What Is Your Idea For Alternative Energy?

I would love to find a way to efficiently turn junk mail into harness-able energy.

That would be our friend with the fire place insert that generates steam that spins a generator then....

There is one concept I have not seen anywhere, The idea crossed my mind when I looked at your avatar, a mountain. They are building high stacks in Spain and in Australia I believe, and height is energy. So why not bore stacks in a mountain? or construct them up the face? I have not thought it through, just throwing it on the table?

Regards JD.

Funny you should ask. I just found this web sight today, and have been pondering this question since. What got me here was an article about a bicycle-powered generator. So here is my question to you Engineer types.

Could you design a weight driven motor, like a weight spring drive in an old grand fathers clock large enough to drive enough car alternators to produce enough dc to keep up with the load on enough batteries to power a typical house with a couple of high output inverters.

Keeping the weight system small enough that one man using a large lever could set the weights in a minimum amount of time to make it cost effective.

Or if you are thinking on a larger scale harness the power of vehicle traffic on our highways.

PS when someone turns this idea into a reality I would like a free system for the house and 1% of the company.

Tomas

" Gravity " This is something we should explore!

" Gravity " This is something we should explore!

Its called "pumped storage" has been used for decades. During off peak demand periods the hydro-electric system pumps water uphill into a storage resevoir. During peak demand theis water is allowed to run downhil l driven by gravity to spin turbines which makes electricity.

Hydro-electric dam is the original gravity driven power system.

Gravity pulls water down and in the process we extract energy.

Hi, again elnav.

What about harnessing the regular daily tidal ebbs/flows on our Bay of Fundy?

Seems to me and others, that there is potentially gigawatts of energy to be had.

I've read of plans to do so since I was a kid, reading Popular Mechanics, Popular Science etc. (before the internet).

None of these ideas gave been tried, as far as I'm aware of.

Perhaps they are being throttled back as being non feasable for reasons that are of not our concern.

Loupy

Gravity.

We all get tired of winding up those radios and torches. I think 'why not a big effort once off not the long low effort wind.' Then i think 'because I would get tired of doing that' Having to lift 20 kilos 4ft high just for an hour of light...What if I could lift 200lb 30 feet high and get 5 hours, now that would be worth it... but how.

Most of us do that over and over each day. Going upstairs. So at the top of the stairs is a fireman's pole, with a small step. step on to go down. another step is lifted up the other side, or another pole, for the next time, and the energy of the descent is used to wind a spring, lift a weight whatever....

Erect a 10,000 foot cylinder about 10 meters wide, and put a turbine in it. The draft will be stupendous and should be worth a few hundred killowatts. (Total guess..)

Go into the desert somewhere and erect a whole field of these: that will make each more stable as they are cross tied..

The resonance of these should include some low hz. vibrations which, when modulated, would allow communications with whales. Wait: that part is off topic..

Yes, I read that article. It is worth doing.

James

10,000 feet...10,000 feet! How many Petronas towers high would that be? (almost 7) Really now. By the time any rising warm air got to half that height, it would cool and start to drop.

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

Well if one were constructed it would make the headlines as a Modern Marvel. Especially with a diameter of 10 meters and be strong enough to stay erect when the wind blows.

"Erect a 10,000 foot cylinder about 10 meters wide, and put a turbine in it. The draft will be stupendous and should be worth a few hundred killowatts. (Total guess..)"

Erect a 10,000 foot high imaginary cylinder about 10 meters wide. Now what is the pressure at the top and at the bottom of both cylinders?

Since the atmospheric pressure at the top is low and at the bottom is 14.7 psig +/- the air in the column should flow upward? And in the imaginary cylinder?

There is no driving force. In the turbine towers in Spain and Australia there is a large canopy around the base which collects solar heated air which rises up the tube to create the draft to run the fan-turbines at the inlet to the stack or column.

Solly Cholly.

Do you take into account the low pressure differential arising from Bernoulli's (spelling suspect) Law applying to the rapid air flow over the top of the tubes?

I am unaware of the turbine towers in spain and australia. But i'll seek out pictures of 'em.

thanks.

d

There is no driving force. In the turbine towers in Spain and Australia there is a large canopy around the base which collects solar heated air which rises up the tube to create the draft to run the fan-turbines at the inlet to the stack or column.

I believe Canada is making the LARGEST whose canopy covers 3 football fields and the CN Tower (the tallest structure in the world) will be a miniature.I saw the computer photo 3-4 years back.

don't get in your car, get on your bike. use a bicycle, keep fit save time. Have you seen that advertisement about what a shame it would be if birds didn't use their wings? and then it cuts to a car!! what about using your legs? don't burn oil, burn toast, or omelettes, or apples. Beat congestion.

