Hmm, I think we are running both on assumptions. This would need some data to be analyzed to actually have a clear picture.

Well, this 80% efficiency is what they are targeting not what the system will do. The test system Energy Vault build in a MUCH smaller form factor had a round-trip efficency of 75%

The EVx ™ system is projected to achieve an impressive round-trip efficiency exceeding 80%. Source

Only time will tell if they can reach 80% with a bigger system or at all. If they actually manage this it would be a decent alternative to Hydrodams in areas where these are just not possible since it would be a similar round-trip efficency.

Pumped storage systems have a round-trip efficiency of about 80%, which is competitive with battery storage. Source

In my opinion these systems are inferior to fly wheel energy storage (can reach up to 90% round trip efficency Source) but might still be an option depending on price.

Nah, most projects where just abandoned. Most projects never reached maturity and where abandoed in like weeks if not days. Look at the amount of 0 to 10 star github repos that are open source and had no commits since ever. LLM’s just removed the hurdle to start something “simple” so now the problem just grew in size.

That would be a fun website. Asshole tracker for Companies & Politicians and others?

I dont think either system will be the one prevailing in the long term, they are both to flawed and do not prevent corruption which will always destroy any system. So yea both are bad, which leads to the question which is currently worse? I’d argue latestage captialism corpo America is worse then CCP China at the moment. I think more average people are suffering in America then in China at this point in time. Dont get me wrong I’m not a fan off China in terms of censorship, oppression of people and other control measures in place, my only argument is that living a standard live in China is easier/more comfortable at the moment then in the US (better healthcare, less household debt, less homelessness, etc.). Also the Taiwan situation is very different then the Tibet and Uyghurs oppression but that’s a whole other topic so I don’t wanna start that discussion

Ok, so you can never use any google product ever again! If you ever again in your life watch a Youtube Video remember what kind of Hypocrite you are! This also goes for TikTok, Instagramm, etc. (Any plattform that has User generated Content & uses Ad’s)

I do not agree with their changes & policies but I think you underestimate the market share Youtube has in this area. Also you are not the average Youtube user (being on Lemmy and all) so you should think about how the average user interacts with the platform (they don’t care about Ad’s & don’t know how to install an Ad Blocker). I think Youtube can do a lot more shit before normal people would start to jump ship, but even then what are the alternatives for them? Peertube etc. don’t have the content they watch…

I don’t disagree with your point but your data is not correct… Alphabet reported $34.46 billion in net income for Q4 2025 on total revenue of $113.8 billion. Ads generated $82.3 billion (72% of revenue):

• Google Search ($63 billion)
• YouTube ($11.4 billion)
• Network ($7.8 billion)

This is all REVENUE not Profit! Yes Alphabet made ~34B Profit that Quarter but not only from Youtube ad’s. I would assume a 25-30% margin on Youtube Max, so it’s more like ~4B Profit of Youtube Ad’s (Yes still a fuck ton of money).

Hmm weird take. Yes these are solutions to the Ad’s problem from the user side but they are just UI Wrapper for Youtube so they don’t have any costs for hosting & providing all the content. So yea they don’t need to monetize. This doesn’t however fix the problem for Youtube itself. How are they supposed to pay for cost & make a profit?

I totally agree that Youtube with all the Ad’s is unusable (I’m using an AdBlocker) but Youtube is still a Profit orientated company so how do we fix this dilemma. Youtube Premium feels not worth it to most people because Youtube was always “free” so paying for it now makes people go like “WTF?”. So Ad’s & enshitification was/is the only way to make a profit for Youtube. I don’t like it either but this is reality.

If you have a solution for them I’m sure they would pay you handsomely for it.

Well as other’s already mentioned China get’s roughly ~20% of their oil from this region. All of that oil has to go through the Strait of Hormuz.

The most interesting part about why this is bad for food security in any country is that our agriculture systems runs on oil (you could say we eat the oil). You need to run your farming equipment & all the processing that is needed to make the food edible. Transporting food from the countryside to cities where most people live is also very “Oil”/Gasoline intensive. At the same time you need to cool/freeze the food (needs electricity which is mostly fossil fuels still). So if your Oil supply runs dry your just fucked. Modern society will just not be able to function with it’s City focused infrastructure.

Oh and the most relevant part is that fertilizers use a lot of oil to be produced. Well it’s not directly involved but still relevant. The Haber-Bosch ammonia production needs Natural Gas (by product from Oil extraction) to function or you can substitute it with Petroleum Coke (Petcoke) which is a byproduct of oil refining. Having less fertilizer is a HUGE problem for the next harvest season because your yields will be much lower which in turn reduces food availability.

So yea everything that you eat & is grown by a farm needs a fuck ton of oil.