this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024

163 points (96.6% liked)

Technology

58009 readers

2968 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

163

Bronze Age technology could aid switch to clean energy (sustainability.stanford.edu)

submitted 1 month ago by ArtikBanana@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/technology@lemmy.world

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

all 18 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] ogmios@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

One thing that really got my attention when I studied nanotechnology is how many original technologies we still use regularly, just in a refined/modified form (Chemical Vapour Deposition, a technique used heavily in the production of many ordinary products from computer chips to chip bags, is fundamentally the exact same technology first used to smelt ore). It actually wouldn't be hard at all to transition to lower impact technologies in a lot of places if people were okay with not electrifying/connecting everything possible.

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago

It actually wouldn't be hard at all to transition to lower impact technologies in a lot of places if people were okay with not electrifying/connecting everything possible.

I would assume the push to connect everything under the sun is driven more by cheap electronics and corporate marketing teams rather than actual consumer demand. Making products "smart" is cheaper and more profitable than making them better quality. Go figure.

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

how is smelting similar to CVD, elaborate plz

[+] ogmios@sh.itjust.works -8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

They're both essentially vaporizing a metal with high heat to deposit upon a substrate above. Early smelting was just looking to purify the metal and remove impurities, and now we've refined that same technique with strictly controlled parameters to deposit exactly what metal we want to have where, to build the microscopic features of modern computer chips.

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 1 month ago

this is neither what smelting is or what CVD is. smelting goes from oxide to metal, and uses carbon monoxide at ~atmospheric pressure for that. early smelting was used for smelting, but early purification method was forging. there's Mond process, but it's not smelting. CVD occurs in vacuum and uses something probably rather reactive on its own that decomposes on target surface, sometimes giving one atomic layer at a time, and it doesn't have to be metal

[–] Entropywins@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I work in a fab and I assure you CVD is not like smelting...you gave me a chuckle though!

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

The internet is a series of tuuuubes!!!

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

But think of the shareholders!!! The poor billionaire shareholders!!!

[–] EarthShipTechIntern@lemm.ee 18 points 1 month ago

To wit: Firebricks store heat, cheaply.

[–] DJDarren@thelemmy.club 17 points 1 month ago

Primitive Technology on YouTube is waaaay ahead of you.

[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Glass industry has been doing it since the 1850's with "regenerator" furnaces

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_melting_furnace

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago

regenerators of this kind are also used in some types of iron smelting furnaces

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well hot damn!!!

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Yes. Hot damn. Thats what the planet is. Hot and damned.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

With that attitude it is!

[–] Darkenfolk@dormi.zone 1 points 1 month ago

*becoming hot and damned. There's gonna be a generation in between who's living in a tropical paradise, depending on where they live.

[–] drawerair@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

👍 article. Firebricks may accelerate our transition to sustainable energy.