Very cheap solar power
habshi
excerpt and photo on
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?articleid=1102368
They also say these dishes may revolutionize global energy
production.
“You can stick these things wherever there is a piece of sunlight, and
power a home or an industrial plant,” said Ahrens, who just received
his master’s degree from MIT.
Since January, he’s been working with Ritter, an Olin College student;
Micah Sze, a recent graduate of MIT’s Sloan School of Management;
University of California-Berkeley graduate and Broad Institute
engineer Eva Markiewicz and MIT materials science student Anna
Bershteyn.
Together, they built a 12-foot wide solar panel by piecing together
lightweight aluminum tubes to make the frame. Inside, they arranged a
series of mirrors and then attached a water-filled coil at the bottom
of the frame.
When the frame is properly positioned, the mirrors will direct
concentrated sunlight toward the coil.
As the water heats up, it is converted to steam, and that steam, the
creators say, can be used to generate electricity to heat and cool
homes and power machines.
They now say its design is so simple, it can be built and placed just
about anywhere the sun shines.
“We made it by hand and transported the parts by car or by bike,”
Ritter said.
The crew spent about $5,000 to build the dish, and according to MIT
Sloan School of Management lecturer David Pelly, it is the cheapest
way he’s seen to harness that much sun power.
“I’ve looked for years at a variety of solar approaches, and this is
the cheapest I’ve seen,” he said.
Ahrens, Ritter and the others are now packing up and moving to
California, where they plan to mass-produce the dishes, probably for
less than it cost to build the first one.
Group slams feds for lax oversight of power markets:
+ Group slams feds for lax oversight of power markets
cmcco...@bostonherald.com
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Next Article in Technology Coverage:
Planet’s greenest person won’t be a Boston Celtic
Spaceman
<snipped>
Great, MIT finally figured out solar ovens work and could
have been used to make steam long ago!
But 5 grand for that junky mirror and water boiler setup?
Give me a break!
They got ripped off.
I could have done it for about 500 bucks at most.
LOL
At least they are finally catching up with the rest of the world
a bit now.
:)
--
James M Driscoll Jr
Spaceman
Uncle Al
[snip crap]
> "You can stick these things wherever there is a piece of sunlight, and
> power a home or an industrial plant,"
[snip rest of crap]
100 kW from a "piece of sunlight" (just after the salesman climbs up a
vertical rope into the air and then pulls the rope up after hum).
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/htoo.htm
infinite energy from water - with refereed literature citations.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2
charles q
> excerpt and photo onhttp://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?artic...
> (1) Comments | Post / Read Comments
> Next Article in Technology Coverage:
> Planet’s greenest person won’t be a Boston Celtic
Lets not forget harnessing the wind and a;so the waves from the oceans
which have all been proven to be quite succesful
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
>
> excerpt and photo on
> http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?articleid=1102368
> They also say these dishes may revolutionize global energy
> production.
Who is "they", Micky, Donald, and Goofy?
> ?You can stick these things wherever there is a piece of sunlight, and
> power a home or an industrial plant,? said Ahrens, who just received
> his master?s degree from MIT.
"A piece of sunlight"?
Well, what do you expect from a fresh graduate with no real experience?
> Since January, he?s been working with Ritter, an Olin College student;
> Micah Sze, a recent graduate of MIT?s Sloan School of Management;
> University of California-Berkeley graduate and Broad Institute
> engineer Eva Markiewicz and MIT materials science student Anna
> Bershteyn.
Oh boy, more clueless fresh graduates reinventing the wheel.
> Together, they built a 12-foot wide solar panel by piecing together
> lightweight aluminum tubes to make the frame. Inside, they arranged a
> series of mirrors and then attached a water-filled coil at the bottom
> of the frame.
> When the frame is properly positioned, the mirrors will direct
> concentrated sunlight toward the coil.
> As the water heats up, it is converted to steam, and that steam, the
> creators say, can be used to generate electricity to heat and cool
> homes and power machines.
If they weren't all fresh graduates and had done a little research,
they would have found such things have been around for decades and
is the principal for several power plants around the world.
Of course the real ones are a bit more complex than some tubing
pieced together.
--
Jim Pennino
Remove .spam.sux to reply.
anal...@hotmail.com
> excerpt and photo onhttp://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?artic...
>
> (1) Comments | Post / Read Comments
> Next Article in Technology Coverage:
> Planet’s greenest person won’t be a Boston Celtic
I don't think their efforts are to be dismissed so lightly:
Even the cost of transporting a solar panel from the place of
manufacture to the place where it would operate would make a
significant difference in the payback period of the power-generation
operation.
You really don't need the best reflector, perfect tracking etc. The
solar collector design has to be optimized for its entire operating
life (it might even make sense to have a pretty flimsy design and
simply sacrifice the collectors to storms etc. and replace them with
fresh ones - the rusting of fasteners, cleaning of the collector
surfaces etc. are all issues that would enter into the design) and
these guys are on the right track.
Spaceman
> I don't think their efforts are to be dismissed so lightly:
>
> Even the cost of transporting a solar panel from the place of
> manufacture to the place where it would operate would make a
> significant difference in the payback period of the power-generation
> operation.
>
> You really don't need the best reflector, perfect tracking etc. The
> solar collector design has to be optimized for its entire operating
> life (it might even make sense to have a pretty flimsy design and
> simply sacrifice the collectors to storms etc. and replace them with
> fresh ones - the rusting of fasteners, cleaning of the collector
> surfaces etc. are all issues that would enter into the design) and
> these guys are on the right track.
It has been done in a much larger scale already,
In fact the people that did it already are already building the second
massive scale version.
It does work of course,
It is sad they are just finding such out now.
cheaper methods may be the better way to do it though so
you may be correct.
habshi
the hydrogen in metal hydrides and ship the oxygen to those who smoke
and suffer from lung disease.
excerpt
The biggest change came when Redmond put solar panels on the roof of
his 1925 bungalow in the suburbs of Washington, which he shares with
his wife, Margaret McGilvray, and the couple's two young sons.
The system, which still allows the family to use energy from the
traditional power grid when the sun is not shining, uses what is known
as net-metering. No electricity is stored in the house. Energy
produced in excess of what is needed is fed back to the power grid,
effectively making the Redmonds' electric meter run backward.
Twelve panels on the roof feed power to a device in the basement
called an inverter.
The solar power system cost $23,000 after a $2,000 tax credit. Redmond
estimates that the system will pay for itself in 10 to 15 years.
"As we know, our power rates are going up." He said "So it probably
will take less because that number is based on what we're paying right
now.
"About 80 percent of our power is used with the solar panels." Redmond
says.
To get that kind of benefit, though, the family greatly cut the amount
of energy they use.
"We've made a real effort to reduce how much electricity we need to
use in the first place, which is much less expensive to do than to
produce energy that you're wasting inside of your home."
The biggest lifestyle change is as low-tech as the solar panels are
high-tech -- the family uses a clothesline to dry its laundry. Take a
closer look at the Redmonds' money-saving strategies »
"It's ok just to simply hang your lines ... and not use your dryer,"
says Redmond, who cut his electric bill by 15 to 20 percent by
ditching the dryer. "That to me would be the very first thing anybody
should do in terms of conserving electricity for their home."
Redmond cooks using a solar oven, a small appliance that uses four
reflectors, to heat food in Redmond's front yard. The device uses only
solar power and leaves no carbon footprint.
Richmond says he can heat food to about 350 degrees in his solar oven,
but the stove's manufacture says it can heat food up to 400 degrees.
On the days when the sun is not shining, the family uses their
traditional oven powered from electricity provided by the power grid.
The family also uses a small array of solar panels to charge iPods and
cell phones. Whenever possible, Redmond runs errands on an electric
bicycle that pulls a small trailer. Every little bit helps keep their
power bill low.
habshi
Faculty members at the University of Delaware have built an
electric car that’s capable of selling back excess stored energy to
utility companies depending on the demands of the electrical grid.
"A car sitting there with a tank of gasoline in it, that’s useless. If
it’s a battery storing a lot of electricity and a big plug that allows
moving power back and forth quickly, then it’s valuable," said Willett
Kempton, who’s been developing the technology, known as V2G (vehicle
to grid), for more than a decade.
It basically puts your car to work while it’s parked, helping to
balance the energy grid. Electrical utilities price electricity based
on demand so during the daytime, for instance, energy costs more than
it does in the middle of the night. Your car would be able to feed
energy back to the grid during the day and then charge itself up at
night. You’d set a minimum charge level (i.e. don’t fall below a 50%
total charge) and then allow any excess to be sold back to your
utility company.
The car itself is currently a modified Toyota Scion. It produces no
emissions and can reach 60 miles per hour in seven seconds with a top
speed of 95 miles per hour. It’s got a range of 120 miles on the
highway or 150 miles in the city and the battery is being tested to
last about five years or 50,000 miles before it needs to be replaced.
habshi
mattress. Its not true . The Hindus did it around 3654 BC.
Now if we could attach rectangular balloons filled with hot air
underneath , they would remain airborne at say 10km high. On top would
be photovoltaic panels and they would have gps to stay in one place.
Energy would be beamed down as infra red rays , anyone crossing them
would feel nothing more than a slight warmth. Some of the energy would
be used to keep the thing afloat and the rest beamed to earth.
guardian.co.uk, Friday July 11 2008
Download mp3
Solar window: 'It's a pretty good solar panel and a pretty good
window'
MIT researcher Jon Mapel has helped develop 'solar concentrators'
which can turn windows into electricity generators
The technique uses transparent dyes to capture, concentrate and
redirect light along the surface of the glass to photovoltaic cells in
the frame, which convert the light into electricity.
The breakthrough means there is a tenfold increase in power output
compared to use of the PV cell alone.
The team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believes
the technology could be available within three years.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> mattress. Its not true . The Hindus did it around 3654 BC.
> Now if we could attach rectangular balloons filled with hot air
> underneath , they would remain airborne at say 10km high. On top would
> be photovoltaic panels and they would have gps to stay in one place.
> Energy would be beamed down as infra red rays , anyone crossing them
> would feel nothing more than a slight warmth. Some of the energy would
> be used to keep the thing afloat and the rest beamed to earth.
First problem:
How do you keep a giant balloon stationary in a 300 knot jet stream?
Second problem:
Habshi is, always has been, and always will be, an idiot.
Uncle Al
>
> It is commonly thought that Arabs invented the flying
> mattress. Its not true . The Hindus did it around 3654 BC.
> Now if we could attach rectangular balloons filled with hot air
> underneath , they would remain airborne at say 10km high. On top would
> be photovoltaic panels and they would have gps to stay in one place.
> Energy would be beamed down as infra red rays , anyone crossing them
> would feel nothing more than a slight warmth. Some of the energy would
> be used to keep the thing afloat and the rest beamed to earth.
Hey fucking stooopid: Physics Today 61(7) 42 (2008)
Box, "PV for the nation". US electrical generation capacity is equal
to 10,000 mi^2 net of crystalline photovoltaic installed in the US
southwest desert with 1 km^3 of battery backup. "Not an impossibly
large amount."
Riiiight. The total area of all fabricated silicon since Christ was
circumcized is less than 1 mi^2.
The Ghost In The Machine
<hab...@anony.com>
wrote
on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:13:34 GMT
<4877e2a7...@news.clara.net>:
> It is commonly thought that Arabs invented the flying
> mattress. Its not true . The Hindus did it around 3654 BC.
And here I thought it was Angela Lansbury in 1971 in the movie "Bedknobs
and Broomsticks"....
> Now if we could attach rectangular balloons filled with hot air
> underneath ,
Rectangular balloons...?
> they would remain airborne at say 10km high.
No they wouldn't, not without a heat source.
> On top would
> be photovoltaic panels and they would have gps to stay in one place.
GPS doesn't do diddly-squat regarding motive power,
though it might help to indicate where things *are* (and,
by inference, how far they are from where they should be).
What's wrong with a good old-fashioned 10km-long tether?
> Energy would be beamed down as infra red rays , anyone crossing them
> would feel nothing more than a slight warmth. Some of the energy would
> be used to keep the thing afloat and the rest beamed to earth.
Well, I suppose that takes care of the heat source problem.
Of course, there are a fair number of additional issues,
such as rotational stability of the platform (you do
know large, flat things tend to tip over if not properly
supported, right?), the general expense of photovoltaic
panels (about $5/peak watt, though research is continuing;
this is one reason the fluorescing dyes you mention below
are so attractive), the structural rigidity (how big was
this supposed to be again?) and the elementary observation
that we already have about 1250 W/m^2 of power coming into
any point on the Earth for practically free (if not all
that usable or reliable)...what was your point again?
