It’s quite sobering to think that the globe is actually running hotter in this La Niña cycle than the 2016 Super El Niño.
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Lets see if Fortescue can make this work:
Someone will correct me but aren’t all ‘diesel’ trains now simple glorified electricity makers? They run DC or AC motors don’t they?
I mean take for example the GE ES44AC. I mean AC is in the name.
Basically using the same concept as this UK mine. Use gravity to run the load downhill and push the empty cars back up the hill to refill. Instead of directly linked like this ropeway, the potential energy of altitude would be converted into battery charge, which would drive the train back up the hill.
So yes, not overly far from what current trains are doing, just turning braking force into free fuel.
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Correct Ac traction
When you go into dynamic braking you reverse the polarity on the traction motors similar to a truck brake.
Currently when you go into dyno the electricity is burnt off through grids high on each side of the locomotive .
As to storing that to a battery then reusing ona loco would add extra weight which in turn effects not only the loco but the rail it runs on
Can always add the battery in a tender like when they were experimenting with lpg.
I’m no science guy, but could they have the batteries on the side of the track in stages so the train moves past and charges the battery that way? Or am I just hoping in vain we can combine trains with rail-gun technology?
Like a Maglev?
Giant capacitors?
Then we have to look into draw bar capacity of the wagons and could you place the wagon next to the loco with all the tonnnage then placed on the draw gear / coupling of the battery wagon.
WDP wired distributed power where a loco is placed in middle of train currently operates which increases tonnage capacity ..as for placing a lighter wagon behind it ..you’d have to do the math,
Fuel wagons are currently placed behind locos ON EAST WEST COAST SERVICES but tonnages are nowhere near the Pilbara trains
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Thank you for this.
The heating is going to be so big and so obvious that it will lead, for the first time, to a real global discussion of solar geoengineering as a response. I think that is tragic and also increasingly likely, because the cost of letting the temperature continue to rise will be so large that the side-effects that could come from pouring sulfur into the atmosphere will start to seem more more evenly matched with the weather carnage on display. It’s probably time for those who care about the planet to start figuring out what their response to this debate will look like. There are some good reasons to fight it tooth and nail, but it’s also the moment to start insisting that if it’s ever going to be even considered it be accompanied by an iron-clad commitment to drive down fossil fuel emissions to zero. If we’re going to bet the future of the planet, the reason can’t be to make sure Exxon’s business model remains intact.
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Frightening
If I had as much money as Musk, Bezos etc. I would saturate the world’s airwaves with ads like this. I would keep doing it tell I went broke. Because in the end, nothing else matters.
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some positive news here
Yeah but have you seen my AI generated image?
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The report’s conclusion isn’t “panic.” It’s closer to “grow up.”
I couldn’t help but think about the images of people fighting over toilet paper during covid when reading that sentence.
I really don’t think we are collectively capable of “growing up” for the betterment of each other. We won’t sacrifice a damn thing if it means we are in any way going to give up things that make us comfortable. I think that’s pretty obvious.
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Science based facts presented really well. It hits hard, but so it should. It was good to see someone talking about CO2 lag because it is something that isn’t talked about enough. I especially like it because it will reach an audience that wouldn’t normally see it presented that way.
Thank you for sharing.
Which is why (unfortunately) we need governments to do it for us.
I say unfortunately due to the continual pandering to the resources sector that happens in this country by both sides of politics.
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