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this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2025
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This is the most inefficient way to remove snow. There are other options.
Is it though? I'd be curious to hear a more efficient method... Certainly, mobilizing a fleet of snow plows and salt trucks isn't more efficient in any sense of the word.
Yeah, it actually is more efficient to plow. It's grossly inefficient to melt ice into water.
See this xckd what if: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYf9-xfm6t8
It starts by using a flamethrower (because the series is supposed to be about silly questions taken seriously), but it eventually converts everything in terms of joules. That can be easily converted into the necessary electrical output. Which is a lot of electrical output. Just a sick amount of energy.
Plowing is easily better. But yes, salt is an issue all its own.
I think the xkcd was Moreso a Proof that melting large existing quantities of snow is incredibly difficult. If They're proactive with it and start running it before the snow pours then I'd assume its a lot easier to melt comparatively smaller quantities of snow over a large hot surface area.
I do agree that this requires people be smart and proactive and we haven't seen a lot of that lately. But hey, this is something they're being proactive about. Though it seems a little strange to assume they won't at least test and use the new expensive infrastructure they put in, no?
The power use is exactly the same. You are melting the same quantity of snow, but over a longer period of time.
In fact, it might be worse to pre-warm, because a lot of power will be wasted into the air.
Dog, you can't be lecturing people about their lack of understanding thermodynamics, and then mix up power and energy.