I like the idea of the bicycle / generator. You want to watch TV, cycle.

James

Discuss with penguins asap.

Hello James,

Viewed from the moon, earth appears as the blue planet. Two simple things can replace oil : hydrogen from sea water and sun. We have an idea on how to extract hydrogen from sea water with the sun, with a great efficiency. The loop is closed. After having raised USD 3 mi. Have them ?

Cheers,

Selles

I work in the design of solid waste facilities. We are even in the middle of a design to convert some of the left over trash to natural gas.

It seems that the there is an abunance of materials, especially woody materials such as tree limb, and construction waste that are hard to process. I wonder if the enzymes inside a horse or cow would break down the grass and leafy material into the simple sugars. Or how about the enzymes that a termite has in it's stomach? Can that also break down the woody material? I figure that these processes have been going on for millions of years through a design that God has emplemented and they work. If we can figure out how they naturally work then. The great thing is if we can do something like this, then we may not have to use as much heat to generate natural gas and the simple sugars that can then be converted into methanol. I just can't figure out how to make a termite vomit to get the enzymtes!

Have a Merry Christmas.

It seems that the there is an abunance of materials, especially woody materials such as tree limb, and construction waste that are hard to process.

You almost got it. We at Infinite Renewable Energy do not try to collect and purify the enzymes, we use the natural microbes that release the enzymes directly where they are needed. If you use enzymes only, you still have the problem of getting the enzyme to the cellulose. We let the microbes do the work. We are puttring in a 50 MGY distillery in the Northeast to make ethanol for fuel from waste and nuisance vegetation that normally goes to the landfill. We are licensing the technology into several areas of the US and several foreign countries. There is an energy crop we will be using that will give 10,000 gallons per acre per year, and let us get independent in fuel without damaging our food supply. I respond to oertg@aol.com.

Gas from landfills was explored by Houston's Browning-Ferris Industries back in the 70's (I worked there). Great idea. Dig a hole, fill it with garbage, cover it with topsoil, build a golf course and create course hazzards from gas collection towers! What an idea.

Don't know what ever happened to that idea.

Cheers,

Skip Stein

IQ-Home

http://www.iq-home.com

Lots of land fil sites now collect the methane and use it to power generators. This power not only meets the landfill's own modest power requirement for office equipment and lighting; but the excess is sometimes sold back to the power grid where such is permitted.

Sadly this practice is not always encouraged and some utilities are opposed to buy back micro generation power. Vested interests I suppose. The technology is certainly there and has been refined for a couple of decades since i first heard about it.

The enzymes inside a termite's stomach will break down cellulose to produce energy. Unfortunately, they're secreted by symbiotic microorganisms that cannot survive outside the termite's gut. Short of genetically engineering common bacteria (e.g. E. coli) to digest cellulose, this idea appears to be a non-starter I'm afraid.

There are several things that can be done.

1. They can hook up the life cycles and treadmills in the health spas or Exercise Centers to a generator.

2. We have the ability to harness solar energy. The problem is it's expensive to purchase the panels, even though they are available. Another thing is some places won't allow you to install them if it's visible to the public. It costs about $20,000 to purchase and set up a solar power system to furnish a home with 1/3 of a kwh, maybe not even that much. The + side is that sometimes the solar panels generate more power then what is used and the power companies will give you a credit for that extra power.

3. They can do more in the study of Cold Fusion.

4. We can run a bunch of squirrels on wheels in cages.

5. There are places that are almost complete self supported by wind power for their power. Tehachappi, CA is one of those places. They have a forest of windmills in the hills there.

6. We can put more into Nuclear power.

We have the ability to be completely independent from using oil for creating electrical power. Oil companies lobby to block these developments.

Oil companies are as much a cancer to society as the tobacco companies.

My suggestion is that all of high-rise building owners should look at those tops of buildings, and try to find out what kind of wind and sun shine available there.

The higher we go, the more wind power. The roof tops of high-rise buildings are the places where wind turbines should be installed for electricity generation. I suggest that architects to make such design for high-rise building that can have towers where wind turbines can be installed. I have Vertical Axis Wind Turbine which has been proven as a high performance wind turbine.

Also, I propose that all of windows of buildings must be looked at.

Windows are gateway for solar energy comes in and goes out. There is a product called solar blind, which can save HVAC energy 20-30%, and this is the instant saving after installation.

Finally, I propose building maintainance people to look at HVAC system where you can find a lot of places with mold and bacteria, and this is causing energy loss and

worse yet, making IAQ - Inroom Air Quality bad and harmful to our health. At Air Hundling Units, you will find a lot of mold growing. Can you leave it? Before you seek for alternative energy, you must save energy whichever you can do now.

