They’re rapidly being converted into generators to meet A.I.’s insatiable demand for electricity. Environmentalists call it a step backward.
Guys they’re just recycling old jet engines, isn’t that what we wanted?! More recycling!
/s
This is crazy, right?
For real. Most likely those planes were retired for their inefficiency. Now its totally fine to turn the engines into generators - rather than using clean sources of energy. What are we playing at.
I can’t get my head round all this speed running to destruction.
Top name btw.
This is what happens when companies are incentivized to turn on data centers fast above any kind of environmental protection or efficiency goal.
and allowed to, even encouraged. it’s just fucking crazy.
Yeah it is. Nuclear power and renewables should do this.
Who doesn’t love hearing jet engines blasting 24/7 in their neighborhood?
to power data centers
To power shitty datacenters built by future defendants, you mean?
Wow this can’t be efficient. Jet engines are primarily designed to produce thrust. But looks like Musk got special permission from the state to pollute more, so all’s good!
It is. Jet engines are very efficient. But they also have to run high to reach that efficiency. But if you’re running at high power for most of the time, like a jet aircraft or datacenter generator, then it makes sense. It doesn’t matter whether your turbine shaft is connected to a fan or an electric generator rotor.
That’s true, it’s not as bad as I was originally thinking. However, there’s probably a reason traditional power plants never use jet engines for power production. According to this article, “But repurposed aircraft turbines tend to be less efficient and more polluting than engines designed for conventional gas-burning plants.”
Doesn’t jet engines still use leaded fuel?
Aside from the fact that these are built for max. thrust and not max. efficiency, I think lead should be the primary concern here
No, that’s prop planes. Jets use a specialty fuel blend or kerosene
Since jet fuel is a very similar grade of fuel to diesel, is this where all the diesel is going and why diesel prices are astronomical now? I know the wars are also not helping, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is contributing too.
Contributing, yes. In a meaningful way to prices, no. Both the supply and transportation (boats, routes, pipes) of fuel have been reduced.
Diesel is expensive because of the war in the middle east. Anything else is a rounding error next to that.
They don’t run on jetfuel once converted, either natural gas or diesel. Diesel costs a fortune compared to natural gas in a gas turbine.
I work for a gas turbine OEM and almost exclusively our turbines run on gas with diesel as a backup fuel supply in case of a supply side shortage.
However in this market who knows, they probably can tanker in diesel ASAP rather than waiting for natural gas infrastructure.
I interviewed for a company working on this project. Their goal is still jet fuel but with greatly increased efficiency by replacing components traditionally driven by the shaft (such as the intake and compressor) with electrically driven systems that in turn take load off of the generator. The net increase in efficiency more than balances out the cost of the electrically driven components, thus increasing the efficiency of the entire system.
Feels like an engineering wet dream, but i was willing to take their money and tell them how smart they sounded lol predictably, the project is waiting on more funding