(An earlier proposal suggested huge orbiting
microwave-beaming satellites. These would presumably
be geosynchronous affairs, and would not require any
balloons, rectangular or otherwise. Of course boosting
them into orbit would not be nearly as cheap, though one
might contemplate lunar-based construction facilities with
some sort of solar-powered rail launcher and propellant
for the perigee burn to circularize.
http://www.freemars.org/history/sps.html
is one such proposal.)
>
>
> guardian.co.uk, Friday July 11 2008
> Download mp3
>
> Solar window: 'It's a pretty good solar panel and a pretty good
> window'
> MIT researcher Jon Mapel has helped develop 'solar concentrators'
> which can turn windows into electricity generators
> The technique uses transparent dyes to capture, concentrate and
> redirect light along the surface of the glass to photovoltaic cells in
> the frame, which convert the light into electricity.
>
> The breakthrough means there is a tenfold increase in power output
> compared to use of the PV cell alone.
>
> The team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believes
> the technology could be available within three years.
>
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
Useless C/C++ Programming Idea #11823822:
signal(SIGKILL, catchkill);
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
Benj
> You really don't need the best reflector, perfect tracking etc. The
> solar collector design has to be optimized for its entire operating
> life (it might even make sense to have a pretty flimsy design and
> simply sacrifice the collectors to storms etc. and replace them with
> fresh ones - the rusting of fasteners, cleaning of the collector
> surfaces etc. are all issues that would enter into the design) and
> these guys are on the right track.
Right track? Gimme a break! These geniuses at MIT finally invented
the solar hot water heater! Sheesh! You can BUY them for your home
and they don't cost $5000! How about this for their next big
"breakthrough" for the energy crisis: We block some major rivers
backing up the water and then run that water through turbines to make
electricity! Pure genius! Never mind about all fish made extinct
by the dam since they can't spawn. Hey, that theory fits right in
with the current solution of burning food to run our cars! Once
enough people in world starve to death, energy requirements may be
reduced enough that solar power will suddenly become practical!
Moron.
(Uncle Al made me do it!)
Benj
> Box, "PV for the nation". US electrical generation capacity is equal
> to 10,000 mi^2 net of crystalline photovoltaic installed in the US
> southwest desert with 1 km^3 of battery backup. "Not an impossibly
> large amount."
>
> Riiiight. The total area of all fabricated silicon since Christ was
> circumcized is less than 1 mi^2.
Al you're problem is you just don't have any imagination. Habshi is an
"idea man"! Don't worry about silicon crystal, all you need is a few
hundred gallons of that "yet to be invented" PV paint! Oh wait, how
many gallons of paint does it take to cover a square mile? Hope that
paint is REALLY cheap!
BradGuth
The aluminum hydrides are certainly a good idea, though better yet,
use the spare/surplus of O2 for rocket or even automotive fuel, and
let all the smokers die a horrible death without sharing one gram of
that O2 or anything else that would prolong their selfish and
miserable pathetic lives.
- Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth
Uncle Al
>
> On Jun 23, 3:51 pm, hab...@anony.com (habshi) wrote:
> > The best way is to use electriticy to split water and store
> > the hydrogen in metal hydrides and ship the oxygen to those who smoke
> > and suffer from lung disease.
> The aluminum hydrides are certainly a good idea,
[snip creato crap]
Hey fucking stooopid - have you ever worked with LiH, alane, AlH4(-),
BH4(-) or HYSTOR alloys? No - you're just fucking stoooopid.
habshi
By Matt McGrath
BBC science correspondent
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7501476.stm
Current solar plants need large mobile mirrors to produce energy
A new way of capturing the energy from the Sun could increase the
power generated by solar panels tenfold, a team of American scientists
has shown.
The new technique involves coating glass with a specific mixture of
transparent dyes which redirect light to photovoltaic cells in the
frame.
The technology, outlined in the journal Science, could be used to
convert glass buildings into vast energy plants.
The technology could be in production within three years, the team
said.
See how new solar panel technology works
"It makes sense to coat the side of [very tall] buildings with these
new panes," Professor Marc Baldo, one of the researchers on the team,
told BBC News. "It's not far fetched at all."
Colour trick
The most advanced attempts to generate large amounts of electricity
via the Sun require the use of a solar concentrator.
These are often bulky mobile mirrors that work by tracking the
progress of the Sun and concentrating its beams on the cell at its
heart.
But there are downsides to this technology: the cells at the centre
have to be constantly cooled, and each concentrator requires a large
amount of space to avoid shadowing its neighbour.
The technology collects and focuses different colours of sunlight
The new technology does away with the need for mirrors and mobility.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) team has found a way
to coat panes of glass or plastic with a mixture of several dyes that
essentially do the same job.
"What we have is a piece of glass, with a very thin layer of paint or
dye on top," explained Professor Baldo.
"The light comes in and hits the dye and which absorbs it and re-emits
the light, but now it's inside the glass so it bounces along there
until it gets to the edge. So you only need to mount the solar cells
around the edge."
The idea was first developed in the 1970s but was abandoned because
much of the light energy was lost en route to the cell.
But using its expertise in optical techniques and a specific mixture
of dyes, the MIT team has found a way to make the light travel much
farther without losing as much energy along the way.
Window future
"When you do this there is a little bit of energy loss with the dye,"
said Professor Baldo.
"The main benefit is with the cost. You use a far smaller amount of
solar cells. For the same area of solar cells, you get much more
electricity."
Existing solar installations could also benefit from the new
concentrator, he said.
"You could take this new kind of glass and put it on top of an
existing solar cell so the cell still generates electricity but this
glass pane with the dye on top captures a certain part of the spectrum
and converts it more efficiently than the solar cell would do on its
own."
The MIT team believes it could improve existing panels by 50%.
In addition, the system is simple to manufacture, requiring little
more than to coat glass or plastic with the combination of dyes. It
could be in production within three years, the researchers believe.
If that becomes a reality, one obvious application, they said, was
converting windows into energy plants.
"The coated glass would let through about 10% of the Sun to light up
the room, and the remainder would be captured and funnelled to the
edges to solar cells to generate electricity," said Professor Baldo.
"It would look like smoked glass because of the dyes."
The Ghost In The Machine
<Uncl...@hate.spam.net>
wrote
on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:18:37 -0700
<487949DD...@hate.spam.net>:
> BradGuth wrote:
>>
>> On Jun 23, 3:51 pm, hab...@anony.com (habshi) wrote:
>> > The best way is to use electriticy to split water and store
>> > the hydrogen in metal hydrides and ship the oxygen to those who smoke
>> > and suffer from lung disease.
> [snip crap]
>
>> The aluminum hydrides are certainly a good idea,
> [snip creato crap]
>
> Hey fucking stooopid - have you ever worked with LiH, alane, AlH4(-),
> BH4(-) or HYSTOR alloys? No - you're just fucking stoooopid.
>
I do believe he's worked with pizza and beer, though. ;-)
Not sure why he couldn't work with more sophisticated
meals, as I've seen freeze-dried meals allegedly for NASA
astronauts (possibly surplus from a manufacturing run for
the Space Shuttle astronauts, though freeze-drying's been
around for decades).
In any event, there's already a prototype of a
home-baseable water electrolyzer, and another prototype
of a home-baseable fermentation tank for the production
of non-human-consumable alcohol suitable for fuel; both
have been in the news recently but I'd have to dig for
the specifics.
Admittedly, burning coal to make hydrogen with electricity
as an intermediary doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
/dev/signature: No such file or directory
habshi
light material say carbon fibre or plastic and this is the important
point , air is partially or totally evacuated from inside , so that it
floats in the jet stream , small windmills on top would rotate and
make power which is beamed to the earth.
More would be made with the new solar panels and floated just
below the jet stream which is 13km high and beam power. So using the
principle of the airship and steamship , but not using scarce helium ,
just partial vacuum floating power , we could avoid the need to build
huge and expensive wind and solar towers. Processors in these flying
mattresses would use gps to stay in constant place near cities so
avoiding long transmission lines. They could also stand vertical if
needed to get the angle of the rays at 90 degrees.
If one gets a puncture it will just float down to the surface
and stitched and sent back up.
So Jim inspite of all your sceptcism and cruel words , I think
the flying mattresses will solve the world's energy problems for ever
and ever.
I like the idea of a breeze across the swimming pool. How about
using a pool inside the house , to dump heat into it during the day
via a heat pump ?
excerpt
All sold out
KOLKATA: These may not look like conventional homes but are
fitted with all the modern amenities. And a lot more.
The lily pool in front of each house looks pretty but serves a more
serious purpose. The breeze flowing over it cools the house on
entering it through a natural draft circulation process called the
chimney effect.
Installed on its roof are solar panels and solar water heaters, which
will offer inmates electricity as well as provide them with warm water
for a relaxing bath at the end of a tiring day.
Sounds surreal? This is what India’s first solar housing project— Rabi
Rashmi Abasan—at Rajarhat on the outskirts of Kolkata has to offer.
This housing project has a group of 25 houses.
Priced at $100,000 per house, this housing project has already found
its share of takers among the upper end of the social spectrum.
But, S Bhattacharya, director in-charge of West Bengal Renewable
Energy Development Agency (Webreda), told DNA: “Although the buyers
were mainly from Kolkata, there have been considerable enquiries from
outside West Bengal,” underlining the general interest that solar
energy is generating across the country.
These 25 houses will ensure at least 60% of energy savings without
compromising on comfort, said Bhattacharya.
The houses have been funded mainly by private players, with minor
participation from the central and state governments and have come up
on land provided by the West Bengal Housing infrastructure Development
Corp. Webreda has been involved with the technical aspects.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> light material say carbon fibre or plastic and this is the important
> point , air is partially or totally evacuated from inside , so that it
> floats in the jet stream , small windmills on top would rotate and
> make power which is beamed to the earth.
How do you hold a massive balloon in place in a 400 knot wind?
How massive and heavy do the windmills have to be to withstand
a 400 knot wind?
<snip idiocy>
> I like the idea of a breeze across the swimming pool. How about
> using a pool inside the house , to dump heat into it during the day
> via a heat pump ?
It is called a swamp cooler, it only works in areas of low humidity,
and you can buy them at Walmart.
<snip remaining idiocy>
Still an idiot.
Wanderer
> What if the flying mattresses were made of a very strong and
> light material say carbon fibre or plastic and this is the important
> point , air is partially or totally evacuated from inside , so that it
> floats in the jet stream , small windmills on top would rotate and
> make power which is beamed to the earth.
I have a question for you: who would be sleeping on the flying
mattresses? I vote we send Johnny Maharaj and Pradipshit Parekh as test
pilots(without parachutes).
The Ghost In The Machine
<487a8cc8...@news.clara.net>:
> What if the flying mattresses were made of a very strong and
> light material say carbon fibre or plastic and this is the important
> point , air is partially or totally evacuated from inside , so that it
> floats in the jet stream , small windmills on top would rotate and
> make power which is beamed to the earth.
I get the feeling you've never taken a ride in a hot-air balloon.
There *is* no wind in the basket thereof; the balloon
travels with the wind. Best I can do is a very long
tether, which might work if it's strong and light enough,
and the mattresses are stabilized somehow so the whole
thing doesn't tip over.
> More would be made with the new solar panels and floated just
> below the jet stream which is 13km high and beam power. So using the
> principle of the airship and steamship ,
There are many principles of the airship and steamship, among them:
- bouyancy
- drag versus thrust
- rigidity of the materials used to make the propeller/airscrew
- conductivity of the skin (yes, this is an issue; the Hindenberg
flashed into flame because of a spark in what essentially was
a thin layer of rocket fuel)
- and of course a power source to turn the propeller/airscrew, to
allow for maneuverability.
> but not using scarce helium ,
> just partial vacuum floating power ,
I take it you've never played with an aluminum can in
boiling water, either. The atmosphere crushes the can
nicely, if done right.
I'd guess one pours cold water over the can after it has
been sitting upside-down, mouth open, in a pan of simmering
water, just after the heat is shut off. I'd have to dig.
The cold water of course condenses the steam; it's a race
between the air pressure in the pan pushing the water
back up the can, and the air pressure on the outside of
the can squishing it.
A little Googling coughed up:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-crush-an-aluminum-can-with-air-pressure-176583/
which has a video on the procedure. Turns out they use
a little bit of water in the can, a butane torch (to boil
the water in the can) and a fish tank.
http://uw.physics.wisc.edu/~wonders/DemoCCan.html
shows another variant (still picture only), using
a larger can.