Electric Eel Farms

All the ideas you suggest above have been tried and many are successfully generating electricity. http://pesn.com/2005/08/11/9600147_Edison_Stirling_largest_solar/

Many of us in R&D cannot disclose details until we are granted a patent. It is a long and tedious process.

But the advances are ubiquitous in solar, concentrated solar, photovoltaic, capturing drafts, hydro, wind and geothermal as well as more exotic forms. There are amazing items that can be easily googled as "alternative energy." Visit the Sandia labs, our government expert in concentrated solar - follow the links. Spend some time on these sites and you will be assured that plenty of R&D is going on in alternative energy all over the world. Everybody – business, government and the people all want it to reduce pollution, for profit and for independence from Middle East oil.

Stay away from the conspiracy nuts and politically correct greenie" crowd who want to claim that they are the only one's who have concern for the environment; the only one's who are green. They want to exploit natural cyclical solar warming as caused by man. But the concept is disproved by the fact that co2 levels lag temperature rise in all the charts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeDPXtSwtFA&feature=related

Explore both sides, but require proof before committing to opinion. Many are in it for the power and will rationalize anything. They want to confiscate your property as wetlands, non-source point pollution potential, watershed or to save some pristine ecosystem where insects, birds or a serpent is more important than property rights.

They want to deny building affordable houses and fight development of any kind. They are greatly irrational and you can identify them easily because they are quick to denounce our country and blame America first for all world troubles. They insist that we'll all die unless you allow their selected politicians to take more of your money and your property by eminent domain. They want more power over your activities, less you might harm a spotted toad or elderly tree. They are extreme and do not like disagreement with their hasty conclusions. Be ready for an assault if you disagree with them.

I am Janissaries, and I approve this message.

I have a lot of proprietary material and stuff that cannot be divulged yet. If you sign an NDA I'll show some of it to you.

1.) I have been working on a breakthrough solar cell with 80% theoretical efficiency. This builds on the lumeloid concept patented by Alvin Marks. His son owns the patent rights to that invention and since Marks has been ill their project is going nowhere. I have devised some alternative embodiments that will endow the solar cell with higher stability to UV and the weather and cheaper manufacturing. It will also get around their patent that will expire in couple of years anyway.

2.) A couple of years ago I applied for a grant from NYSERDA for a silicon nanowire battery I invented. They rejected it. Now this week a group somewhere has announced a breakthrough lithium ion battery employing the same concept. Silicon nanowires are notoriously expensive. My embodiment of that invention qualifies for a patent and it too will hold ten times the power of a regular lithium ion battery. And it wont cost as much as silicon wire anode batteries either.,

www.peacenikinternational.com Also YouTube - EV1 lives again! The EV1 rides out of EV heaven to vex GM

The greatest "peacetime" transfer of wealth in the known history of mankind (both percentage and dollar wise) has/is occuring right now to the arab nations from the western oil dependent nations.

Big oil, detroit, and their 'owned' cronies in U.S Congress and white house (both parties) are against any viable form of alternative energy (where are all the incentives to do solar for example??? ) . Why was the electric car which won rave reviews suppressed , crushed, and chipped into little pieces? Why are we in an Oil War for oil we really don't have to need? Electrics sell like hotcakes in europe and london (opposite of USA) offers FREE parking ($32 a day value) to any electric vehicle. Why is our country so far behind? Its becuase the EV is too good and would eliminate 90% of our oil dependence reducing BIG OIL to accepting 50 cents a gallon once again.

And now in florida we have red tide (dead ocean species washing up on shore ), the honey bees population has dropped something like 50% (why?), the ice cap is reportedly melting at 10 x the 1990' projections, our government seems deaf to anything but the drumbeat of perpetual war, on and on.

FYI: The OIL WARS have run up close to $3TRILLION which is ALL BORROWED and will have to be someday repaid by who: YOUR GRANDCHILDREN . Wh? y so some evil schmucks can be richer today in their quest to own the world.

Take all the polythene that the growers have covered Spain with, and put it over the methane emitting melting tundra, pipe off the gas, and use it.

Jim

I came across the topic of thawing tundra a couple of years ago when I was looking on the internet to see if anyone considered using up carbon dioxide by growing sphagnum moss. I can't find the original article, but there is a lot of discussion on thawing tundra on the internet now. Like the original story that I read, I agree that we probably don't have as large of an effect on global warming as nature does.

Anyway, here is the way that I thought it would be good to harvest the natural gas that is trapped in frozen tundra.

Starting at the southernmost edge, use a trencher to dig 3 parallel trenches, maybe a hundred feet apart.

Use some long, insulated material to cover the expanse between the first and second trench, and between the second and third trench.

In the second (middle) trench, run a pipe that can carry hot gas to thaw the tundra artificially.

