this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Was anyone else thrown by "leased solar systems"?
Why buy new, when you can just trade it in for a new model in a few millennia? You know a solar system loses 20% of its initial value just by driving it off the lot?
Technically, they lose about 20% of their generation capacity within a few hours of first exposing them to sunlight. It's one of those weird quirks that researchers have been trying to solve for decades.
Also, they tend to lose the rest of their generation capacity over decades, not millennia. The industry standard is for a panel to be able to produce 80% of installed capacity after 25 years.
How much capacity would you say the Milky Way has left then?
About 4.5 billion years.
Just 4 billion? Pfft! I’ll stick with fossil fuels, thanks!
At least until vacuum or dark energy is readily available. Gotta plan for the eventual heat death of the universe ya know.
"We" may be able to explore the cosmos without leaving home.
Or, given 10 million years head start plus building time, you could use a Caplan Thruster stellar engine to make that 100% sure