It would be interesting to calculate the requisite
thickness of aluminum to resist air pressure, though 13km
up it's not quite as bad as 100,000 N/m^2. (Clearly,
it's thicker than that used in a common can. However,
it is possible; a classical experiment (first performed
by Otto von Guericke in 1654) involved a pair of copper
ball halves (12 feet in diameter) and two teams of horses.
Of course the ball was too heavy to float in the air.)
However, it might be worth noting that the pressure
on one's foot, assuming 100 kg mass, 30 cm in length,
and 10 cm wide per foot (0.06 m^2 altogether -- OK,
so I have big feet :-P ), comes to about 16,600 Pascal.
So imagine yourself burdened with 500 kg or 1,100 extra
pounds, then standing on a surface. If that surface can
bear your feet without buckling, and is light enough,
one has a potential balloon material.
If not, well, one hopes for a short fall to a sturdier surface...
> we could avoid the need to build
> huge and expensive wind and solar towers. Processors in these flying
> mattresses would use gps to stay in constant place near cities so
> avoiding long transmission lines.
Um...GPS doesn't do diddly-squit regarding staying in
place; something has to push this balloon thing in the
correct direction. In any event, staying in place would
mean expending more energy than the windmills can extract,
which throws *that* idea out of the proverbial window.
Solar cells, maybe, if they're efficient enough.
> They could also stand vertical if
> needed to get the angle of the rays at 90 degrees.
Well, that's an interesting notion. Just how does one orient this
already unwieldly slab properly?
> If one gets a puncture it will just float down to the surface
> and stitched and sent back up.
I'm not sure "float" is the right word here. If one's
lucky the punctured cell will accelerate to the surface,
crushing whatever is beneath. If one's unlucky the entire
slab will decide to drop on one's head. If one's *real*
unlucky the cell will pop like a balloon, leaving a small
bit of material that will fall on one's head over a wide
area -- or maybe take out adjacent cells as well.
> So Jim inspite of all your sceptcism and cruel words , I think
> the flying mattresses will solve the world's energy problems for ever
> and ever.
Color me doubtful.
>
> I like the idea of a breeze across the swimming pool. How about
> using a pool inside the house , to dump heat into it during the day
> via a heat pump ?
It's been done. I'm not sure precisely where it's
been installed, but the general idea is a conical pit
filled with brine and outfitted with appropriate hosing.
At night, giant heat pump units chill the brine to below
freezing (of fresh water); the ice surface on the top
thickens in response. The brine also gets more briny,
although not enough for the salt to precipitate.
During the day, the heat pumps contine to operate but can't
quite keep up with the needs of the building -- but they
don't have to; the heat of fusion of the ice melting will
keep the brine cold. Heat rejected from the building is
transferred into the brine, warming it; the warm brine
then goes back into the pit, melting the ice.
[snipped excerpt]
This idea looks like it might work reasonably well, too.
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
Linux. Because Windows' Blue Screen Of Death is just
way too frightening to novice users.
zzbu...@netscape.net
> excerpt and photo onhttp://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?artic...
>
> production.
>
> “You can stick these things wherever there is a piece of sunlight, and
> power a home or an industrial plant,” said Ahrens, who just received
> his master’s degree from MIT.
>
> Since January, he’s been working with Ritter, an Olin College student;
> Micah Sze, a recent graduate of MIT’s Sloan School of Management;
> University of California-Berkeley graduate and Broad Institute
> engineer Eva Markiewicz and MIT materials science student Anna
> Bershteyn.
>
> Together, they built a 12-foot wide solar panel by piecing together
> lightweight aluminum tubes to make the frame. Inside, they arranged a
> series of mirrors and then attached a water-filled coil at the bottom
> of the frame.
>
> When the frame is properly positioned, the mirrors will direct
> concentrated sunlight toward the coil.
But that's also the main problem with them. You would be
amazed how hot they get in direct summer sun.
So, the main difficulty with them is distributing the heat,
not collecting it. Which is why the better long term solution
is cheap PV Cells, with electronic automatiion. Since they
not only go everywhere on Earth, they also go everywhere in space.
And the other advantage is that aluminum is not as light weight
as people think it is.
>
> As the water heats up, it is converted to steam, and that steam, the
> creators say, can be used to generate electricity to heat and cool
> homes and power machines.
>
> They now say its design is so simple, it can be built and placed just
> about anywhere the sun shines.
>
> “We made it by hand and transported the parts by car or by bike,”
> Ritter said.
>
> The crew spent about $5,000 to build the dish, and according to MIT
> Sloan School of Management lecturer David Pelly, it is the cheapest
> way he’s seen to harness that much sun power.
>
> “I’ve looked for years at a variety of solar approaches, and this is
> the cheapest I’ve seen,” he said.
>
> Ahrens, Ritter and the others are now packing up and moving to
> California, where they plan to mass-produce the dishes, probably for
> less than it cost to build the first one.
>
> Group slams feds for lax oversight of power markets:
> + Group slams feds for lax oversight of power markets
> cmcconvi...@bostonherald.com
habshi
, or could be filled with hydrogen , lets make them say 10m by 10m by
1meter. They would stay above the clouds and beam energy down to us.
The same for extracting energy from the jet streams at 13km high ,
flying mattresses scoop in air at one . Microprocessors would
orientate them the right way all the time.
All this worry about sea levels rising. Even if the whole
Greenland ice cap melted 9m cukm , it just means us digging that
amount of artificial lakes across the world's rivers to retain that
amount of water.
Digging is cheap.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> , or could be filled with hydrogen , lets make them say 10m by 10m by
> 1meter. They would stay above the clouds and beam energy down to us.
> The same for extracting energy from the jet streams at 13km high ,
> flying mattresses scoop in air at one . Microprocessors would
> orientate them the right way all the time.
What keeps them from being blown around the world in a 400 knot
jet stream.
> Digging is cheap.
If you have lots of wogs who work for nothing.
The Ghost In The Machine
<487d28e...@news.clara.net>:
> The rectangular flying mattresses would be partially evacuated
> , or could be filled with hydrogen ,
Oh goody. Exploding rectangular flying mattresses.
Or have you forgotten the Hindenberg?
Replace with helium and you might have a slight chance of
this actually doing something other than blowing up.
Just to make things interesting: stratospheric lightning is
still being researched but apparently is more common
than we thought.
> lets make them say 10m by 10m by
> 1meter. They would stay above the clouds and beam energy down to us.
Far cheaper to put them down here. At least one company
is already proposing parking lots with roofs made out of
solar cells. Not only do the cars stay relatively cool,
but the energy extracted can be used for various things
(one of them recharging their batteries).
> The same for extracting energy from the jet streams at 13km high ,
> flying mattresses scoop in air at one . Microprocessors would
> orientate them the right way all the time.
Well, fine, they're properly oriented. They're also moving
with the jet stream and able to extract no energy, unless
one uses a tether or other such.
(If one proposes a floating device part of which is in
the jet stream and part of which is not, one gets a rather
nice torque. How does one keep the device from spinning
out of control in that case?)
> All this worry about sea levels rising. Even if the whole
> Greenland ice cap melted 9m cukm , it just means us digging that
> amount of artificial lakes across the world's rivers to retain that
> amount of water.
> Digging is cheap.
Digging may be cheap, certainly, but a lot of people will
be sandbagging instead, if not moving out of the affected
areas of coastal cities entirely.
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
Useless C/C++ Programming Idea #12398234:
void f(char *p) {char *q = strdup(p); strcpy(p,q);}
habshi
rocks 4km down for us to extract for all our needs and its starting in
Iceland.
On one programme Tommorows world , one man heated his swimming pool
by putting iron bars in concrete of the pool floor . During the day
the iron absorbed the heat from above and radiated it back through the
concrete to the water above so that it warmed a lot faster the next
day. Cant we use this concrete idea to heat our houses?
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> rocks 4km down for us to extract for all our needs and its starting in
> Iceland.
It isn't 4 km down in Iceland, which is why it is usefull there.
If you think this is such a great idea, why don't you grab a shovel
and start digging the 4 km hole?
> On one programme Tommorows world , one man heated his swimming pool
> by putting iron bars in concrete of the pool floor . During the day
> the iron absorbed the heat from above and radiated it back through the
> concrete to the water above so that it warmed a lot faster the next
> day. Cant we use this concrete idea to heat our houses?
Iron bars in concrete are called rebar and are already in all
structural concrete.
You are still a babbling idiot.
BradGuth
<ew...@sirius.tg00suus7038.net> wrote:
> In sci.physics, Uncle Al
> <Uncle...@hate.spam.net>
> wrote
> on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:18:37 -0700
>
> > BradGuth wrote:
>
> >> On Jun 23, 3:51 pm, hab...@anony.com (habshi) wrote:
> >> > The best way is to use electriticy to split water and store
> >> > the hydrogen in metal hydrides and ship the oxygen to those who smoke
> >> > and suffer from lung disease.
> > [snip crap]
>
> >> The aluminum hydrides are certainly a good idea,
> > [snip creato crap]
>
> > Hey fucking stooopid - have you ever worked with LiH, alane, AlH4(-),
> > BH4(-) or HYSTOR alloys? No - you're just fucking stoooopid.
>
> I do believe he's worked with pizza and beer, though. ;-)
> Not sure why he couldn't work with more sophisticated
> meals, as I've seen freeze-dried meals allegedly for NASA
> astronauts (possibly surplus from a manufacturing run for
> the Space Shuttle astronauts, though freeze-drying's been
> around for decades).
>
> In any event, there's already a prototype of a
> home-baseable water electrolyzer, and another prototype
> of a home-baseable fermentation tank for the production
> of non-human-consumable alcohol suitable for fuel; both
> have been in the news recently but I'd have to dig for
> the specifics.
>
> Admittedly, burning coal to make hydrogen with electricity
> as an intermediary doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
It does if you're ENRON or some derivative (aka spin-off) of such,
whereas consuming as much fossil fuel and as fast as possible is their
ultimate goal on behalf of those nuclear energy freaks in charge of
our New World Order, that don't even want to consider using thorium.
BTW, where's our resident of dirt cheap and supposedly green hydrogen
wizard of Oz, William Mook?
BradGuth
Our perpetual geothermal energy as getting pumped up continually by
the 2e20 N/sec of our Selene/moon tidal flexing is by far the ultimate
motherload of potentially clean energy. Of course by then we'll be
pleased as punch at paying $10/gallon of synfuel and counting our
lucky stars if paying only $1/kwhr, no matters what.
Jasvinder
I have been going through some of the posts specially the one about
"Jab We Met"
I do empathise with you seeing the way you have had to ward of nasty
comments from these nitwits.
I live in India and enjoy those DVD's and all other legal ones.
But I guess you brought it on yourself when you decided to go and
live with those 1/2 IQ fellows.
On Jun 22, 11:36 am, hab...@anony.com (habshi) wrote:
> excerpt and photo onhttp://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?artic...
> (1) Comments | Post / Read Comments
habshi
<jasvin...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I have been going through some of the posts specially the one about
"Jab We Met"<
Jab we met is just about as good and entertaining a Bollywood movie
, the best form of entertainment on the planet , can get . All should
watch it on dvd with english subtitles . You can get it on amazon and
others.
The Ghost In The Machine
<488c51c4...@news.clara.net>:
> On another note , there is apparently enough energy in the
> rocks 4km down for us to extract for all our needs and its starting in
> Iceland.
And the form of that energy is ... ?
There's enough energy in a US nickel (weighing 5 grams)
to satisfy the entire world's current energy needs for
about 3.5 minutes, by completely destroying the nickel.
However, such a scheme is currently rather impractical,
and it is far from clear whether such is ever possible.
> On one programme Tommorows world , one man heated his swimming pool
> by putting iron bars in concrete of the pool floor . During the day
> the iron absorbed the heat from above and radiated it back through the
> concrete to the water above so that it warmed a lot faster the next
> day. Cant we use this concrete idea to heat our houses?
And what does one do when one wishes to go swimming in a
heated pool on a cloudy or rainy day?
Also, the angle is of importance; at 40 degrees latitude
(either north or south), the Sun is 63.5 degrees from the
horizon at high summer at noontime, but only 16.5 degrees
at noontime at winter. There are also issues regarding
the length of time it is out.
(This turns out to have far more relevance than the
variance of the Earth's orbit from 147.6 million km to
152.6 million km. In fact, we're farthest from the Sun
sometime in Northern summer, yet we still get very warm...)
--
#191, ewi...@earthlink.net
Windows Vista. Now in nine exciting editions. Try them all!
habshi
at the swimming pool , when I was not white water rafting- see my post
later this week on soc.culture.indian .