Run a similar pipe in the third trench that won't be used yet.

Originally I thought that the gas could be captured and piped as natural gas after it had been scrubbed of carbon dioxide, but now I am considering an easier way. Now there are catalysts that can combine methane and carbon oxides to produce ethanol or other organic fluids.

So, here is the rest of the idea.

Burn some of the gas to produce heat for melting the tundra via the central pipe in the central trench.

By the way, the insulated cover extends down into the trench and connects with the pipe so that gas can't leak around.

This exhaust gas can be fed from the center of the pipe (where the gas should be captured from the enclosures as well) and can just be released into the enclosure at the ends (there is carbon dioxide in there anyway).

The captured gas from the thawing tundra could be used to make ethanol or gasoline or some other liquid fuel because it is easier to transport liquid than it is for a gaseous material.

If more process heat is required, then the sphagnum that was removed to make the trenches can be gasified to produce more natural gas.

Otherwise, the sphagnum that was removed to make the trenches can be just put under the cover to be thawed along with the rest of it.

When the gas is gone from the first enclosure (between the first and second trench), then another trench can be dug a hundred feet beyond the third trench and another enclosure can be made there. Heat can be applied to the second pipe in the third trench to start thawing the third enclosure. Because this side of the second enclosure wasn't heated before, it will be now and the second enclosure should be left there until the north side of it is thawed.

A leapfrog process can be used like this until the entire tundra has been thawed, the gas captured, and it re-freezes.

Can the spent covers also be gasified? It seems to me that plastics all over the world could be gasified and we can re-use the organic matter for energy before releasing it into our environment.

It seems like this could be expensive, but so is prospecting for oil.

Rather than removing the old organic compounds from underground and releasing it into the atmosphere, why don't we use the organic compounds that are already up here and are going to be released into the atmosphere by nature anyway in a few years.

To further the idea, instead of abandoning the south expanses that are relieved of their carbon dioxide and methane, we could re-cover them with clear plastic and release some carbon dioxide into there (from burning or from the gas in the active sections) to grow new moss. After a while, this moss can be gasified and the process could become renewable.

These are just thoughts that I had.

Anyone care to reply?

Too late I fear Guest.

The tundra is thawing now. When I read it in the Guardian a few years ago I realised that my two little girls will lead a terribly cold, hungry, violent and ....post apocalyptic life. The thawing of the Tundra is a tipping point. The gasses that are being released now will cause the end of our civilisation.

The reflective ice is being melted exposing dark material that absorbs more heat so more gas is released so the climate is warmer so more ice melts....

Nuclear power may save some of our children if we get it started now.

What am I doing about it? trying to give them a great childhood, teaching them to be resourceful, and trying to find them Alpha males.

cncjim

i agree with cnc jim.

the problem isn't capturing the methane by heating the tundra. the problem is the tundra is melting all by itself. you could put a plastic tarp over the tundra where it is melting, weight down the edges and collect methane easily. what might help is if you used reflective material, so that the sunlight was reflected back into space instead of melting the tundra. methane is a lot more damaging to the environment than co2, so burning the methane would be helping the environment. i can not remember the exact factor, but it is either 19 times as bad or 29 times as bad. corrections welcome.

Connect generators to thread mills and ellipticals etc.

Pineapple

Having worked on the following for over 15 years this still looks promising:-

The only predictable force is the tide.

Vast weights of water rise up and down in a predictable manner.

If this energy can be extracted and stored for use when wanted we have a constant source of energy in store.

Take a large empty ship and anchor it at low tide, when the tide reaches its maximum let it rise. As it rises use this energy to pull another ship or sealed empty container down below the level of the low tide.

This lower container can be released at any time to extract energy as needed.

Instead of a ship consider used tyres, these can be formed into tubes with a sealed "wheel" at each end and be inflated - (I've done it).

There are literally millions of discarded (perfectly airtight) tyres littering the world with no value. If these were to be collected and prisoners were to usefully occupy their time in making these into buoys, for use as the ship and the storage the cost would be negligible.

The installation merely requires very secure anchors in the sea bed. Beyond that cables or chains and on the shore generators, capable of using the pull from buoys being allowed to rise in series as required on demand.

The Bristol Channel in the UK could supply more than 10% of the UK's electrical energy. This is when wanted, not as dictated by wind, tide or weather.

I have plenty more propositions up my sleeve but this is the big one. A considerable amount of further investigation and problem solving has already been done.

If anyone wants to use it please go ahead.

Warning - it is very hard to persuade politicians to use their brains.

Energy Hunter wrote concerning tidal power:

The Bristol Channel in the UK could supply more than 10% of the UK's electrical energy. This is when wanted, not as dictated by wind, tide or weather.

