Solar Power @ MindSay

Please, never try to pin me down on political affiliation or religious belief, or anything like that. I honestly believe that my views are unique, but I really don't try to make them so, I just let them be what they are. One minute you'll find me endorsing solar energy, and another, you'll see me pushing for fossil fuels over ethanol; you'll see me disagreeing with a war, but giving the thumbs up to new military technologies.

I was thumbing through one of my older issues of Popular Science from a few months back, and I came across an article that I'd forgotten about - the Brits possibly building a fleet of modular robotic battleships. The same country who used to be a world superpower due to the absolute power of their navy, the one that lost that power steadily after the Napoleonic Wars, may be getting that strength back with a new potency and versatility.

These ships are specially made to operate on a crew that's less than 2% the size of what is currently necessary, with no decrease in ability from the older models. What's more is that these ships are going to be taking advantage of a new technological trend - modularity. Essentially, four to five models of ship are going to be constructed, but with the ability to have all of their weaponry and special equipment switched out at a moments notice to be re-tasked to a radically new job.

Now onto one of my favorite innovations that's come about recently: Vertical Farming. The concept is based on building spiral-shaped towers in urban areas that use hydroponics and nutrioponics (suspending the plants in a jelly substance made of nutrients and reprocessed plants) to grow plants in a very controlled environment. These towers, too, would be modular and able to be stacked and added to later - as well as utilizing solar power to maintain all of the systems.

Locating these tower in urban areas allows for a number of unique advantages over old methods of farming that use land inefficiently and consume massive amounts of fossil fuel to maintain. The increase of jobs, coupled with the CO2 processing abilities of plants and the vicinity to the places the food is to be sold allows an overall increase in economic and environmental health.

Ah. Cloudboats. Wonderful little inventions, they are. Essentially, they break down to being oversized, satellite-controlled catamarans that charge themselves using solar power and use the air around them and ocean under them to help regenerate the atmosphere. They would move about freely, keeping themselves free of shipping lanes and allowing themselves to be lent to a number of other uses (floating wi-fi anyone?).

I'm going to rest for a bit. I might get back to this fun stuff later.

~Mr. Mobius

I got a little side tracked by a project inspired by a hot looking sunrise we had just the other morning!
Solar Power from a different perspective;


Enjoy!

I love the idea of using solar power.   here's a $1300 bag.  it might save a hole
in the ozone but unfortunately it'll drain your wallet too,.....

I wonder if just a piece of solar panel could be bought (i don't need a bag) and
we could carry it around.   gadgets could be universally designed to be able to
plug into one.


Dunhill Solar Messenger Bag: $1,300, No Specs

Written by Hank Green

Thursday, 31 May 2007

Well, we've got another solar powered bag, this one seems to be aimed at an upscale market. I suppose that's good, maybe it means that trendsetters are starting to find solar as sexy as I do. Unfortunately Dunhill's Avorities Solar Panel Bag doesn't tell us very much about the panels. The bag is 38 x 27.5 x 12.5cm and has, y'know, lots of pockets, etc. But we have to guess on the power of the panels. From similar models, I'd say you aren't going to charge a laptop with those panels, just not enough surface area. But there's a good chance you could keep your phone, or iPod, or even iPhone permanently charged during daylight hours. Via Engadget

In a time where being energy conscious is at an all time high, there are inventions that can truly revolutionize the energy industry. It is a past time of mine to keep abreast of these new technologies. I have spent a great deal of time tackling the most energy inefficient object that roams the face of this planet everyday. The car. Once the symbol of our freedom has become the pariah of the environment. Our dependance on it has also fueled the conflict in the Middle East. The writing is on the wall for the automobile. Its internal combustion engine is extremely inefficient using 70% of its enery before it even has a chance to turn the wheels. If the workplace was this inefficient, the business would go under. Both Ford and GM are in dire straits and deservedly so. If the other car manufacturers don't address the issue, they will follow.