Got this idea . Why not a solar charged head band ?
http://www.omsdive.com/images/l193hood.jpg
it would have rechargbale batteries . Leave it out in the daylihght
all day , and it could give you a couple of hours of light at night.
Marriages could be saved as the overhead lights are shut down and the
insomniac wears this head lamp
ENT doctors use it
www.faromed.de/ENGLISH/STIRNLP/fo-stirnE.htm
Students in the third world could study the two extended hours.
hab...@anony.net
power. In India most people have huge areas of flat roofs they dont
use in the summer except sometimes at night to sleep on.
If water pipes were laid at a slight angle , as the bottom gets
heated the water will rise in the pipes and get even more heated until
it becomes steam at the top and generates electricity or is used for
hot water baths.
Hot water could even be used to grow algae and foods.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> What about a counter current mechanism to heat water with solar
> power. In India most people have huge areas of flat roofs they dont
> use in the summer except sometimes at night to sleep on.
> If water pipes were laid at a slight angle , as the bottom gets
> heated the water will rise in the pipes and get even more heated until
> it becomes steam at the top and generates electricity or is used for
> hot water baths.
That is called a solar water heater and is common in many places.
http://www.solardirect.com/swh/swh.htm
It takes a big pile of mirrors to get enough energy to make steam and
solar thermal electric generators usually use something other than
water as a working fluid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Two
> Hot water could even be used to grow algae and foods.
Hot water is used to COOK algae and foods.
You are an idiot.
hab...@anony.net
take hot air from the house and have one of these installed at the top
to give unlimited hot water
excerpt
http://www.heatingoil.com/blog/invisible-and-affordable-solar-water-heating-for-your-home1113/
Anyone who doubts the persistence of good old-fashioned American
innovation is advised to consider the Greenbuild International
Conference and Expo, an annual convention showcasing the newest and
most ingenious green tech products made by American hands. This year�s
expo, held in the tremendous Phoenix Convention Center, comprised over
1,800 exhibit booths, making it the largest convention in Greenbuild
history.
According to Treehugger.com, which covered the event, of particular
interest this year was the Greenward Ridge Vent, a nifty piece of
solar-heating equipment that can be fitted to any standard shingled
roof. The Ridge Vent collects solar energy and uses it to heat water;
but it is the thrift with which the vent performs its task that makes
it remarkable. The Ridge Vent collects solar heat trapped in a home�s
attic; the heat flows through the Ridge Vent around PEX plastic tubes,
heating an ethylene-glycol-and-water mixture that is then pumped into
a heat exchanger, preheating the home�s tap and fixture water even
before it gets to the water heater. In other words, the vent
effectively takes wasted energy and puts it to good use: a concept
both simple and ingenious.
Close-up of demonstration Greenward Ridge Vent. (image:
treehugger.com)
It is the Ridge Vent�s innocuous design that makes it so appealing.
Unlike the typical solar collectors, which can make your home look
like a lunar space station, the Ridge Vent is barely noticeable.
That�s not to say you won�t notice its effect. According to Greenward,
�With an average attic temperature of 120 degrees F., the Greenward
Ridge Vent can reduce your energy consumption by just over 12 million
BTUs a year and reduce your CO2 emissions by just over 1,400 pounds
annually.� The fact that heating water by solar energy costs one tenth
as much as heating it by electricity means that you stand to save
considerably on your electric or gas bill
hab...@anony.net
hab...@anony.net
hab...@anony.net
Whoopie; the installation cost payback is still decades.<
Evidence?
hab...@anony.net
photo on
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8370642.stm
Consumers are also increasingly exploiting the sun's energy in the
home.
Panel power
There has been a steady growth in small-scale electricity production
at home in recent years. In 2008 there was a considerable jump - the
number of people looking to generate their own electricity doubled in
just 12 months.
Traditionally, homes have harnessed power from the sun through
conventional solar panels, but an American company has developed what
it hopes is the next generation of panel power.
SRS Energy has created "sole power" tiles, which are coated with
thin-film flexible photovoltaic cells. The roof tiles are a dark blue
colour to maximise the absorption of sunlight, and will be available
from spring 2010.
The tiles are
Marvin the Martian
> In sci.physics hab...@anony.net wrote:
>> Nano solar cuts energy payback in solar to just one month!!
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4riNlqZHCTQ
>
> Whoopie; the installation cost payback is still decades.
True enough.
> You are still an idiot.
Umm. Depends.
If he believes this b.S., yes.
If he is collecting investment money from idiots he maybe unethical, but
idiots and their money are made for the picking and getting idiots to
throw money at you isn't idiotic at all.
Marvin the Martian
> Also
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCLwk7ObEr0&feature=related
On another note, don't you just love this? People can't read anymore. So
many "news" stories and other information people get from "BoobTube.com"
and other websites that are tailored for the barely literate product of
our public schools.
tj Frazir
Address:http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&ie=ISO-8859-1&gbv=1&q=whale+steam+engines
tj Frazir
Yu nead a 1000 HP water jet cutter to get a hole in the grond that
deep.
besides a water jet cutter drills a hole 1000 times faster and cheeper
then the old morons with oil drills.
20 inch hole 3 miles deep in 1 day in bedrock.
and back up to for a loop.
tj Frazir
You think this dude is an idiot !!
I think your ALL idiots.
Because a 25 ton truck gets 7 MPG thats 175 MPG per TON.
175 MPG per ton is the standard then whats wrong with the methed you
get down the road with ?
Your stupid is whats wrong with it.
You should get 175 MPG because I do and a truck does per ton.
You think that duds comic book sci fi is funny ? I think your all
just as funny.
hab...@anony.net
excerpt
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/report-solar-electricity-cost-likely-fall-50-in-2009
Although the prices for solar panels and the levelized costs all have
dropped significantly, consumers aren't likely to see the same
reductions in how much they pay for solar power.
The significant pricing decline in solar energy equipment over the
past year � from silicon to cells to solar panels � has played a big
role in the levelized cost reductions. Solar panel manufacturers have
reported anywhere from a 30 percent to 50 percent drop in their
products' pricing. Supply outstripped demand as the recession dimmed
the banks' interest in loaning money to solar power project
developers.
The solar panel pricing decline has tapered off, while demand has
picked up nicely in the third quarter, particularly in Germany, where
generous government subsidies and banks' willingness to invest in
solar power projects are making Germany this year's top market.
In fact, a solar energy industry association in Germany told Reuters
that the country is likely to install between 2.5 to 3 gigawatts of
solar energy systems in 2009, up from a forecasted 2 gigawatts. Market
research firm iSuppli also recently revised its forecast for Germany
installations to 2.5 gigawatts from 1.53 gigawatts.
The German government has reported that the country saw 1.47 gigawatts
of new solar installations from January to September this year (see
Germany Installs 2.34GW, FIT to Decline 9-11%).
DanB
> Soon it will be too cheap to meter
Earth to hashbrains.....
ARRESTING NEW THINK TANK STUDY CONCLUDES: NO COMBINATION OF ALTERNATIVE
ENERGY SYSTEMS CAN REPLACE FOSSIL FUELS
Santa Rosa, CA (13. November 2009)
An alarming new study jointly released by two prominent California-based
environmental/economic think tanks, concludes that unrelenting energy
limits, even among alternative energy systems, will make it impossible
for the industrial system to continue operating at its present scale,
beyond the next few decades. The report finds that the current race by
industries and governments to develop new sustainable energy
technologies that can replace ecologically harmful and rapidly depleting
fossil fuel and nuclear technologies, will not prove sufficient, and
that this will require substantial adjustments in many operating
assumptions of modern society.
The new study (“Searching for a Miracle: Net Energy Limits & the Fate of
Industrial Society”) is the first major analysis to utilize the new
research tools of “full life cycle assessment” and “net energy ratios”
(Energy Returned on Energy Invested, EROEI), to compare all currently
proposed future scenarios for how industrial society can face its long
term future.
The report analyzes 18 of the most viable power production alternatives,
from traditional fossil fuels and nuclear, through wind, solar, wave,
geothermal, biomass, et. al. to identify their “net energy” ratios—the
amount of energy that must be invested in them vs. the amount of energy
they will be able to produce---as well as their environmental, social
and geopolitical impacts. It also considers such important factors as
resource and materials supply, resource location, transportation, waste
disposal issues, and others to create a full life cycle picture of each
technology’s impacts.
“Searching for a Miracle” was published by the International Forum on
Globalization (IFG). The content was largely provided by the Post Carbon
Institute, a think tank that works toward a transition to a more
resilient, equitable, and sustainable world.
The principal author of the report is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of
Post Carbon Institute, and the best-selling author of such books as “The
Party’s Over”, ““Peak Everything”, and “Blackout”. The editor of the
project--part of the IFG’s False Solutions program--is San Francisco
author Jerry Mander, who is Founder and Distinguished Fellow of IFG. His
previous popular books on economics and technology include: “Four
Arguments for the Elimination of Television”, “The Case Against the
Global Economy”, and “Alternatives to Globalization”.
Following are a few of the main conclusions of this report:
✦ As the world’s higher-quality fossil fuel reserves rapidly deplete,
no combination of alternative energy sources is likely to be sufficient
to sustain industrial society at its present scale. Energy supply
problems, perhaps severe, are likely during the coming decade, worsening
as primary fuels become scarce and costly. Major adjustments will be
required in industrial production and personal consumption; attention
will need to be paid to stabilizing and reducing population levels over
the long term.
✦ Fossil fuels and high-quality uranium ores are depleting rapidly;
world oil production may already have peaked. Present expectations for
new technological replacements are probably overly optimistic with
regard to ecological sustainability, potential scale of development, and
levels of “net energy” gain—i.e., the amount of energy actually yielded
once energy inputs for the production process have been subtracted.
Technologies such as “carbon capture and sequestration” and “4th
generation” nuclear power remain largely hypothetical and may never be
deployed on a large scale, while the prospects for oil shale, tar sands,
and shale gas have been overstated to varying degrees.
✦ Certain energy production systems suffer from low or negative net
energy gain; these include most biofuels, hydrogen systems, oil shale,
tar sands, and biomass, some of which also present unacceptable
environmental problems (as is also true of conventional fossil fuels and
nuclear power). So far, the best prospects for large-scale production
and net-energy performance remain wind energy and certain forms of
solar, but these still face important limitations due to intermittency
of supply, remoteness of the best resources, materials needed for
large-scale deployment, and scale potential. Tidal and geothermal
power—which can have high net-energy yield but suffer from a low
potential energy production capacity—will prove marginally useful in a
diverse future energy supply mix.
✦ Limits to future energy supply are more dramatic if environmental
impacts are considered— including accelerating climate change, fresh
water scarcity, destruction of food-growing lands, shortages of
minerals, and threats to wildlife habitat.
✦ Given the above, it is necessary to prepare societies for dramatic
shifts in consumption and lifestyle expectations. It will also be
necessary to promote a new ethic of conservation throughout the
industrial world. A sharp reversal of today’s globalization of
commercial activity—inherently wasteful for its transport energy
needs—must be anticipated and facilitated, and government leaders must
encourage a rapid evolution toward economies based on localism
especially for essential needs such as food and energy. The study
remarks that this is not necessarily a negative prospect, as some
research shows that, once basic human needs are met, high material
consumption levels do not correlate with high quality of life.
✦ The emphasis by policy makers on growth as the central goal and
measure of modern economies is no longer practical or viable, as growth
will be limited by both energy shortages and by society’s inability to
continue venting energy production and consumption wastes (principally,
carbon dioxide) into the environment without catastrophic consequences.
Standards for economic success must shift from gross metrics of economic
activity, to more direct assessments of human well-being, equity, and
the health of the natural world.
✦ With energy supplies diminishing, raw material resources similarly
depleting, and crises such as climate change rapidly advancing, the
long-term goal of satisfying the needs of the world’s poorest peoples—in
their attempts to recover from centuries of colonialism, resource
exploitation, and removal from traditional lands and economies—becomes
ever more daunting. Efforts at relieving poverty, both domestically and
internationally, will require more equitable reallocation of existing
real wealth.
✦ These factors must all be taken very seriously by policy makers in all
countries, and by global institutions that have thus far failed to be
realistic about what will be required to avoid future social and
economic breakdowns and geopolitical crises, as countries and peoples
compete for dwindling energy resources, raw materials, and agricultural
space. While it is not yet too late to change course, the opportunities
to avoid catastrophic economic, environmental, social, and political
impacts are few and quickly dwindling.
