this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

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Solar is the new oil (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 1 week ago by gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Renewable energy technologies (and solar especially) are about as important as oil was in the 20th century. America literally went to war multiple times internationally to get access to that sweet juice. It makes absolutely no sense that America would not want to have access to excessive amounts of cheap energy today, and that's why it is straightforward that America will do a 180° turn-around and start calling the Chinese their "best friend" for providing them with ample amounts of solar energy panels.

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[–] DoubleDongle@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not really. While the expertise in their manufacture is pretty concentrated, you can build a factory almost anywhere in theory. They don't have a lot of exotic materials and the amount they need will probably drop in the future, so there won't be a real solar equivalent to the petro-state. Maybe some places with a handy combination of sun and mineral resources could be desirable industrial regions, but it wouldn't encourage war in the same way.

[–] TiberiusDreadnought@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 week ago

This. Much of human history has been reliant on renewable energy (firewood, food, heating, etc), and it is only the past 200 years or so that fossilized biomass has been a thing. Exotic materials can also be avoided with techniques such as concentrated solar power for high temperature manufacturing (see Odeillo solar furnace), manufacturing at sites of energy generation (eg wind mills for "milling"), and Stirling engines.