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Energy problem solved!!!???!!!

Sorry mate, but if it sounds too good to be true, it almost invariably is.
I'm not a scientist, but I think a lot about energy and power as I haul my increasingly old and fat body up a sizeable hill every morning on my bike.

"Tesla" is always a warning sign. I swear there are Serb nationalists propagating this stuff.
 
btw, gorski - the stuff you posted earlier about using the Sahara desert is a much better potential solution: A largely uninhabited, massive area which gets some of the highest levels of sunlight in the world. We could literally cover the entire desert with solar panels and no one would give a shit. There are, of course, technical issues relating to the harshness of the environment and the shifting sand etc, but it's something we could overcome.

Then of course there's fusion and thorium - both unproven/theoretical, but still miles better than shiny roads.
 
At the end of the day we were always going to have AC mains.

Edison's DC was bonkers - a power station on every block ... though ironically there are elements of that that are now an option ..
 
Look, technology is impossible to stop getting ever smaller, more powerful and cheaper, so the point about economies of scale - on top of that - is correct. Moreover, when the Chinas and Indias of this world get hold of this idea - you'll see a zero removed at the end of that eye-watering $£€ figure per unit!!! Even if they don't, the US, Japan, Australia and EU will contract them to start producing the stuff for them, which means they will "clone" it for much less and it won't be totally bad... ;) Then, the rest of the not-so-rich world will also see the befits of this marvel!!!

If all the counties in the world - with enough sunshine hours per year - do it - that's it!!! One can try to find a flaw but this (plus other renewables, of course) is the future!!! Oil-free future for the world. At least oil-free when it comes to energy production!!! We'll see about plastics and such shite... :(

And even if the Arab oil-producing countries of the world are opposed to it right now, they won't be for long, when we have the technology of saving solar energy and transporting it at great distances!

And we'll get there, sooner or later... DESERTEC will be back in business, I tell you. And if they don't - others will jump in. There are huge sovereign funds in the world, just waiting for the right opportunity!

And since this is the biggest business in the world I have no fear we are nearing a solution of limitless energy for Earth.

The question will be: will it be free for everyone (bar buying a machine to collect the energy of the Sun)...???!!!??? :)
 
Btw, I urge everyone to carefully watch all those videos and read those texts about the solar roadways project, in order to really understand the issues, the need from which it comes, the science and tech behind it, at least in broad terms...

Then, the economy and politics behind it will also come into the fray... ;) :) Not to mention Philosophy... :D
 
Fez909 said:
"Biomass" is still the biggest renewable energy source used, which I presume means burning wood?
Click to expand...

Not just burning wood, there's also gassification of food-waste, bio-reaction and other technologies.
My problem with the storage side of some renewables is that currently the "whole-life" cost of superior storage media for energy is high both in terms of physical expense, and in terms of enviromental cost, and while some of gorski's links point at possibilities that may have a better cost/benefit profile, the benefit is still many years down the line, and some of the technologies may not be scaleable.
Of course, this doesn't mean we shouldn't be looking for better storage solutions, and solutions tailored to the varying demands made on the grid, but it does mean that until those solutions are there, the majority of companies and institutions that don't already R & D this kind of stuff, won't get involved. They'll only invest once the technology is fully-developed. That's capitalism, baby!!!
 
gorski said:
Btw, I urge everyone to carefully watch all those videos and read those texts about the solar roadways project, in order to really understand the issues, the need from which it comes, the science and tech behind it, at least in broad terms...

Then, the economy and politics behind it will also come into the fray... ;) :) Not to mention Philosophy... :D
Click to expand...
So how much of your money are you prepared to invest ?
 
gentlegreen said:
Sorry mate, but if it sounds too good to be true, it almost invariably is.
I'm not a scientist, but I think a lot about energy and power as I haul my increasingly old and fat body up a sizeable hill every morning on my bike.

"Tesla" is always a warning sign. I swear there are Serb nationalists propagating this stuff.
Click to expand...

Tesla's work on wireless transmission of energy isn't CT.
 
Fez909 said:
btw, gorski - the stuff you posted earlier about using the Sahara desert is a much better potential solution: A largely uninhabited, massive area which gets some of the highest levels of sunlight in the world. We could literally cover the entire desert with solar panels and no one would give a shit. There are, of course, technical issues relating to the harshness of the environment and the shifting sand etc, but it's something we could overcome.

Then of course there's fusion and thorium - both unproven/theoretical, but still miles better than shiny roads.
Click to expand...