For further information, or additional copies of the report, please
contact the organizations below:
POST CARBON INSTITUTE
500 N. Main St., Suite 100
Sebastopol, CA 95472 USA
Tel: +1.707.823.8700 • Fax: +1.866.797.5820
http://www.postcarbon.org • me...@postcarbon.org
hab...@anony.net
one small industrial country!! Equal to 300 nukes worldwide in solar
power a year if other countries follow the sensible policy of high
feed in tarriffs. California will add 3gw this year as well.
Proof Govt knows best and can led us to a bright new solar
world. Total worldwide energy need is about 20,000 GW. 300GW a year
and escalating could mean all our energy needs supplied by solar power
in just twenty years.
excerpt
http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2678
A plan by the German government some years ago to promote solar cells
through feed-in-tariffs and other incentives has led to a boom in
installed capacity. The country now has more than a third of the
world�s total capacity � 5.3 GW (gigawatt) of 15 GW. During 2009 alone
close to 3 GW will be installed. This is a world record for installed
solar capacity in one country during one year.
"We�re all surprised by how strongly demand is picking up now (�)
It�ll be well over 2.5 (GW). But it won�t be over 3 GW simply because
there isn�t enough capacity. We�re already at the limit," Carsten
Koernig, head of BSW, Germany�s solar industry
hab...@anony.net
The new numbers imply that solar power is beginning to satisfy far
more than just a tiny fraction of Germany�s demand for power. This
year�s installed capacity is equivalent of having three large coal
power plants or three nuclear plants built.
According to BSW, the present peak may partly be due to government
signals that the incentives will be lowered in the near future, as the
industry is seen as mature and thus shouldn�t need the same amount of
public funding. Investors are starting projects now to make sure they
fall under the present, favorable rules.
"We�re now confident the government does not want to endanger the
sector and any adjustments to the law will be minor. The government
sent us an important signal that they�re still counting on renewable
energy," Carsten Koernig comments.
DanB
> This is truly amazing, 3 nuke plants worth in one year in just
> one small industrial country!! Equal to 300 nukes worldwide in solar
> power a year if other countries follow the sensible policy of high
> feed in tarriffs. California will add 3gw this year as well.
> Proof Govt knows best and can led us to a bright new solar
> world. Total worldwide energy need is about 20,000 GW. 300GW a year
> and escalating could mean all our energy needs supplied by solar power
Ooops!
<http://www.solarserver.de/lexikon/sonneneinstrahlung-e.html>
"Map of Germany showing the highest recorded levels of solar radiation
per year."
Math, (among other things), was never your strong suit. So I'm sure this
is a 'whooosh' right over your head.....
hab...@anony.net
excerpt
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=678
Using hydrogen as a clean fuel with relatively endless reserves
certainly has potential, but also faces many challenges. For example,
the production of hydrogen requires a great deal of energy.
However, some companies have made great inroads in utilising renewable
energy sources such as wind and solar power in the hydrogen harvesting
process. One such company is Avalence LLC; based in the USA.
Avalence�s hydrogen generators are electrochemical devices that
convert water and electricity into high purity pressurized hydrogen
gas through the process of electrolysis. Avalence's Hydrofiller system
is a high-pressure hydrogen gas generator that doesn't require a
separate compressor. According to the company, this cuts capital costs
by up to 50% and operating costs by 20%.
Given the lower energy requirements, it also means the Hydrofiller
system can be powered by solar panels or wind turbines.
The company says electrolysis is the most direct method for creating
hydrogen fuel from fluctuating renewable energy sources. The Avalence
Hydrofiller enables 24-hour electricity availability from intermittent
energy sources from not just solar and wind, but also hydraulic and
tidal power. In large applications, hydrogen produced during
inexpensive or excess power production periods can be stored and later
distributed to stationary fuel cell generators to supply electricity
during expensive or peak demand periods.
hab...@anony.net
In Germany alone, the renewable energy industry has created more than
a quarter of a million new jobs in the decade since the Bundestag
passed the world�s most ambitious green-power legislation in 2000�this
without introducing any new taxes and at a total cost to the average
German household of about $50 per year. This �feed-in tariff� model,
which requires utilities to purchase renewable electricity at
above-market prices, has been quickly copied across Western Europe,
most of which is at least a generation ahead of Canada in the shift to
a sustainable low-emissions economy.
There�s enough energy in the world�s crust to create all the
electricity the world needs,� says Fairbank, president and CEO of the
Vancouver-based firm. South of the border, there�s been something of a
geothermal boom going on for about five years. The U.S. already has
3,000 MW
But the real future of geothermal may lie in the dry heat that is
trapped in rock, which, unlike trapped pockets of hot water, can be
found under any point on the Earth�s surface. At a depth of 3,000 to
4,500 metres, the rock temperature is about 150 C to 250 C, which is
the economic sweet spot for geothermal projects (any deeper and the
costs become extortionate). Engineers can force water through natural
or engineered fractures so that it gathers up heat before it�s pumped
back as steam to drive turbines. There are still formidable obstacles:
Drilling even a few thousand metres is costly, and techniques
The group�s technical point of departure is that the solar radiation
striking the Earth�s 36 million square kilometres of desert in a
six-hour period is approximately equivalent to the world�s annual
fossil fuel energy production. �Any conceivable global demand of
energy, today or in the future, could be produced from solar energy in
deserts,� according to a technical report produced for Desertec. Not
bad for a morning�s work.
Desertec�s backers are proposing a series of concentrated solar
thermal plants, with banks of reflectors directing the sunlight onto
liquid-filled tubes. The superheated fluid is used to drive turbines
and generate electricity. There
In September, Norway-based Statoil ASA, the world�s largest offshore
fossil-fuel producer, added a strange new device to its vast array of
North Sea energy installations: the world�s first floating
industrial-scale wind turbine. Dubbed �Hywind,� the new project is an
unlikely hybrid of a standard wind turbine and the mooring system used
to stabilize oil rigs in the high seas.
The technology is off-the-shelf and deceptively straightforward: Take
an oil platform�s �Spar-buoy��a 100-metre-tall ballast tank tethered
to the seafloor, up to 700 metres below, by three thick cables�and
crown it with a 2.3 MW Siemens wind turbine. Install enough turbines
in one spot to justify the cost of the submarine transmission cable,
and then figure out how to keep them humming as they rock and sway in
the pounding waves. If you can manage all that, you might just capture
a new segment of the booming wind-power market�with economic potential
exponentially larger than any wind sources yet uncovered. �The problem
with most renewables is that they don�t add up,� says Statoil�s Brage
Waarheim Johansen. �This can add up.�
The price tag�about $80 million to keep a single test turbine moored
and spinning out juice from 10 kilometres off Norway�s coast for two
years�is still far too steep for the mass market. But Statoil is
confi-dent the technology and the economics are sound, and Johansen
and his colleagues are already envisioning enough floating windmills
to power all of Norway�and perhaps, one day, enough installed up and
down the long, heavily populated coasts of North America to
fundamentally
hab...@anony.net
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9FLvj2ZJM&feature=rec-HM-r2
Also how plants do it
Marvin the Martian
> The problem of energy storage seems to have been solved
>
> excerpt
> http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?
main_page=news_article&article_id=678
>
> Using hydrogen as a clean fuel with relatively endless reserves
> certainly has potential, but also faces many challenges. For example,
> the production of hydrogen requires a great deal of energy.
>
> However, some companies have made great inroads in utilising renewable
> energy sources such as wind and solar power in the hydrogen harvesting
> process. One such company is Avalence LLC; based in the USA.
>
> Avalence’s hydrogen generators are electrochemical devices that convert
> water and electricity into high purity pressurized hydrogen gas through
> the process of electrolysis. Avalence's Hydrofiller system is a
> high-pressure hydrogen gas generator that doesn't require a separate
> compressor. According to the company, this cuts capital costs by up to
> 50% and operating costs by 20%.
Quick!! Send them all your money!!
Sam Wormley
Reminds me of you and the "Global Warming Fraud" you keep going on about!
hab...@anony.net
ten year.
Mandating that pension funds invest 10-20% of their funds in
renewable system ie $1-2trillion a year of their $120 trillion funds ,
would give us endless energy for ever
excerpt
This new, never before reported number, showing $1,248,740,645,993.00
(over $1.248 trillion) in total investment since 2007, indicates how
investors and entrepreneurs are leading governments in promoting
sustainable growth. The scoreboard totals investments in solar, wind,
geothermal, ocean/hydro, energy efficiency and storage, and
agriculture. We purposefully omitted nuclear, "clean coal," carbon
capture and sequestration, and biofuels. We indicate which investments
have been publically announced and committed by major companies for
2010 and beyond
The Climate Prosperity Alliance uses the Climate Solutions 2 computer
model of Australia's Climate Risk Pty., showing how $1 trillion
invested every year for the next 10 years can assure the global
transition to sustainable prosperity and job growth. This $10 trillion
is less than the bailouts of failed banks in the USA and Europe and
less than 10% of the world's pension and institutional funds of $120
trillion. Institutional fund managers can shift 10% of their assets
away from hedge funds, risky derivatives and commodity speculation to
real investments in a greener global economy, thereby assuring their
beneficiaries a healthier future.
"While we encourage progress toward directly investing in growing the
green economy, we urge government officials meeting in Copenhagen
December 7-14, 2009, to follow the lead of these private investors
that have already committed $1.248 trillion. We applaud our pension
fund colleagues of the UN Principles of Responsible Investing who have
joined in pledges to allocate more of their members' $19 trillion of
assets into similar green companies. Now, governments must go beyond
arguing over targets, caps and carbon-trading - and follow the lead of
China and the USA in their comprehensive plan for cooperation on clean
energy and climate change. Such a general agreement in Copenhagen can
promote and underwrite more direct investments and growth of the green
economy," said Dr. Henderson.
tj Frazir
years .
The car with whale engine 7 is allot like whale engine 3 . Its a mini
doble boiler that runs steam for a 4 cylinder water rocket.
71 HP 400 MPG .
250 MPG at 277 hp.
Whale.Steam.Engine.2.jpg
Address:http://jeffrelf.f-m.fm/Whale.Steam.Engine.2.jpg Changed:3:43 PM
on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The green 4 trillion buck scam is the Fed Gov trying to FRAUD the
taxpayer out of ALL his money.
swine flu Fraud.
War fraud.
Money banks fraud.
import trade fraud .
medical supresion fraud ..
The fucking pigs dont want you to understand what Jesus said.
When you dive to 160 feet the virus dies cancer dies and your own
antibodies die .
They cant ajust bouyance or the shell that is allso thier lung gets
crushed .
A deep dive will clense you .
thats why baptice baptize people to cleanse the soul because tonga
tribes dive and live to 110 .
tj Frazir
will confuse you.
Whale.Steam.Engine.2.jpg
Address:http://jeffrelf.f-m.fm/Whale.Steam.Engine.2.jpg Changed:3:43 PM
on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Ignorance is evryone that has not seen a phone . Or a car. They trade
mules.
The energy and global warming monopolies would all go broke if they
ever let you see the engine Hide was talking about on that 70s show.
Its a steam powered 4 cyclinder water rocket and dives a slide vane
rotor 10 % the fuel and 13 times the tourk.
Its the engine thats made of water man !
Whale.Steam.Engine.2.jpg
Address:http://jeffrelf.f-m.fm/Whale.Steam.Engine.2.jpg Changed:3:43 PM
on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
But the MAN wont let you see it.
because then the oil age ad enegy monopolies would all be over .
tj Frazir
effective .
No diesel no steam turbine Nothing has more power at the same time it
uses 14th the fuel and 10 times the power.
Whale.Steam.Engine.1.jpg
Address:http://jeffrelf.f-m.fm/Whale.Steam.Engine.1.jpg Changed:3:43 PM
on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The steam power water rockets on the right are very effective ship
engines.
No diesel last near as long or uses 5 % of the fuel and never breaks
down and is dirt cheep to build. Allmost no parts.
Evry boat jet slip ship and car and truck..is just wrong. Just
stupid.
hab...@anony.net
have just annouced that solar panels last not twenty , but forty years
, so they pay back for twenty years with free fuel after the payback
time is done.
What if they were found to last 100 years? Then it would be a no
brainer for the govt to give everyone the money to put them on the
roof and not have to pay OPEC hundreds of billions each year for oil
imports.
tj Frazir
Address:http://jeffrelf.f-m.fm/Whale.Steam.Engine.3.jpg Changed:3:44 PM
on Wednesday, October 14, 2009
This is 5 % the fuel and pays back in 1 day.
hab...@anony.net
If the Clinton foundation can add 6,000 MW in just one country in
India in say two or three years ie six nuclear power stations worth,
can you imagine if this was replicated worldwide.
excerpt
In the next three years, we will add 1,300 Mw of solar energy,
including grid and non-grid, as the first phase of the 20,000 Mw solar
power by 2022," Union minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq
Abdullah said here today.
