Oh, I figure it's the sort of thing which might take time to catch on and be developed, in places with less abundant cheap labor but also less ambient lighting where the extra 10% or so efficiency is important. Not soon within the TL, but something within the next few decades--I'm less "this is something which needs to happen faster" and more along the lines of this being a method to incidentally later advance true photovoltaic. It's something which might happen by the , but which might move up the commercialization of photovoltaics, since this gives their development a benefit of automation and production improvements to the by-then-long-proven solar thermal systems. They might only initially be a few percent efficient, but they can still provide the limited power needed to steer a larger solar boiler/concentrator (or to steer a system which provides control signals for a higher-power steering system).
Solar Dreams: a history of solar energy (1878 - 2025)
- Thread starter ScorchedLight
- Start date
-
- Tags
- chile mouchot solar energy
Hindsight indeed is always 20/20, and I was just thinking out loud when I suggested it--I had to tackle some similar problems in controls class back in undergrad, so this idea is burned into my mind.
Given the cost of early PV tech, the labor to minutely adjust the direction is almost certainly cheaper for now.
Patrick Egan was a thoroughly despicable man, which in OTL used a lethal bar brawl between Chilean and US sailors (which have allegedly disrespected a national martyr, and were then stabbed) to further his career by mishandling the situation and almost causing a war between Chile and the United States, one he thought the US would win and thus grant it access to the nitrate wealth.
Yeah and I imagine here would still fail given I doubt the US is gonna risk conflict with the British for this.
[ Can he suffer a Bond Villain death at the focal point of a giant solar concentrator? ]
I don’t like wanting someone dead, recalled and disgraced will do.
I feel like ironic fictional deaths are okay if the real person died a reasonably long time ago, but fair enough.
Solar desalination was used in Chile before the POD, and it is argued that these devices provided Chilean forces with strategic advantages over Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific, as Chilean locomotives had reliable access to clean water.
A condensation setup which uses Stirling cooling and concentrated solar heat should be enough to create a water still. Given that solar energy is a 'use it or lose it' deal at this point, it shouldn't matter much how efficiently the system is.
I expect that this will change as solar energy switches from heat to electricity and becomes integrated to a grid where costs of opportunity start to matter, but by that point market pressures will demand the development of more efficient solutions. Or maybe keep them separated from the grid altogether.
There migration to sunnier areas also will have societal and demographic impacts. More Europeans in tropical regions will certainly change the colonies, and how they interact with the natives.
Early photovoltaics will probably cause premature balding as they definitely work, but the photoelectric effect which makes them work is still unknown and can't be adequately explained without Quantum Mechanics.
Speaking of ideal solutions, one has to wonder what'd happen once early computers can register voltage as inputs. A system that could automatically sense cloud cover or when a section needs cleaning could demonstrate the benefits of automated control early in the 20th century, and from that point spread to other industries.
That'd be a good way to star a war between Chile and the US.
And probably the British Empire, France, Germany and pretty much anyone who can send ships because holy fuck we've just went full Draka and treated an ambassador like an ant, after Chilean reputation already tanked.
Not deliberately -- more like "Señor!!! Do not do that! It is extremely...." [screams and fire]
[ Although yeah it would probably lead to war anyway because they'd refuse to believe it was an accident. ]
Last edited:
Definitely pretty fascinating there though in my opinion, I think the increase of European settlement to tropical regions will be modest at best.
Because I don't see people would have much reason to move there. Alot of it would be economic opportunity in moving that they can't at home and well, the US and a couple other places like Canada and the like already exist.
Honestly, any notable increases in Europeans in tropical regions would more likely be forced resettlement of the poor and the like there. Of course, it's not gonna be like Australia and I imagine the forced resettled Europeans would find common ground with their tropical neighbors in a relatively short period of time.
Oooh that would be awesome. Now I'm wondering what happens way way later down the line with something like Project Cybersyn involved being involved, like decades later.
Considering the number of phenomena which couldn’t adequately be explained without quantum mechanics at the time, this is just a little straw on an already-huge pile.
Stirling temperature control would make sunnier and hotter places more attractive, just as AC prompted the migration to warmer weathers in the US. Since those places will also have access to cheaper energy, it will create economic incentives to establish industries there.
While I don't know how much it would affect the migration patterns of colonizers, it will definitely be higher than OTL, as there are no counters to those incentives that might balance the effects.
Might be 5%, or it might be 100%. It will need to come off organically as the story is written and historical processes develop within the world.
True, but there would be other more mitigating factors, such as the economic conditions of where they are going, where they are leaving and so on. In the example you mentioned, they're moving to different parts of the US, not a different nation and this would be in like what, the middle of the 20th century, which would have different expectations and the like than when the story currently is. While there may be some incentive to establish economic incentives there, it'd be cheaper to higher local folk there, especially since they can pay them less.
I don't think temperature control was the main thing that prevented widespread settlement in these sort of colonies. Honestly, I am thinking it was largely a lack of interest, especially with how they viewed the land. Of course, it all varies on the details. In places like Latin America, I can see an increase of Catholic settlers there, but still being absorbed into the bigger populations. As for Africa, there will be alot of other issues there such as disease and the perceptions of the area as "hostile" or the like by the would-be settlers. i am thiking maybe like 5%, but I can't see much higher.
Yeah, although in the case of creating an ironic death for Egan, I think it should involve some Irish nationalists, considering his other adventures IOTL.
Great update BTW @ScorchedLight .
And it would be interesting to show what the already existing locals (like the ones in Egypt that had been covered) of the aforementioned areas that you and @CountDVB mentioned would think of the current contraptions (which could be solar, or something else entirely, looking at you Cottrell) that are invented ITTL.
Last edited:
I worry "change how they interact with the natives" is a euphemism for "get more genocidal". Then again, there is also a slim chance that the Euro-whites hate the tropics so much that few workers migrate there no matter what, leading to the Europeans trying to train the locals to use the solar collectors for want of other options...
Tropics are still the tropics, even if Europeans have access to indoor air conditioning and cooling sooner (mosquitoes/malaria, tropical diseases, parasites, humid air, etc.). We might see the Europeans become more directly involved with the colonies (instead of indirect rule) but a Pied-Noirs-like group in Nigeria or the Congo seems incredibly unlikely IMO.