this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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Technology

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[–] kokesh@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

tRump will shit himself (again) when he sees this!

[–] NinePeedles@sh.itjust.works 71 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

While in the US our brilliant leader is trying to reopen old coal mines.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

That being said, there are American companies that have been working on flying wind turbines for quite a while.

[–] oyzmo@piefed.social 32 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

Helium is a non-renewable substance which there is a global shortage of. I wonder how much it takes to lift that thing 😅

[–] recked_wralph@lemmy.world 1 points 3 minutes ago

Not once we get fusion reactors up and running, then we’ll be drowning in that sweet sweet helium-4

[–] Blade9732@lemmy.world 19 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

Wouldn't hydrogen be better for lifting something like a wind turbine.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 9 points 5 hours ago

Yeah, that's what the folks who designed the Hindenburg thought as well.

[–] GreenShimada@lemmy.world 12 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Not necessarily. It's not about the boom factor alone - hydrogen is a small atom, and so under pressure, most commonly used materials are permeable to it. It leaks through every material. It really takes something as solid as steel pipes for hydrogen atoms to not work their way through and escape. So while hydrogen would be cheaper to produce at scale, it's also constantly leaking out of any container.

For wind turbines, static electricity and storms would be huge risks as well, so the application of a floating wind turbine would not be ideal.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

Even with steel pipes you get problems with hydrogen embrittlement because hydrogen diffuses into the steel and can cause it to crack.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 1 points 3 hours ago

Helium does a pretty good job of that too.

[–] oyzmo@piefed.social 27 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

Yes, but I think hydrogen likes to go bang 🧨💥

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 25 points 7 hours ago

No worries, that only happens if there's a spark, like for instance some static electricity. Shouldn't be a problem here, surely this thing won't generate any of that.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 10 points 8 hours ago (1 children)
[–] porcoesphino@mander.xyz 8 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

"Skytanic" was a great episode of Archer. For anyone that hasn't seen it, the running gag is that Archer thinks the non-flammable helium is going to explode the blimp they're on leading to things like this slap

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

"What part of this you're not getting?"

[–] porcoesphino@mander.xyz 2 points 3 hours ago

"All of it, obviously!"

[–] BussyCat@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Helium may not be renewable but we can manufacture it from things like boron

[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I need someone to explain the joke. Waiting 100,000 years for radioactive decay seems to be a bit boring as a punch line.

[–] sneezycat@sopuli.xyz 2 points 20 minutes ago

It'll be really funny in 100 000 years.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 3 points 5 hours ago

I did not know that

[–] ileftredditforthis@lemmy.world 12 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

People in the UK, mainly the coffin dodgers mind, bitch about how ugly wind turbines are they’d loose their shit about these. They seem to prefer the beautiful and discreet electricity pilots it seems.

[–] ClockworkOtter@lemmy.world 10 points 7 hours ago

Oh no, they don't like pylons either. They just want coal plants in poor people's gardens and subterranean power cabling.