"Based on the experience of the first phase we will finalise the next
phases for implementation," Abdullah said.
Abdullah said the Clinton Foundation, of former US President Bill
Clinton, would construct two solar thermal power projects of 3000 MW
each in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
"All-round participation will be required if we have to take forward
the solar mission," he said.
Abdullah was in Jamuria in Burdwan district of West Bengal to
inaugurate the country's first 2 Mw solar photovoltaic power plant
promoted by West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation supported
by DPSC.
hab...@anony.net
Plastic trees that absorb carbon dioxide. Electricity generated by
windmills and solar power would then be used to combine this with
water to make ethanol which can be used in 100% form in cars and
planes.
I also like the idea of putting plastic bags over plant
branches to enhance co2 and make photosynthesis more efficient. Trees
can grow really fast with this technique!
also check out bbc.co.uk and 'Hot planet'
excerpt
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-06/installing-plastic-trees-help-environment
. But leave it to humanity to engineer a better tree. A synthetic
tree, currently being tested as a prototype, ensnares carbon about
1,000 times faster than a real tree.
The "tree" uses plastic leaves that capture the carbon dioxide in a
chamber. The carbon dioxide is then compressed into liquid form. The
tree captures the carbon without the need for direct sunlight, which
means that, unlike traditional trees, the synthetic trees can be
stored in enclosed places such as barns, used anywhere, and
transported from one site to another regardless of conditions.
Lackner says the captured CO2 could be used to create fuel for jet
engines and cars, the two most common carbon emitters. In other cases,
the CO2 could be used to enhance current production of vegetable
produce.
The Environment, John Brandon, carbon sequestration, conservation, eco
tech, liquid carbon dioxide, the environment, treesKlaus Lackner, a
professor at Columbia University who is developing the tree, met with
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu last month to talk about the concept.
In an interview with CNN, Lackner said the synthetic tree is "several
hundred times better at collecting CO2" than windmill generators.
Lackner says that for every 1,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide
collected, the tree emits just 200 kilograms. This ratio is more than
enough to warrant the relatively high cost of building the trees
(about the same as a new automobile) or retrofitting coal plants.
Each synthetic tree could collect about 90,000 tons of carbon per
year.
hab...@anony.net
excerpt
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4437
In Gujarat, the government is talking to the Clinton
Foundation, which has launched the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) to
create and advance solutions to the core issues driving climate
change. This is a massive project, one of four solar parks planned
across the world. "In partnership with TERI and other technical expert
partners, the CCI is assisting the government of Gujarat to prepare
feasibility studies for the creation of one or more solar parks in the
state," says Olivia Ross, PR director of CCI. "A solar park is an area
where solar power is produced on a significant scale. Each solar park
will include more than 3,000 MW of solar generation capacity." The
3,000 MW is for starters. The plan is actually for 5,000 MW at a cost
of around $15 billion. The Gujarat project is likely to be the first
to come up and will become the world's largest solar project. "Solar
parks for large-scale generation are needed if we want to wean
ourselves away from coal-based power generation," says Natarajan of
IISc.
In Maharashtra, summer capital Nagpur is being developed as a solar
city. This is a central government initiative: 60 cities all over the
country are being designated solar cities. Nagpur is the first. The
initial target is to reduce the use of conventional energy by 10%. For
Nagpur, the target is by 2012.
Also in Maharashtra, though this is a private effort backed (and
partly financed) by the government, is the solar cooker at the temple
complex at Shirdi, set up at a cost of $250,000. This feeds 20,000
devotees who visit the Sri Sai Baba Sansthan every day. The plant was
inaugurated by Minister Abdullah in July this year. It will save
$60,000 a year on LPG costs. Shirdi is not the first, but it is the
world's largest. Several other religious sites in India -- including
Mount Abu and Tirupati, among others -- have installed solar cookers
for preparing meals for pilgrims.
Some problems need to be tackled first, however. One issue has to do
with land, according to Ghotge of WISE. Though land acquisition from
farmers is a touchy subject, if it is handled correctly, Ghotge
believes it may not pose a major hurdle.
Another challenge is that some solar thermal technologies require
water. In a state such as Rajasthan, water is available from the
Rajasthan canal, but according to Ghotge, "you have to ensure that
priority is given to solar thermal projects along the canal areas and
not to solar PV generation because PV generation is not dependent on
the availability of water. These kinds of policies need to be
understood and well thought out in order to be successful."
The question of policy support from the government for high-cost
technologies in their initial stages also looms large. Moreover, India
will face challenges in absorbing solar power into the nation's power
grid and pay for it. "The cost of any technology comes down the moment
you get into mass production," Ghotge notes. "It is a chicken-and-egg
problem. The companies with cutting-edge technology typically are not
very large and don't have deep pockets. They would not like to part
with their technologies. They would like to earn money from it, plough
it back and grow. We need companies that are solid and not only those
that are there to sell out and make money."
Private and Public Efforts
This may be the reason that the private sector has only been nibbling
at the edges of this sector and leaving the hard work to the
government and government companies. Solar power needs all hands on
deck. Is the private sector doing enough? "The private sector has not
taken enough initiative and has not put in enough resources and effort
for the Indian market," says Hande of SELCO. "This is because of the
long gestation period here. What it has done is put up manufacturing
plants (of panels) to cater to the needs of the West -- for markets
like Germany, Italy and California, which offer subsidies. They (the
private players) should have taken the initiative to nurture the India
market also instead of waiting for the government to offer incentives.
I doubt if this National Solar Mission will make new players take an
active stance. They will still wait for everything else to be done by
the government. And that is where they are going wrong. They need to
show the government how things can be done."
Natarajan disagrees. "I don't think the private sector has stayed out
of solar," he says. "Almost all the solar water heater manufacturers,
for example, are private companies. Similarly, several photovoltaic
manufacturers are private. The announcement of a Mission can only
enthuse them more. If there is money to be made, the private sector
will come. And there will be money to be made if the government
provides the right subsidies. The long-term environmental cost of a
coal-based power plant is not factored into the cost per unit of
electricity you pay today. This is where the government can step in:
Make solar power generation cost competitive by providing a suitable
subsidy, or introduce a carbon tax on polluting ways of generating
power."
Can India become a solar superpower? It has a lot going for it. On
average, the country has 300-320 sunny days a year. The average solar
insolation in a city like Mumbai is about twice that in New York,
Berlin or Tokyo. (Insolation is a measure of solar radiation energy
received on a given surface area in a given time.) On the other hand,
a huge shortage of power exists. According to the Central Electricity
Authority, there is a 10% to 12% power shortage in the country. Power
cuts in urban areas (referred to as "load-shedding") go on for hours.
They are longer in rural areas, where large parts aren't even
electrified. However, targets on capacity addition have often fallen
by the wayside.
"India can certainly become a solar superpower," says Natarajan of
IISc. "We have the necessary scientific expertise and talent; we just
need the government to mold this talent by taking the right policy
decisions. Announcing a solar mission is easy. Converting that into
concrete action in terms of the right policies and investment is the
more difficult part. But I think the mission is the right first step."
Adds Ghotge of WISE: "It is difficult to say if India can become the
biggest player. One does know what Africa will do in this space. They,
too, have a lot of potential."
But Hande of SELCO has no worries. "India has the potential to become
the biggest player," he says. "More importantly, India has the
potential to be the most sustainable player. Unlike countries like
Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.S. (California), which are heavily
dependent on tax incentives and subsidies, in India we are moving
ahead without these. India has the potential to create a much better
sustainable infrastructure."
Before the National Action Plan on Climate Change was announced last
year, wind power seemed to be winning the race for renewable energy.
The government had given the industry several incentives. Companies
such as Suzlon were even beefing up their domestic operations with
substantial acquisitions abroad. Today, the picture is different.
"Solar energy is most certainly a better bet," says Ghotge. "Our
resources are very, very large. We need to build on our technologies."
Adds Natarajan: "It is much safer and surer in the Indian context
than, say, wind because India is blessed with plenty of sunshine the
year round and at all places." In other words, the sun is now rising.
Farooq Abdullah, India's Union minister for new and renewable energy,
is a busy man these days. Over the past few months, as the Copenhagen
climate summit neared, he has been speaking at seminar after seminar
on renewable energy which, most of the time, have been on solar
energy. He has also been inaugurating projects, from the launch of a
new solar lantern to the commissioning of a solar steam system at a
temple kitchen to cook food for 20,000 pilgrims each day. All over
India, solar power has found its day in the sun.
On November 23, Abdullah was again in action in Parliament unveiling
the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. When Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh launched India's National Action Plan on Climate Change
on June 30, 2008, he had highlighted the contribution of solar power.
"In this strategy, the sun occupies center stage, as it should, being
literally the original source of all energy," he said. The action plan
envisaged eight missions -- for Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy
Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan
Ecosystem, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic
Knowledge for Climate Change. Appropriately, the Solar Mission has
been the first one off the ground.
Abdullah said the mission "has a twin objective -- to contribute to
India's long-term energy security as well as its ecological security.
We are living in a world of rapidly depleting fossil fuel resources,
and access to conventional energy resources such as oil, gas and coal
is becoming increasingly constrained. The rapid development and
deployment of renewable energy is imperative in this context and, in
view of high solar radiation over the country, solar energy provides a
long-term sustainable solution."
The Mission has been launched under the name Solar India. (Ever since
the success of the Ministry of Tourism campaign under the Incredible
India banner, branding is de rigueur for government projects.) "Solar
is currently high on absolute costs compared to other sources of power
such as coal," says the Mission document. "The objective of the Solar
Mission is to create conditions, through rapid scale-up of capacity
and technological innovation, to drive down costs towards grid parity.
The Mission anticipates achieving grid parity by 2022 and parity with
coal-based thermal power by 2030, but recognizes that this cost
trajectory will depend upon the scale of global deployment and
technology development and transfer." (Grid parity is the point at
which the cost of one power source becomes equal to or lower than grid
power.)
Global Leadership
The Mission also notes the advantages of solar power. First, India has
great potential. "About 5,000 trillion kWh per year of energy is
[used] over India's land area." Second, "solar energy is
environmentally friendly as it has zero emissions while generating
electricity or heat." Third, from an energy security perspective,
solar is the most secure. "The objective of the National Solar Mission
is to establish India as a global leader in solar energy," says the
document. It then goes on to set ambitious targets -- 1,000 MW by 2013
going up to 20,000 MW by 2022. The policy includes an array of fiscal
incentives, the formation of a National Centre of Excellence,
subsidies on the sale of power, creation of a single-window clearance
mechanism, zero import duty on equipment and components, and the
setting up of two to three large solar manufacturing technology parks.
"The Indian solar energy industry can easily rise to the challenge of
bringing solar energy to the forefront to help India address the twin
challenges of energy security and combating global warming and climate
change," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in a statement welcoming the
Mission. "India is particularly well positioned to reap the advantages
of solar power, which is clean, free, forever and everywhere."
Most people agree on the potential, but they are uncertain whether the
Mission will meet the projections. "I hope it will meet its targets,"
says Vasant Natarajan, a professor in the department of physics at the
Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore. "It is an imperative in
this day of climate change, and the consequences of not pursuing this
goal vigorously would be catastrophic." Sanjeev Ghotge, senior fellow
and head of the Center for Policy and Sustainability Research at the
Pune-based World Institute of Sustainable Energy (WISE), is also
optimistic. "It is possible (that we will meet the targets) provided
we work hard at it and if the international climate is conducive to
helping us do it. It is conditional on both these factors."
Harish Hande, managing director of SELCO Solar Light, which is one of
the acknowledged entrepreneurial successes in this area, is skeptical.
"I don't think that it (the National Solar Mission) is wishful
thinking but I do feel that it is too ambitious," he says. "The
demarcation between the on-grid and the off-grid should have been
clear. A lot of the emphasis of the 20,000 MW is on centralized solar.
For this, a lot of related infrastructure needs to be put in place.
Land ownership will also be an issue. In a country like India where
70% of the population is in rural areas, the centralized model may not
work effectively. Besides, 20,000 MW in 10 years is too ambitious. It
is not just about technology. Technology is only one part of the chain
and it does exist already. It's only a matter of improving it. What we
need now is the appropriate supply chain, doorstep service and a
variety of financial products."