REPLY

?? Pardon me but would tidal or wave power not be dependent on "wind tide or weather"?

Wind creates the waves on the surface.

The moon dictates the tides. The tides are usually consistent and are charted in advance what their behavior is going to be at certain times of the year and a chart is created for every location of concern depicting tidal activity.

EXACTLY!! So Energy Hunter is contradicting himself by saying his tidal power project is not dependent on "wind, tide or weather" What was he thinking?

He stated that the tide was the only predictable force.

I agree that tidal power has huge potential, having witnessed the world's highest tides in the Bay of Fundy (Nova Scotia, Canada).

I also think wave power has similar potential. In fact, there was a post here recently that described a system very similar to yours, a bouy using wave energy to drag a float down with a winching/ratchet action.

I don't think the issue with politicians is so much brain application as it is neck exposure. They are only comfortable backing a sure thing that is guaranteed to make them look good. They are highly talented, if not geniuses, at butt-cover design.

This is not alternative energy, its a battery using existing energy.

It costs $86 dollars worth of battery power to go across the united states while gasoline costs upwards of $386. That was in Newsday a year ago. That's with current lead acid technology. reducing the weight of battery packs will go long way toward lowering greenhouse emmissions.

Tide, sun and wind energy is a good!

Ecspecialy tide is a growing energy source in the North sea

What about lightning, 100.000 Volts with lots off amps hitt the ground. Could lightning be used to generate steam wich can drive a turbine > generator over an longer periode.

More and more heat pumps are driven to extrackt heat from water wich is pumped at 40-60 meters deep. During summertime the system runs anti/wise to cool down anything you like.

Chipped wood gets burned in a stove heating the house, a stirling engine is used to generated electricety for the circulationpump among other things 1000Watt. 90% of the heat is aused for heating the home CO2 neutral

In Austria they are developing a Thermo Electric Generator this can convert 5 % of the heat in electricety.

Harmen Beskers

"But the concept is disproved by the fact that co2 levels lag temperature rise in all the charts. "

That's not true, but I digress.

In my opinion, a 10,000 foot tower could be constructed and supported with modern composite materials, and if it were in a "field" of such towers, the mutual support would make it much more likely to survive the occasional windstorm.

As everyone knows, the water level in a straw rises when you blow across the open end, and I would submit that both "average winds aloft" and average barograph readings at surface and 10,000 feet would provide a basis for siting. It is not temperature dpendant, and the cooling of the rising air would not stop the process.

The carbon fiber continuous filament cylinders would be formed on the ground, and lifted by either balloons or helicopters with lift points appropriate to the strength of the formed pipe. ONce vertical, they would be guy stayed.

Depending on siteing, 10,000 feet could actually get the upper end into the jet stream.

=============

I certainly have no rigorous theoretical support for this off-the-wall idea: but the thread ASKED for "ideas", so WTF: here it is.

A 10,000 foot tower is nearly 2 miles high. Workers trying to complete the final stages would have to wear clothing to keep from freezing from the wind chill factor at that elevation. About every couple hundred feet you can find that wind is blowing in a different direction from the wind blowing at the lower levels.

This tower is only 10 meters in diameter. I don't think there is any materials on earth no matter how they are arranged would be able to create a 2 mile high tower that's only 10 meters in diameter to remain standing.

There is another major safety factor involved here. If the tower should fall, they would have to keep a clear area of over 2 mile radius. Basically that's an area of 4 square miles that would be rendered useless because of one skinny tower in the middle of it.

The concept might work but it's really impractical.

The 4 square miles wouldn't be useless. They would need it for the three foot thick guy wires. Sort of a vertical suspension bridge. Of course they would have to use two or three helicopters at a time to lift them. Can I sell tickets to this?

If they were to get one erected it would top the list of Modern Marvels.

I have 2. The pulser pump is driven by a stream or river and can pump water for irrigation or air for sewage treatment. The pulser pump has no moving parts (that makes it cheap to make and run) and it uses low grade water power. (water falling 1.5 to 6 feet). Low grade water power is currently unused worldwide because the repayments on machinery for converting the power to electricity and sending the electricity to the grid costs more than electricity produced per year generates. But if you just use the power to pump water directly, or pump air directly for activated sludge, you substitute for fossil fuels. You actually substitute for a lot of fossil fuels because the coal has to be mined, transported, burned, the water has to boil, the turbine has to turn, the generator has to turn, and the electricity has to be sent perhaps a hundred miles to pump water or air with fossil fuels. With a pulser pump or trompe alternative, it all happens in a veritcal pipe within a few hundred feet of where the energy gets used. The other one is the mechanical mathematician. It is just a simple device to allow poor people (or some of you guys as early adopters) to cheaply make large parabolic reflectors for cooking food with the sun.