I'd like to think that consumers are smarter than what manufacturers think. It is a fair assumption that people understand the concept of efficiency. Efficiency is the ratio of the effective or useful output to the total input in any system. Quite a simple concept. For the sake of argument, the average number of moving parts in an internal combusiton engine on a conservative estimate would be over 100. That is a lot of friction. Add to that the transmission and the axle and universal joints and you get more friction. The automobile industry hasn't addressed this at all. Engineers completely understand the concept of efficiency. It is the cornerstone of engineering. Yet in the last one hundred years, no one has been able to produce an efficient vehicle. Actually that is not true. When cars were first being manufactured, almost half of them were electric.

The electric motor is approximately 90% efficient and significantly more powerful than an internal combustion engine. It also has one moving part. The electric motor has two parts, the stator and the rotor. The concept of efficiency gave way to market infrastructure. Electric motors last longer and require very little maintenance. It is easy to understand why the manufacturers went the route they did. Jobs.

Today we have a diverse marketplace compared to what we had over a century ago. The automobile industry hasn't kept pace. Essentially they have backed themselves into a corner with deep ties to the oil industry. Smart business is able to adapt to the marketplace to survive. The answer to the automobile industry has been under its nose. The electric engine. A beautiful piece of engineering that is older than the combustion engine. Clever engineers have produced a new electric motor call the motor wheel. In a stroke of genius, they have managed to put the motor in the wheel and eliminated the inefficiency of the drive train. It has been in use on buses in Europe for some time now.

In 1900, a distance record of 180 miles on a single charge was set by an electric vehicle. It is astonishing that the excuse of where are we going to store the electricity to run an electric car is still being used today. The hydrogen fuel cell is a joke. It is designed the maintain the present fuel infrastructure. The answer to our fuel source has been beating relentlessly on this planet for over 5 billion years. Recent advances in nanotechnology have produced two amazing technologies. A super capacitor using carbon nanotubes to store electrons. This device charges in seconds and doesn't share the discharge issues that exist with chemically based electron storage such as lithium ion and nickel metal hydrate batteries. The super capacitor will revolutionize electrical storage.

The final piece of the puzzle is how to recharge the power source. The problem with existing solar panels is that they are very fragile and typically come in one shape, rectangular. Scientists and engineers have been trying to come up with a way to generate electricity with something more efficient and shape friendly. Flexible solar panels have come onto the market but are similarly limited like their rigid cousins. Spray on Solar Power has been the ultimate goal and it has been achieved. The hope is that this new technology will be able to harness 30% of the sun's energy and convert it to electricity. An entire electric car can be sprayed with this material and charge itself while in the parking lot while you are at work.

We may have to take a step back in time and accept the "as long as its black" edict of Henry Ford in order take advantage of these new technologies.  At least we will be able to breath easier and it will be a lot quieter.

It's me again with a special report about the decaying enviroment. I'm going to be providing you with links related to this topic and my opinion about it. I hope you like it and leave a comment if you like!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watcted 'Too Hot Not To Handle' on HBO and that got me thinking about global warming, hybrid cars, E85, ethanol, greenhouse gases, and other forms of alternative energy. We should work together and not fight but that's an obvious one. Put down the weapons and at least try to help others with the planet. I read that the water level has risen, causing more hurricanes and tsunamis than ever before. Do we need to burn expensive fuel from other countries? We could just live green, go yellow. I'm going to try to help the enviroment somehow and I might need some other people to help me. What if I started something small....like maybe some sort of petition. The idea for it is still forming but when I think of it, I'll make sure to post it. I think we need to stop the global warming before it ends up destroying us sooner than later. We can achieve something with enough teamwork and willpower. Is anyone with me? You don't have to be. I just want to save the environment, that's all.

~Trinity Chandler

PS-If you have any suggestions, ideas or even flames, I'll gladly accept it as long as you're not TOO mean or judgemental.

=(^-^)=