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The Energy Challenge: Turning Glare Into Watts

Posted March 06, 2008 9:28 AM

From NYT > Science:

The world appears to be on the verge of a boom in a little-known but promising type of solar power. At first, as he adjusted pumps and checked temperatures, Aaron Boucher looked like any technician in the control room of an electrical plant. Then he rushed to the window and scanned the sky, to check his fuel supply. Mr. Boucher was battling clouds, timing the operations of his power plant to get the most out of patchy sunshine. It is a skill that may soon be in greater demand, for the world appears to be on the verge of a boom in a little-known but promising type of solar power. It is not the kind that features shiny panels bolted to the roofs of houses. This type involves covering acres of desert with mirrors that focus intense sunlight on a fluid, heating it enough to make steam. The steam turns a turbine and generates electricity.

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#1

Re: The Energy Challenge: Turning Glare Into Watts

03/06/2008 1:16 PM

I have read this about 10-15 years ago that there was an operation similar only that the mirrors heated a tower and melted sodium chloride in it. (they used sodium chloride because it held the heat more )

I thought it was somewhere in Arizona

phoenix911

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#2

Re: The Energy Challenge: Turning Glare Into Watts

03/07/2008 12:14 AM

This is just a crypto nuclear system and hence inherently EVIL. ffeJ

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#3

Re: The Energy Challenge: Turning Glare Into Watts

03/07/2008 11:16 AM

Just think of the logistics of collecting all that distributed energy and getting it to the point where you do the work. I have to wonder about losses in each of the transmission paths. And then I think, that we would be a lot better off if each house had a thermal solar collector, if for nothing else, just to heat the domestic hot water. Small changes applied universally work better than singular big changes.

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#4
In reply to #3

Re: The Energy Challenge: Turning Glare Into Watts

03/08/2008 4:44 AM

Yup, add in rainwater collection too ...

I think they are slooooowly building more environmentally friendly houses over here in UK...but they are still doing stupid things like building on the Thames flood plain....with rising sea levels in the relatively densely populated South East.

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