Minimizing the wholesale use of energy would in effect become a "SOURCE" of untapped energy. Massive quantities of waste paper, plastic soft drink and water bottles, and aluminum soft drink and beer cans end up on the side of the road and/or landfill garbage dumps. All that is needed in an incentive to get widespread public cooperation in a recycling effort. Return deposits help but retailers object.

A good idea relative to effective recyling is worth as much or more than a new source of energy.

OK I give up on the totally tubular towers.

Next?

Carbon nanotube _{^{(from LARGE tubes to small tubes: but HIGHER REACHING, to make up for small diameter...)}} woven wire connected up from earth surface to geosynchronous sattelite. You remember Ben Franklin's experiments with kites in lightening storms?

Dude, this is a bell-ringer!

As the cable cuts the "field lines" of the earth's magnetic field, del cross b^. =D^{., ,}

^{(Maxwell's equations, etcetera)} FREE power available "on the line".

=============

I know I've read about a ground tethered 4-blade-set 'Copter" that drives up to the jet stream powered by electric motors, and then shuts off and the blade sets produce electricity which is conveyed down the tether..

Don't give up on the tubular towers... Construct the draft towers using helium (or hydrogen) filled donuts stacked to the heavens. The donuts would be tied together and have enough buoyancy to support the structure. The stacked donuts provide pretty good structural integrity while also being somewhat flexible to bend in the wind. The donut tower also provides some degree of insulation from the colder atmosphere at higher elevations. The tower could be pulled down in case of bad weather or for repair. The modular donut design is robust enough that even if one of the donuts "blew out" the entire structure would not necessarily fail catastrophically.

Placing the towers over large bodies of waters can improve the convective forces because moist air is lighter than dry air. Condensation will most likely occur, but this could also be a benefit since it is essentially distilled rain water.

A big tarp tent with a mostly horizontal surface could be used to guide and warm the surface air prior to its introduction into the vertically stacked donut tube.

It's like totally tubular!

Biodiesel! Processing corn and other cellulosic materials yileds 70% or less of the total energy content. If the same biomass material is pyrolyzzed it will yield 90% of the enrgy contained in it. Thge easiest thing would be toi burn biodiesel in oli fired plants to recycle carbon dixiode or sequester it under ground.

There are a multitude of things that can be done to SAVE and generate energy. Each situation is different. The small outback farmer needs a cheap source of energy from ready resources, to the capture of methane in the dump. When energy prices hurt everyones pocket book bad enough, things will change. This discussion is intended to spark an idea in a young brain that may change the world.

James

convert all existing air conditioners, (vapour compression), of all sizes, to run in reverse as orc motors, with solar thermal and geothermal as inputs. swap out vapour compression a/c units with silica gel adsorption coolers, these can also use solar thermal as input.

Invent a cheap method of drilling holes to lay geothermal heat pumps. They save half the energy of oil and gas furnaces. Why does it cost as much as it does?

The guy drilling the holes has to:

• buy and maintain drilling equipment, hire workers, buy insurance, lawyers, accountants
• pay mortgage on house, buy car for wife, himself and children, fuel for same, cell phones for everyone, new furniture, Christmas gifts all around, donations to organized religion of choice, shoes, clothing, education, care for elderly family members, medical coverage, taxes, ....................................
• recreational hobbies, vacations, save for retirement.................................

To pay for all this, he spends a few lovely days at your shangri-la covered in muck. Then he has to hustle up another job after yours to keep things flowing. How much would you charge? It's all about the cost of living.

www.triplebatterylife.com while its only guaranteeing double its still very viable and here now / yesterday !

Spark an idea.

OK it might sound stupid but here goes.....

Go to any Dollar Store, look around for a simple Chinese lighter (L1) that lights red & blue bulb inside every time you light the lighter. How it works? No battery for the bulbs.

Touch any lighter(L2) with this lighter(L1)and light the lighter(L2) the bulbs of the lighter(L1) comes on. How? By sound. Rember the 3 hanging balls banging against each other and keeps going on indefinately once in momentum. Keep lighter(L1) close to it and flashing bulbs continues by the sound of the balls.

Idea: Can this be magnified somehow for 1 bulb lightning up similarly - thats one room lightning without any power.

You become Bill Gates with this keep my share as a founder of the idea & partner.

I have my doubts but: I did hear about one of the so called miracle gas boosters for your car. He says something to the effect of taking the residual power from each spark wire that is firing and using that to boost the juice in the next one that fires. He seems to use kind of a transformer that wraps around the spark plug wire and is interconnected with the other spark plug wires (perhaps in the order of the firing order) to enhance their electrical power. He says this provides a much better spark which he says in turn makes for more complete combustion and better mileage.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. I will say it does seem possible but wouldn't it be easier to just get a more powerful ignition coil?

