OT..so watching mythbusters got me thinking...

[Tamara in TN]

on the Greek Death Ray episode:

how hard would it be to point a gigantic mirror at a point <A> to boil
water to make steam
to run turbine <B> to generate electricity and then run a big whisky
distillers still line back to water point <A>
to recapture water to start again...?

Tamara in TN

[Dr Corinne B Leek]

The difficulty is getting the gigantic mirror with the right parabola.
Just ask Hubble... ;-)

Corinne & Crazy Canuck Crew...

--
*** Conserve Energy: Laughter is easier than Anger!
*** cl...@ns.sympatico.ca

[John Hasler]

Tamara writes:
> how hard would it be to point a gigantic mirror at a point <A> to boil
> water to make steam to run turbine <B> to generate electricity and then
> run a big whisky distillers still line back to water point <A> to
> recapture water to start again...?

Very straightforward. It's been done many times. It's just expensive.
--
John Hasler Boarding, Lessons, Training
jo...@dhh.gt.org Hay, Jumps, Cavallox
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA

[Grizzly]

Sounds like you're getting stir crazy watching TV too much, but that
aside, Why not patent the idea? Draw up some plans and maybe big oil or
the natural gas industry, or Coal industry will want to buy you out for
a lot of dollars to keep the "machine" from going to market.. Of course
the mirror will rely on sunlight, so may only work half the time..you'll
need a bank of huge batteries for backup.. Deep cycle batteries might
work for this.. a lot of them..

[Tamara in TN]

On Sep 29, 9:00 am, Grizzly <No...@nowhere.com> wrote:
Of course
> the mirror will rely on sunlight, so may only work half the time..you'll
> need a bank of huge batteries for backup.. Deep cycle batteries might
> work for this.. a lot of them..

naah no batteries just the sun when it shines...I don't know enough
about
anything mechnical to create anything :>

best

Tamara in TN

[Madeline Rockwell]

"Tamara in TN" <CDHO...@highland.net> wrote in message
news:43804683-b099-452e...@2g2000hsn.googlegroups.com...

best

Tamara in TN

Google Odeillo, France and Solar One, California.

No point in trying to reinvent the wheel.

madeline

[Tamara in TN]

On Sep 29, 10:19 am, "Madeline Rockwell" <madel...@vermontel.net>
wrote:

>
> Google Odeillo, France and Solar One, California.
>
> No point in trying to reinvent the wheel.
>

well....that is cool...I had no idea....but I didn't see that big
whiskey barrel anywhere :>:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_furnace

thanks

Tamara in TN

[Brian Whatcott]

On the face of it, a solar cell in Sunlight is a much simpler way of
making juice.
But current solar cells are not terribly efficient. There has been a
recent flurry of activity (from MIT if I recall) about the
electrochemical path from Sunlight to O2 and H2 from water.
This is more efficent than direct electrolysis of water to the same
gasses.

The temperature obtainable from suitably concentrated Sunlight
amounts theoretically to a large fraction of the suirface temerature
of the Sun.
This could be helpful, because heat engines such as
steam engines, diesels, Otto (regular auto) engines have a thermal
efficiency limited by the difference between the temperature of the
source, and that of the sink. For a steam engine, this is not an
impressive delta if boiling water at low pressure is visualized. But
It could be a liquid metal - such as sodium etc, which improves the
percentages, though at the cost of containing aggressive chemicals,
or steam at high pressure.

Clear as mud?

Brian W

[Bill Kambic]

On Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:48:23 -0700 (PDT), Tamara in TN
<CDHO...@highland.net> wrote:

IIRC there's something like this in Spain (near Seville?). It's a set
of mirrors focused on the top of a tower, maybe 10 stories high. Works
well enough in a sunny climate like Iberia. :-)

[law]

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/seville_solar_s.php

That is a fascinating set up -- wonder if you can bake a cake at the
bottom of the towers ......

LisaW
--
Mamet: "The secret to winning any debate is to marginalize your oponent.
By painting them as a glue-sniffing moron, you easily win the issue at
hand."

Cobb: "WRONG. Don't listen to a word he says, Tucker."

Mamet (gyrating madly): "Dah Dah Dah. Don't wisten to a word he sez,
Tuckah. Doh Doh Dah."

Cobb: "I stand corrected."

Mamet: "They charge 20 Grand for this stuff at Univeristy."

"Deflocked" -- July, 10, 2008

[Brian Whatcott]

On Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:11:17 -0400, Bill Kambic <wka...@vic.com>
wrote:

French Alps?

BrianW

[John Hasler]

These systems are not rocket science. It's all mature technology.
Unfortunately, they are very expensive and produce power when they produce
it, not when you need it.

[RPM1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_thermal_power_stations

[Brian Whatcott]

On Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:11:17 -0400, RPM1 <rpm9de...@earthlink.net>
wrote:

I see that Bill had the location of at least one in Spain correctly
described.

Brian W

[Brian Whatcott]

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:36:22 -0500, Brian Whatcott
<bet...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>>IIRC there's something like this in Spain (near Seville?). It's a set
>>of mirrors focused on the top of a tower, maybe 10 stories high. Works
>>well enough in a sunny climate like Iberia. :-)
>
>French Alps?
>
>BrianW

Actually not the French Alps. It was the French Pyrennees project I
had in mind - and that solar concentrator was only in operation for
three years in the seventies, before the mix of salts they used was
too aggressive to contain in their plumbing. They are dusting it off
right now apparently, with something more amenable as the thermal
fluid.
Even so, it will only be a megawatt.

I was impressed to read that some of the biggest solar concentrators
are right here in the US of A. How 'bout that!

Brian W