There's also the upscaled geothermal theorised by sci-fi writers 40-50 years ago (although done best by Julian May in her "Many-Coloured Land" series) - tapping magma at a controlled rate to massively produce steam to drive turbines. At least if it went wrong, it'd go wrong less spectacularly than a nuclear reactor!!
 
There are really sorry sods around, posing as if they have seen the future - and it is invariably mad, bad, sad and sorrowful...

Now, how 'easy-going' is this attitude, in terms of not having to do anything, if you don't have any faith???

What does it do for you, since you have such an iron grip on this worst possible of scenarios?!?
 
Last edited:
gentlegreen said:
At the end of the day we were always going to have AC mains.

Edison's DC was bonkers - a power station on every block ... though ironically there are elements of that that are now an option ..
Click to expand...

Edison may have been an inventor (something that many other inventors argued against!) himself, but he was more of a businessman than an innovator. He wanted a power station on every block, because it meant more money for T.A. Edison.
 
ViolentPanda said:
There's also the upscaled geothermal theorised by sci-fi writers 40-50 years ago (although done best by Julian May in her "Many-Coloured Land" series) - tapping magma at a controlled rate to massively produce steam to drive turbines. At least if it went wrong, it'd go wrong less spectacularly than a nuclear reactor!!
Click to expand...
Thing is, if fusion and/or thorium produce results, then it can be done anywhere. Magma tapping is limited to places with a thing crust, or close to existing volcanoes. But at least it's a proven technology: http://www.computerworld.com/articl...e-renewable-energy-source--earth-s-magma.html
 
gorski said:
There are really sorry sods around, posing as if they have seen the future - and it is invariably mad, bad, sad and sorrowful...

Now, how 'easy-going' is this attitude, in terms not having to do anything, if you don't have any faith???

What does it do for you, since you have such an iron grip on this worst possible of scenarios?!?
Click to expand...
Have you watched Nobel prize-winning scientist, Smalley's lecture in which he lays out the problems? Or are you just gonna listen to some salesman flogging shiny roads and ignore the facts because they aren't what you want to hear?

You're the sorry sod around here with your pie-in-the-sky ideals. The fact is, these roads, even if they worked are just too expensive. And because of that, we'll never find out if they work.

They won't, btw.
 
Fez909 said:
Thing is, if fusion and/or thorium produce results, then it can be done anywhere. Magma tapping is limited to places with a thing crust, or close to existing volcanoes. But at least it's a proven technology: http://www.computerworld.com/articl...e-renewable-energy-source--earth-s-magma.html
Click to expand...

I'm confident that thorium will be the solution in terms of nuclear options (at least until fusion - hot or cold! - becomes a reality), but the usual provisos are in place - that the "industry" won't invest in it seriously when they've got an extant tech earning them coin, and will only flip over if and when the tech is "mature" and exploitable, so development will continue to be the purview of the academy and venture capitalists for the foreseeable future.
 
I rather hoped the Internet would mean that everyone would get themselves educated, but sadly it's getting worse in some ways.
 
Fez909 said:
Have you watched Nobel prize-winning scientist, Smalley's lecture in which he lays out the problems? Or are you just gonna listen to some salesman flogging shiny roads and ignore the facts because they aren't what you want to hear?

You're the sorry sod around here with your pie-in-the-sky ideals. The fact is, these roads, even if they worked are just too expensive. And because of that, we'll never find out if they work.

They won't, btw.
Click to expand...

It's gorski. This condescending smiley-loaded type of post is his stock-in-trade. ;)
 
gentlegreen said:
I rather hoped the Internet would mean that everyone would get themselves educated, but sadly it's getting worse in some ways.
Click to expand...
The problem, as ever, is one of sources. Everything's there on the internet if you look for it, but so is all the crud and snake-oil sellers and whatever else.

The potential for confirmation bias is higher than ever.
 
ViolentPanda said:
It may very well be the emperor's new clothes. That doesn't mean that a near-lossless wireless electrical transmission system isn't a worthy goal, given the losses between generator, substation and home.
Click to expand...
Thunderf00t quoted 6 percent - which surprised me. I thought it would be much worse.
Distributed power would be great though - solar panels on roofs, electric cars doing storage etc .. with the high voltage grid as backup.
 
Look, Fez, update or fuck off! If you're not gonna listen to anyone but your old sources (your source could not have seen this, plus he was calling for new forces on the scene to do precisely what he did, with his wife!) - who gives a fuck what you're spouting... :D

Also, it'd be good if you could get some humility, somewhere, in some supermarket, even an ounce.... :D
 
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