Hot rodders have been doing it for years. They call it multiple spark Discharge or MSD for short. I think the current version is model #6. I ran the MSD 4 when I was street racing my corvette.

What did it do wreck your engine? What do you do ElNav? What are you about?

Hux, your vehicle to grid idea is interesting but did you factor in that the running a hybrid or fuel cell vehicle depletes the fuel that it takes to run them and in a small system like a vehicle that is one of the most inefficient methods compared to big electric Plants (especially nuclear since breeder reactors actually produce their own fuel once started). Maybe solar would be better perhaps if a large number of cars had solar cells all over them and then plugged into grid while parked at work for example would provide a boost to grid during peak daytime demand. Of course you could say that for the owners of the vechicles that this solar energy would really best be used to recharge the vehicle batteries first and then pass on excess (probably won't be much if any excess juice ) to grid system ?

We talked to a lady in calif who said they had a tube going up a mountain and that it indeed powered (wind turbine) their house. MAybe the bernouli effect plus pressure differential plus initially warmer air at bottom all work together to make it plausible?

I thought it was a great idea when I came across it, the more you think about it the better it gets, and I thought this would be a good place to make others aware of it - but did add that it didn't solve the problem.

I've been working on solar cells that might get 80% efficiency. They could be used as a skin to cover the cars you are talking about. And to power them. That tube idea sounds good. How much power does she get from it?

Hey protn7,

She gets enough to power her house (I think it was a 1500-3000 watt generator using some king of wind turbine/ although I don't think that means at full out on a hot day running ac unit). I think she was telling me the tube was about 3'-4 ' diameter. (its hazy memory). I'll have to remember how to contact her. Her husband had a solar co. back in the days when the feds were encouraging that type thing. He sold out and now they are divorced too.

How hot does it get where she is? Where does she live?

She lives in calif someplace I think in the northern part ? Its a hazy memory at this point. The part that is clear that she had a tube up side mtn she lives below (and owns) , Her ex set all this up, then finally sold out to other co.

Everybody doesnt have mounbtiain to attach to it.

True. i was just adding a data bit to help people realize it is at least partly viable (the tube running a turbine idea) . Of course I didnt do the research and only have this second hand hearsay on the tube . . but .. its intriguing.

I'll tell you another one. Any kind of covering on the roofs of houses drastically reduces the AC needs (perhaps 30-40% less ac needed if total coverage). SO.... using solar panes actually provides a double benefit during summers if they are roof mounted.

If this idea was tried a few years ago and some company bought it to develop a functional concept (in situ mind you) and no one has heard anything more of it, and I am sure if it worked someone would have, is it possible to consider it "at least partly viable"?

Just a thought, working with the given information.

A vertical pipe is also called a chimney and as such is used to direct hot gases upwards to a great height before being released.

If you wish to know more about the technical challenges of constructing a vertical pipe, all you have to do is investigate the design of chimneys. A 10,000 foot height strikes me as being somewhat impractical for several reasons. At that height you are into perpetual snow zones. I lived next door to a dormant volcano with a total height of 10,200 feet. The upper regions were snow covered year round from around 7,000 or 8,000 feet upwards.

We often had sea level summer conditions of 95 - 100 degrees Farenheit. Yet above 7000 feet the air temp was below freezing. The chimney effect will only work as long as the hot air rises. Once the ambient temp at altitude chils the air inside the pipe too much, you lose the chimney effect. No doubt the chimney effect will work up to some undetermined height but the cost of constructing the tall chimney (pipe) will at some point make it uneconomical and therfore not viable as a power generator.

She must be talking about Skysteam 3.7 : gives you 1.8 Kw- 2.4 kw power . Does not need a mountain, can be installed in your backyard. Go to www.skystreamenergy.com

Yes its a typical grid tie system. Good idea to put the inverter up top in the head. The systems I worked on could not do that due to weight of the Gemini converter. The technology has progressed a long way since then.

From what what I saw on the website this system is contingent on having utility power. Reference is made to a disconnect switch required by the utility company. The illustraded diagrams clearly show this disconnect between the wind generator and the house system. In other words if the grid power disappears (power outage) then you also lose connection to the wind genreator. That is a point of vulnerability I do not like.

The output of the mast mounted inverter is 220V AC fed directly into the house system. Functionally this system would in effect use the utility grid as a storage medium by way of reversing the meter. There is no provision for on-site energy storage evident in the video or explanation.

No you haven't Neil Farbstein. Your company, Vulvox, has never researched or developed anything at all. It is merely a front to defraud investors.

