "Meh, we need to go back local supply..."
Then why advocate for nuclear power? Ain't no such thing as a small scale nuclear, Dog: renewables are the go if you want to keep it small and local.
I swear, TermDog, I think half of your posts are motivated by the Imp of the Perverse.
@ Sushi snake
I think he is 12 years old with a paper round and a conservative dad.
Nevs mind.
Speaking of Elon Musk, Australia and renewables, here's the Honest Government Ad about it. First aired 3 hours ago.
https://youtu.be/sitPeRlTdNs
Love it, now subscribed. Funny as hell yet accurate..yes, Terminological Inexactitude...ACCURATE. Coal is dying. Like the spinning wheel, horse drawn transport, steam locomotives (sadly) and the petrol engine it is on the way out.
@Old Man
You'll love 'em :-)
Check out the early stuff, too- the Rap News. He lost his rapper, so he had to change the format.
According to a graph from The Economist, renewables in North America are comparatively cheap.
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2018/03/15/switching-to-renewab...
Attachments
Attach Image/Video?:
Coal and gas currently together supply most of the human race's demand for power.
@ TD
"Coal and gas currently together supply most of the human race's demand for power."
So what? They also pollute the atmosphere, poison the ground and cost fantastic sums annually in lost tax revenue and subsidies. Like the use of steam engines they are dirty, outmoded, inefficient compared to other sources of energy. Alternative energy sources are becoming cheaper, create more jobs and hurt the planet much less than dirty coal or fracking for gas. Thats is where our investment dollars should be going.
@Old Man
Re: " So what?"
You took the words right out of my mouth.
@TermDog
Re: " Coal and gas currently together supply most of the human race's demand for power."
Religion currently supplies most of the human race's demand to find a meaning for life, the universe and everything- should we subsidise religion, too?
Religion is already subsidised thru our taxes. Religion like coal has served most of humanity for most of history.
Fossil fuels have provided the entire framework for modern civilization to exist.
Reliance on fossil fuels will diminish with time.
Stop trying to be so edgey like you are some revolutionary making world saving change, you an old man are just more consumers dependent on fossil fuels and are actors in the game, you are not directors of the game.
@ TD
And when the argument goes against you you resort to ad hominems.
"Fossil fuels have provided the entire framework for modern civilization to exist."
Absolutely correct. And now they have outlived their time and must be discarded. Technology has outstripped them. like the calculator and the abacus.
"Reliance on fossil fuels will diminish with time".
It IS diminishing every minute of every day. Only the few billionaires are now actively bribing their way to create a false fossil fuel economy with billions in subsidies for Earth destroying fossil fuels. Like the Luddites before they cannot envisage the future. But change is inevitable and quick change is what is needed to avoid catastrophic damage to the environment as a whole and in Australia, particularly, the destruction of the Barrier Reef. .
@Old Man
Re: TermDog "...when the argument goes against you you resort to ad hominems."
ROFL! Resorts to?! He OPENS with ad homs, old mate: Remember "Can / do we have a music thread? Leftists don't click you can't deal with this, this band is my religion."? Couldn't even keep his hand off it to start a simple what-music-do-you-listen-to thread.
And then there was " This must be a dilemma for feminists?? ...and the left, no judgement on my part so brave, you go girl all 100+ kg 6ft +. Hope zhe doesn't kill some other girl in a tackle. I wouldn't want my gf getting in an on field punch up with zhe.": How to sink the boot into feminists AND the left AND transgender folk all in one go!
I think he's the lovechild of Pauline Hanson and Tony Abbott.
@TermDog
Re: "Religion is already subsidised thru our taxes"
And you're ok with that, are you? Strange reaction from an atheist- we're usually opposed to it. Hell! Even a lot of theists are opposed to it.
I like Elon Musk.
But how do we categorize the man? Personally, I define him as a tech innovator. He is taking current technology and finding ways to apply that tech in the most efficient manner. He really doesn't invent anything, he just runs a very efficient operation that finds ways to use the current tech in the most efficient manner.
And you don't get to being a powerful billionaire with tremendous influence by being a pushover. Behind that famous smile is a ruthless businessman, he gets what he wants.
But is he a force for the future? It is much too early to discover. IMO most of his solutions are short term. His electric cars do not really solve the energy problems, the just transfer it to the power grid. Right now his rockets may appear to be the way forward. But twenty years from now, which will be most used transportation method to space? Only then can we determine whether Elon Musk and his Space X or Jeff Bezo's Blue Origins is the best.
David sums it up extremely well but I'm less sure about how good a businessman he is. (Ruthlessness doesn't get the best results in business as the best deals normally benefit both parties). I think he is the opposite of a scammer. He sincerely believes he can deliver on his promises because he has a good history of doing that compared with most ambitious innovators.
He may have overstepped a number of marks, such as making Tesla a profitable company. He may have underestimated the innovations from other companies in the e-car field. He may have underestimated the patience of his financial backers. He may also have underestimated the savings that he can achieve in efficiency and in using new technology. So, he is no scammer but might become the victim of his own success in driving competitors to see the value in new technology and manufacturing systems.
Nuclear power is not green energy, it is the opposite. No proper account is taken of the cost of storing nuclear waste or burying it. Just one site proposal to bury some of it (assuming that solves the problem and was technically practical) would have cost 20bn Euros and that isn't guaranteed to last more than a hundred years. New "mini-nuclear power packs' may make it practical in the future.
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