Success Stories
Some success stories have already emerged. Hande and the
Bangalore-based SELCO have several such projects. Silk farmers are now
using solar lamps instead of kerosene lanterns. Apart from other
advantages, this reduces the mortality rate of silkworms. SELCO has
also launched headlamps for midwives. It has worked out several
innovative financing models. Hande has support from the Rockefeller
Foundation.
Also in Bangalore is Crown Solar Power Fencing Systems, which makes
solar power fencing, solar lighting systems and security devices. Tata
BP Solar, in which BP holds 51% and the Tatas the remaining equity,
has a much wider range on offer. This includes lanterns, home
lighting, water pumps, water heaters, road studs, street lights and
solutions for several sectors such as banking (the Sunbank solar power
pack, a cost-effective solution for rural banks) and telecom (the
Sanchar solar-powered system). These sectors' rural forays had hit the
wall of perennial power shortage. Solar has been one solution.
TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) has on offer a milk-churning
device that runs on solar energy, solar-powered television sets, fans
and a lot more. TERI also has a project in West Bengal to promote
women as solar power entrepreneurs. Mukesh Ambani's Reliance
Industries has a solar group which, among other products, has a water
purifier in its range. Photon Energy Systems has launched solar
desalination systems. There will soon be a solar version of every
appliance that runs on power. "The small-scale appliance market
provides us a unique opportunity," says Natarajan of IISc. "Providing
a few hours of lighting after sunset in a village house can make a big
difference in the education of the children in the household. This can
be done by a solar-powered battery charger that, in turn, powers an
LED lamp."
Others are considering the grid -- that is, generating power for
supply to homes and industry. The public sector National Thermal Power
Corporation is going into solar power in a big way. Bharat Heavy
Electricals has commissioned two grid-interactive solar power plants
of 100 KW each in Lakshadweep islands. The Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation is getting into the business as well.
While the public sector is thinking about large scale projects and the
private sector about small projects and appliances, there are some
crossovers. On December 1, Azure Solar became the first Indian company
to sell power commercially in India. Its 2 MW plant may seem small,
and the 1 MW it is supplying to the Punjab State Electricity Board
isn't going to light up many households. But 1,000 Azures can make a
difference. In West Bengal, Titan Energy has just completed the
construction of a 1 MW unit for the West Bengal Green Energy
Development Corporation.
State governments also are getting into the act. Andhra Pradesh has
set aside 6,000 acres in Anantapur district for allotment to companies
setting up solar power projects. Three companies -- the U.S.-based
SunBorne and AES Solar, and the Hyderabad-based Lanco Solar -- have
been issued offer letters. The three companies will together invest
around $600 million.
hab...@anony.net
air instead of hydrogen?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN2Wcy2khuE
excerpt
The innovative and highly-efficient SES SunCatcher is a
25-kilowatt solar power system which uses a 38-foot, mirrored
parabolic dish combined with an automatic tracking system to collect
and focus the sun's energy onto a Stirling engine to convert the solar
thermal energy into grid-quality electricity.
"The SunCatcher represents the next generation of grid-quality solar
power technology providing clean, reliable and cost-effective solar
power to address global climate change and reduce our planet's carbon
emissions," said Steve Cowman, Stirling Energy Systems CEO.
SunCatcher has a number of advantages including the highest
solar-to-grid electric efficiency, zero water use for power
production, a modular and scalable design, low capital cost, and
minimal land disturbance. SunCatcher was designed and developed in
America, through a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department
of Energy. The SunCatchers unveiled at Maricopa Solar were
manufactured and assembled in North America, mostly in Michigan by
automotive suppliers.
High-volume manufacturing of the SunCatcher begins in Summer 2010 and
Tessera Solar breaks ground on utility-scale projects late this year
in California and Texas. Imperial Valley is a 750 MW project with the
first 300MW contracted under a power purchase agreement with San Diego
Gas & Electric near El Centro, California; Calico is a 850 MW project
with Southern California Edison near Barstow, California; and Western
Ranch is a 27 MW project with CPS Energy in West Texas. Manufacturing
of SunCatcher components and construction of these projects will
create up to 4,000 jobs in the near term, both in the Midwest, where
SES's automotive supply chain base originates, and in the Southwest
where projects will be developed.
About SRP
hab...@anony.net
than $20,000 to $50k to become energy independent including motoring
costs.
Power production is within two months in 9MW blocks. Running
over 25 years at least at 100% and uses ordinary mirrors
And cows can graze in the shade. A 100 mile square in Mojave desert
can supply all USA energy needs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDBFdbKcl84&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSl2evZxv4U&feature=related
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> The cost is $3000 per kw , so an average house would need less
> than $20,000 to $50k to become energy independent including motoring
> costs.
Sure, after the original builder is long dead.
> Power production is within two months in 9MW blocks. Running
> over 25 years at least at 100% and uses ordinary mirrors
> And cows can graze in the shade. A 100 mile square in Mojave desert
> can supply all USA energy needs
Most of the Mojave Desert is a National Preserve and you can't build
anything in it.
Idiot.
--
Jim Pennino
Remove .spam.sux to reply.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> Why cant you put one of these in the garden?
Because there aren't many "gardens" a half mile on a side.
jmfbahciv
> The cost is $3000 per kw , so an average house would need less
> than $20,000 to $50k to become energy independent including motoring
> costs.
> Power production is within two months in 9MW blocks. Running
> over 25 years at least at 100% and uses ordinary mirrors
> And cows can graze in the shade. A 100 mile square in Mojave desert
> can supply all USA energy needs
1. Grass needs sunlight to grow. Cows won't graze "in the shade"
because there is no food there.
2. Meadows need rain. A. Not enough water will get to the
land in the shade. B. The Mojave is a desert which implies
that there is less than an inch (?I forget the precise
definition of desert) of rainfall. Even if chlorophyll
based flora could grow without sunlight, it would die of
thirst.
3. Why don't you volunteer your country to pay and build
your ideas?
/BAH
hab...@anony.net
sunlight and cows will graze in the shade.
Suncatcher doesnt need any water so its ideally suited to
desert conditions. If this new plant starts delivering electric power
cheaply this summer then it will be very significant as it can be
scaled up rapidly.
Electric car batteries can store immense amounts of power.
Cars consume five times as much energy as is generated in USA power
stations , so wind can displace a lot of fossil fuels by recharging
car batteries when the wind is blowing.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> The suncatcher rotates round so the grass will get some
> sunlight and cows will graze in the shade.
Around the edges, but most of the area would be shaded.
> Suncatcher doesnt need any water so its ideally suited to
Grass needs water, lots of water.
Cows need water.
> desert conditions. If this new plant starts delivering electric power
> cheaply this summer then it will be very significant as it can be
> scaled up rapidly.
Maybe, but the transmission lines needed to transport the power to
somewhere where it would be of use can't.
> Electric car batteries can store immense amounts of power.
Yeah, compared to a flashlight battery, but not anything real.
> Cars consume five times as much energy as is generated in USA power
Since cars don't run on electricity, this irrelvant even if correct.
> stations , so wind can displace a lot of fossil fuels by recharging
> car batteries when the wind is blowing.
Babbling nonsense; you were talking about solar power and now you're babbling
about blowing wind.
You are still an idiot.
hab...@anony.net
parabolic dish which always focus sunrays coming from any direction to
a point would make the whole thing a lot cheaper?
One B and B which offers free car recharging.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> Wonder if eliminating the tracking system and just having a
> parabolic dish which always focus sunrays coming from any direction to
> a point would make the whole thing a lot cheaper?
Sure it would, but since that is impossible for a passive reflector, the
bottom line is no.
hab...@anony.net
sprinkled over charcoal in permieter wall a few inches thick. The sun
evaporates this water and carries heat away . Temp falls from 30 to
18C ie comfortable.
So maybe during the summer we can clad a building with a
charcoal coating and let water sprinle on it .
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> BBC today showed a great method of cooling . Water is
> sprinkled over charcoal in permieter wall a few inches thick. The sun
> evaporates this water and carries heat away . Temp falls from 30 to
> 18C ie comfortable.
This is called evaporative cooling and has been known to the rest of the
world for thousands of years.
J. Clarke
Google "swamp cooler". Only works when the humidity is very low.
DanB
You must be clear. Hashbrains doesn't know what google is. He pretends
to need baby steps. Wait, the sign of a troll! Gee....
hab...@anony.net
will cover every british roof and save billions of liters of oil and
gas each year
excerpt guardian.co.uk
If the government offered to pay you �1,000 a year for the
next 25 years, in return for an up-front investment of �12,500, you'd
snap it up in a second. Well, that's pretty much the deal on offer
this week after the government finally revealed what it will pay those
who install electricity generating solar panels � in and around their
homes � through the new "Feed-in Tariffs" (FITs).
After years of campaigning by environmental groups � helped in small
part by this newspaper � the government has finally agreed to reward
households and businesses installing electricity-generating measures
with enough of a return to make it a serious financial, as well as an
environmental, investment. If you've got the money (which is a big
"if") and, crucially, a sunny, south-facing roof, you can earn a
7%-10% tax-free return, an income that will rise in line with
inflation. At the same time, you get to do more than your fair share
in reducing the UK's carbon� emissions.
In the week that the energy regulator,� Ofgem, warned the nation to
expect 20% electricity price hikes by 2020, and warned future supplies
were in jeopardy, investors in solar panels will have the added
benefit of being a net provider of electricity, and largely insulated
from future price hikes that could see household bills top �2,000 a
year by 2020.
Announcing the new tariffs' introduction this week, the energy and
climate change secretary Ed Miliband said the guaranteed income would
be a big incentive for householders "to make the move to low carbon�
living".�
"The feed-in tariff will change the way householders and communities
think about their future energy needs, making the payback for
investment far shorter than in the past."
Although Milliband announced a number of tariffs � including what the
government will pay those installing wind turbines � the one that will
appeal most to the average UK householder will be for installing
photovolatiac (PV) solar panels � at a typical cost of
�10,000-�12,500.
From 1 April, households with approved� schemes will be paid for the
electricity they generate, even if they use all of it themselves.
The level of payment depends on the technology and whether it is being
fitted to an existing� home, or installed as part of newbuild.
Importantly, future payments are guaranteed for the next 25 years and
have been, unexpectedly, linked to inflation.
Anyone fitting a typical �12,500, 2.5kW PV system to their existing
home will initially be paid 41.3p per kilowatt hour (kWh) generated.
Enough, according to Miliband, to reward them with up to �900 in the
first year on top of a �140-a-year saving on their bills.
The measure, which is inevitably quite complicated, is designed to
reward those who reduce their own electricity consumption by
installing low-energy lighting and A-rated white goods, and to
ultimately export excess electricity generated back to the grid.
Households get an extra 3p for each kWh they export on top of the
41.3p they get paid for all units generated. Those building PV roof
panels into a new-build home get a slightly lower tariff (36.1p per
kWh). The fact that the payments are not taxed make it a particularly
rewarding investment for higher-rate taxpayers � those earning more
than just over �43,000.
Regulated payments
We estimate homeowners can save and earn more than �1,000 per year for
25 years, increasing with inflation, giving a payback in around 10
years."
He says homeowners with flat roofs may well find they can install a
system, as will those with conventional roofs that face a few degrees
either side of south, east or west. Panels perform best in unshaded
sites angled towards the sun at a pitch of 30-40 degrees.
Ashley Seager went solar three years ago I fitted solar photovoltaic
panels on my house nearly three years ago. They are great � we get 90%
of our electricity off our own roof over the course of the year. And
three years ago the panels were more expensive than they are now.
We spent �17,000 but got half of that back in a grant from the Low
Carbon Buildings Programme, which was dogged by complexity and stop-go
�decisions by the government.
It is much easier now. You install the solar panels or wind turbine
and away you go � no messing about with grant applications that take
months.
But, undeterred, I am looking at fitting solar thermal panels
elsewhere on the roof to generate most of our hot water. That is
because, as well as announcing the cashback for green electricity
schemes, DECC also published its proposals for payments for renewable
heat gear such as solar thermal or ground source heat pumps.
I reckon that from next April a normal solar thermal system could
generate around �200 a year, based on the 18p per kWh DECC is
proposing. Added to the �150-odd you save in heating water, you
approach a 10% return, assuming you pay �3,000-�3,500 for your thermal
system. Go for it!
Perhaps more importantly, it has said it will be giving feed-in
tariffs to households installing solar water heaters, from April 2011.
These are much cheaper (�3,500). There's also help for air and
ground-source heat pumps. Money will be returning to this subject in
forthcoming articles.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> If the govt sticks to its words then within five years solar panels
> will cover every british roof and save billions of liters of oil and
> gas each year
How's that going to happen when:
1) Oil and gas have little to do with electricity.