Any reader can google this fraud and make up their own mind.

If only we could harness the surplus energy of adolescent males .

What size are the cosmic dust particles? Are they small rocks?

I want to but I'm not getting the cooperation that's necessary..

I invented a type of solar cell that can get 80% efficiency, but nobody wants to fund it. I have some ideas for solar hydrogen generation, and a break-though lithium ion battery that can store 10 times the powder of regular lithium ion battery. I applied for a NYSERDA energy grant for that a couple of years. This month, somebody else announced that they had invented the very same concept- silicon nanowire anodes.

My website details some of the concepts we are working on

http://vulvox.tripod.com

Protn7 wrote: I invented a type of solar cell that can get 80% efficiency, but nobody wants to fund it. I have some ideas for solar hydrogen generation, and a break-though lithium ion battery that can store 10 times the powder of regular lithium ion battery.

REPLY: didn't find much details on the solar panels via the link you provided. Is the solar panel so much smaller for same current output or do you rate it by some other measure? What would it cost to make a prototype to deliver 5 amps @ a nominal 12V for charging a 12V battery.

Is the solar panel more efficient by itself or does it require a lithium Ion battery as part of a system in order to give this 80% efficiency?

I have not gotten to that stage. It's theoretical concept that I want funding for to build a prototype to prove the concept will work.

The panel itself is super effiicent. It's based on an invention in a patent that's going to expire this year. I had the same concept in my patent notebooks a long time.

The current edition of Sci Amer details a solar program which would eliminate the need for imported oil by 2050, and at a price which is totally within reach, although the first 10 years would need tax credits.

The estimates appear conservative, as regards future projections in both user side figures, and the technology.

The most "esoteric" issues (to me, at least) are short-term molten salt energy storage; and the storing of huge quantities of compressed air in underground caverns or mines at pressures in excess of 1,000 PSI, to be used to run turbines at night.

Well worth reading..

Hi AVI, please explain the molten salt (what energy is used to store it). Also the compressed air (explain the details please).

On the tube , yes maybe there is a certain practical height that works the best. My friend (forgot the contact info) said theirs worked to at least partially power their hosue but again probably only 1000-3000' and leaning on a mountain too. As said the bernouli effect of high air currents creating a vacuum in the tube creating more air going up, combined with the hot lower atmosphere air (in summer time), etc. might actually be enough of an advantage to provide a viable energy source.

Don't forget "lost ' technologies are sometimes locked in petroleum co's vaults after they "buy" them .

SORRY for the late reply:

The ARTICLE can be found at

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan

Precis:

• A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.'s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.
• A vast area of photovoltaic cells would have to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy would be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours.
• Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well.
• A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country.
• But $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive.

why not just make every home self sufficient. that would mean that instead of having to increase electric delivery capacity, the existing capacity would be good for at least 20 years. solar thermal at the home level, could do similar things for the oil demand.

The indians in India are manufacturing compressed air powered cars to get around in the cities. They are increasing in number

Pics or it never happened.

Actually I'd like to see an article on this, can you link one in case I can't find it googling. I'd like to know how they keep them charges and how far they can get and the cost per charge.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/21car.htm

I think I read that Tata Motors is one of the companies looking to buy Jaguar. (no, that's not a joke) Just what Jaguar needs to put wind in its sales. Ha!

When I went home I looked it up and found lots of information. They've been around for a few years and France seems to be the first in planning to put them in full production in their country.

They can go for about 50 miles at a top speed of 70 mph if you're running on just the air alone but they are making hybrids to increase that range.

They won't be very function for any long trips or traveling across the country but they would be fine for local to and from work or running errands around town.

It's the in town driving that really runs up the wear and tear on an automobile so these cars would be a good investment as a second car for around town.

If all of the energy in lighning bolt were converted into heat energy how much energy would that come to? And what amount of energy would go into building a structure like that? Smelting the iron shaping it etc.? Maybe they could charge a giant battery.

Lightning bolts can be harvested for energy. No moving parts except for the flow of water. Check out Lord Kelvin's battery on Youtube.

http://hackedgadgets.com/2007/02/28/water-powered-batteries-with-mit%E2%80%99s-walter-levin-lessons/

N

hi everyone.

single family home methane digester running on flush toilet and ground kitchen refuse. or at least municipal waste water pretreatment by methane digesters.

in the first, you made the refuse, you build the plant, you extract the flammable gas, you use the gas. which directly reduces your cost of energy. breakeven point for system, could be as low as several years to 10 years depending on how much you spend for system.

in the second, you made the refuse, they build the plant, they extract the flammable gas, you buy the flammable gas. on the plus side of this is that they also lower the cost of sewage treatment by 50%, which translates into lower taxes to support their infrastructure.