2) England has jack for sunshine.
hab...@anony.net
Last year, 10 billion barrels of oil were added to global oil
reserves, the highest rate since 2000. However, the world is consuming
around 83 million barrels a day, which equates to 31 billion barrels a
year. So, even in a good year, we barely replaced one third of the oil
we consumed.
Globally, governments invested $25 billion in renewable power
and energy efficiency projects in 2009. This is going to mushroom to
$60 billion in 2010 and another $60 billion in 2011, as nations around
the world race to lower their greenhouse-gas emissions, according to
Bloomberg.
If anything, this is an under-estimate. According to the New York
Times, the Chinese government poured an estimated $440 billion into
clean energy last year alone!
Worldwide, 40% of Exxon's 2007 and 2008 exploration wells were
failures, up from 36% in the prior two years, recent company filings
showed. And it's not for lack of trying! Exxon is searching the ends
of the Earth for oil and coming up empty.
Heck, just look at BP. Last year, BP announced the discovery of a
"giant" oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. To find it, BP had to drill
as DEEP as Mt. Everest is TALL.
If BP could find oil at shallower depths, it would. It can't! Because
the oil is so deep underwater and so difficult to extract, the price
of oil will need to be above $70 a barrel to make drilling profitable.
That may not signal the end of oil, but it signals the end of cheap
oil.
And this "giant" oil field contains potentially 3 billion barrels of
oil � enough to feed America's thirst for oil for just 153 days. After
that, then what?
This week, the American Wind Energy Association published a
report showing that China installed more wind capacity than the U.S.
last year for the first time. Through an aggressive government
spending program, China is projected to outspend other countries by
investing $7.3 billion this year to upgrade its electricity grid with
smart meters and other equipment.
"Things are happening in China at a speed that is making our heads
spin," said Virginia Sonntag-O'Brien, executive secretary of policy
group REN-21, said during a session on Thursday, according to the
RETECH conference organizers.
Entrepreneurs' perspective
Picking up the pace of clean-energy project development means that the
prices for electricity or fuel from renewable sources will go down
faster, green-tech entrepreneurs said. For technology suppliers,
stronger demand translates into higher manufacturing volume and more
cost-competitive products in a global market.
"While continual innovation in technology can move the needle in terms
of costs and acceptance, really it's deployments that drive you down
the cost curve. This is what happened in wind, in solar PV
(photovoltaics), and we're entering that phase with our solar thermal
technology," said Robert Rogan, senior vice president at eSolar, which
makes utility-scale solar systems. "You have to build to scale to
recognize the full potential. You can't just look at research."
Though the U.S. still has highest total capacity for wind power
globally, China took the top spot for new installations in 2009 with
13 gigawatts, according to data released this week.
Worldwide, wind power capacity grew 31%, up 37.5 gigawatts to 157.9
gigawatts in 2009, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. A
third of the increase came from China, which doubled its capacity from
12.1 gigawatts to 25.1 gigawatts.
hab...@anony.net
selling it back at four times the price?
excerpt
Clean Energy Cash Back scheme � which will start on April 1 and apply
to systems completed between July 15, 2009, and March 31, 2012 �
introduces a series of so-called �feed-in tariffs� (FITs). These give
homeowners up to 41.3p per kWh (kilowatt�hour) of electricity they
generate from renewable sources, even if they use it themselves. That
is about four times the market cost of electricity � and there�s a
bonus 3p for each unit they export back to the grid. It is all part of
the government�s effort to provide 15% of the UK�s energy through
renewable means by 2020.
�The guarantee of getting an income, on top of saving on energy bills,
will be an incentive to householders and communities wanting to make
the move to low-carbon living,� said Ed Miliband, the energy and
climate-change secretary. To make the scheme even more attractive, any
income received will be tax-free.
The Colquhouns spent �12,348 on installing their system, of which
�2,500 was covered by a government grant. The 1,600kWh of energy it is
expected to generate each year should earn them �736 and save another
�112 on bills � an annual return on their investment of more than 8%.
According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change, a typical
three-bedroom home uses 3,300kWh of energy a year. A system producing
peak power of 2.5kW on an optimum south- or southwest-facing site
should generate an annual 2,125kWh, earning the homeowner �900 a year
and saving a further �140 off their electricity bill.
Nor are payments confined to solar energy. Those with wind turbines,
or even their own biomass plants, are also eligible � albeit at a
lower rate.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7017238.ece
hab...@anony.net
thermal and solar panels , and they cant be stolen
excerpt
The idea of indoor solar panels may sound a little like the
concept of deck chairs on submarines, but U.S. based Solaroad
Technologies may be onto something with their "CubeTube" cylindrical
solar panels.
The company says CubeTube can power computer workstations by
harvesting wasted energy from office lighting. The device can be
clipped to cubicle walls, or placed on desktops or windowsills. Given
the shape of the device, CubeTube can utilise ambient light for the
production of energy from all directions.
Computers can be plugged directly into the CubeTube and the device
also contains battery banks within the unit, so it can be used as an
uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with enough on tap when fully
charged to run a work station for a few hours.
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=757
hab...@anony.net
http://www.theecologist.org/
The �Ravi�, named after an Indian Sun God, comes in a box similar to
that of a mobile phone. It contains a 1.8 watt solar photovoltaic
panel to convert daylight into electricity; a similar sized battery
with a hangable light and mobile phone charge converter. Once charged
the light will last six hours. It has been designed by locals to
ensure needs are being met, but how it�s being sold is perhaps most
promising
Breaking the tie with kerosene is leading to more cash all round. The
introduction of the �Ravi� has led to up to 70 percent more disposable
income for many, as well as healthier families and more time to study
and socialise. It�s no surprise that demand is high.
...
Wind and solar technology made up over half of Europe�s new
electricity generating capacity in 2009, as the number of new coal and
nuclear facilities fell
More wind capacity was installed in Europe during 2009 than any other
electricity-generating technology, according to statistics released
today by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
Wind accounted for 39 per cent of increased European energy capacity,
ahead of gas (26 per cent) and solar (16 per cent). In contrast, the
nuclear and coal power sectors decommissioned more megawatts of
capacity than they installed in 2009, with a total of 1,393 MW of
nuclear and 3,200 MW of coal decommissioned.
.....
India is set to embark on the country's largest solar endeavour -
increasing solar capacity from 3 megawatts to 20 gigawatts by 2020
India's National Solar Mission was approved 'in principal' last week
by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.
The solar mega-project, aimed at expanding India's solar capacity from
the current 3 megawatts (MW) to a reported 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020
and 200 GW by 2050, will form the centerpiece of a National Climate
Change Strategy and cost an estimated US$20 billion to implement.
With worldwide installed solar-generation capacity totalling just 16.5
GW, and India's power generation capacity at 150 GW, the plan is
notable for its scale and ambition.
Looking to the future, Nicholas Parker believes that the solar plan
could be just the beginning. 'If current calculations are right, solar
will be cost competitive with fossil fuels in the next 5-10 years,' he
said. 'Hopefully by then, we will look back and say that this plan was
not audacious, but a tentative first step.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> Wind and solar technology made up over half of Europe?s new
> electricity generating capacity in 2009, as the number of new coal and
> nuclear facilities fell
> More wind capacity was installed in Europe during 2009 than any other
> electricity-generating technology, according to statistics released
> today by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
>
> Wind accounted for 39 per cent of increased European energy capacity,
> ahead of gas (26 per cent) and solar (16 per cent). In contrast, the
> nuclear and coal power sectors decommissioned more megawatts of
> capacity than they installed in 2009, with a total of 1,393 MW of
> nuclear and 3,200 MW of coal decommissioned.
"Deputy chairman of Russia's Gazprom argues plans for renewable energy are
irrational and should be replaced by more gas-fired power stations"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/09/scrap-windfarms-says-gazprom
hab...@anony.net
Would the iron absorb the heat and keep the swimming pool warm at
night , so that it heats up faster during the day?
excerpt
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216140259.htm
The silicon-wire arrays absorb up to 96 percent of incident sunlight
at a single wavelength and 85 percent of total collectible sunlight.
"We've surpassed previous optical microstructures developed to trap
light," he says.
Atwater and his colleagues -- including Nathan Lewis, the George L.
Argyros Professor and professor of chemistry at Caltech, and graduate
student Michael Kelzenberg -- assessed the performance of these arrays
in a paper appearing in the February 14 advance online edition of the
journal Nature Materials.
Atwater notes that the solar cells' enhanced absorption is "useful
absorption."
"Many materials can absorb light quite well but not generate
electricity -- like, for instance, black paint," he explains. "What's
most important in a solar cell is whether that absorption leads to the
creation of charge carriers."
The silicon wire arrays created by Atwater and his colleagues are able
to convert between 90 and 100 percent of the photons they absorb into
electrons -- in technical terms, the wires have a near-perfect
internal quantum efficiency. "High absorption plus good conversion
makes for a high-quality solar cell," says Atwater. "It's an important
advance."
The key to the success of these solar cells is their silicon wires,
each of which, says Atwater, "is independently a high-efficiency,
high-quality solar cell." When brought together in an array, however,
they're even more effective, because they interact to increase the
cell's ability to absorb light.
"Light comes into each wire, and a portion is absorbed and another
portion scatters. The collective scattering interactions between the
wires makes the array very absorbing," he says.
This effect occurs despite the sparseness of the wires in the array --
they cover only between 2 and 10 percent of the cell's surface area.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> What happens when you put iron chains in water in sunlight?
They rust away.
> Would the iron absorb the heat and keep the swimming pool warm at
> night , so that it heats up faster during the day?
No, but painting the pool walls to absorb heat during the day and closing
the pool with a cover at night to reduce evaporative cooling does, both of
which have been around for at least a half century.
You are still an idiot.
Transition Zone
> In sci.physics hab...@anony.net wrote:
> > What happens when you put iron chains in water in sunlight?
>
> They rust away.
But as a result, what substance(s) are created?
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
Depending on how good your pool filter is, either a pool filled with
rusty water or a pool filter clogged with rust.
Also likely a bit of blood from foot injuries because of the rusty chains.
hab...@anony.net
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> Why are pool walls white and not black then?
Around here almost all of them are blue.
The people that own pools are for the most part not anal-retentive idiots
getting their science out of comic books like you do.
The esthetics of a pool are important to most people.
A black pool would be butt ugly.
Further, whether or not you would want the Sun to warm the pool, or
even warm the pool at all, depends a lot on where the pool is located.
You are still an idiot.
hab...@anony.net
So what that means is, in terms of cost, is you can use 100 times less
silicon. And that's potentially very significant."
But the silicon is what converts light into electricity, so you might
think using so much less silicon would reduce the electrical output,
but Atwater says that's not the case.
"The light comes in and is both directly absorbed by the wires, and
some of the light bounces around in between the wires. And that
bouncing around or multiple scattering in between the wires results in
dramatically enhanced absorption," Atwater explained. "In fact, the
absorption enhancement that we see is in the range of 20 to 50 times
the single-pass absorbance."
Atwater and his colleagues have made prototypes of the design in the
lab, and the product doesn't look like the typical solar panels you
might see on top of a building.
"What we do with our wire arrays is grow them on a supporting
substrate, and we peel them off inside a plastic sheet, so that the
material has exactly the optical and electrical properties of a
silicon wafer, but instead it basically has the mechanical properties
of a flexible plastic sheet."
That flexibility opens the door to potential new applications, such as
what Atwater calls "integrated photovoltaics." For example, the solar
cell could be built into roofing material, saving money on
installation. Other ideas for new uses come from the physical form of
Atwater's novel design.
"Well, one of the things that's interesting about these flexible
sheets is that they can be curved, so you could imagine putting them
in unconventional forms, like on the surface of a vehicle or something
like that, where you don't have a flat surface."
The Caltech professor says he's optimistic about commercializing his
new solar cell design because the manufacturing process should not
require development of any new technologies. And he stresses that it
should reduce the cost of generating power from the sun.
ji...@specsol.spam.sux.com
> So what that means is, in terms of cost, is you can use 100 times less
> silicon. And that's potentially very significant."
Not really.
When you add up all the cell manufacturing costs, the support acquisition
and installation costs, the inverter and controller costs, the wiring
acquisition and installation costs, permits, taxes and all the miscellaneous
other costs to put up solar power connected to the grid, the silicon cost is
trivial.
FYI I recently ran through the exercise to put a solar panel.
The panel item cost is dwarfed by all the other costs to install a working
system.