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Posted on 08/01/2008 2:20:34 AM PDT by DGHoodini
Currently, the United States meets the majority of its energy needs by burning fossil fuels. Alternative energy sources are not a new technology, but with the rising cost of fuel, more research is being funded to develop cleaner, cheaper versions of existing alternative energy.
Solar power has long been a rather inefficient source of power yielding only 5-15% electrical generation from the rays that hit the solar panel. Recent developments by Alvin M. Marks may turn that efficiency into 70-80%. Marks believes he has developed the technology needed to boost the amount of power we can receive from a particular type of solar panel. He holds the patents on two materials named Lepcon and Lumeloid. The recipes for the materials are secret, but it involves conductive polymers applied to cheap strips of plastic. This technology could lower the cost involved in producing energy from the sun's rays. Preliminary work has begun and we may see his ideas in production in 2-3 years. More information on Alvin Marks' research.
(Excerpt) Read more at nowpublic.com ...
I am sorry to hear that. I hope someone is continuing his work.
So, do you have solar panels?
Where I live in Montana, we get sun almost every day. It gets cold, but the sun usually shines. So, we are considering getting some panels. Why not? Gas and electric are so expensive anymore, we were paying $245 a month to heat our home with Propane in the winter. With another $100 for electricity. We gotta make some changes!
Since the wind ALWAYS blows, we are also looking into a “pacwind seahawk” wind turbine that can go right on top of the house.
for the renewable energy ping list... and also, recall that Hoodini requested to be put on the list.
IO’ve thought about it several times, but I happen to be living in an area now that gets a lot of cloud cover during the year, and the old style panels would not have been cost effective. But there are newer ones that are supposed to be able to pull in a worthwhile amount of power even when it’s overcast...That, and supposedly, from what I hear, there is a new “next Generation” panel that will be coming out in the next couple of years, based somehow on nanotech that are supposed to be a lot more efficient...and in my mulling, i’ve basicly decided to wait for *them* to come out, rather than what’s availiable now. I know I would be kicking myself mentally, every time I looked at my roof and saw older panels, once the newer smaller more powerfiul ones came out.
I may be a Republican, but in that, I much prefer to be self sustaining, and if I hit the Lottery(yeah right!)..There are quite a lot of thing from the ‘Self Sustaining Green Home’ movement, I would build inti my home..Not because i’m an eco-nut out to “save the Planet!”.. But because they make sense and save money and provide value and comfort to my existance.
Solar panels would definitely be in the plan....a couple of residential vertical wind generators too..a grey water cistern system... counters made from recycled Coke bottles ( I *Loved* the original Coke)...Double pane argon glass windows.. Soybean Cellulose insulation...an AC mister...All Energy Star appliances... Tankless hot water heaters...(one for the kitchen for instant boiling water)..A no, to low, maintenance lanscaping, dual flush toilets...LED Lighting...
Everything that I can have that saves money, without loss of any creature comforts vs a conventional home. ;oD
Oh yeah, the Seahawk is the one I would choose too! (grin)
Pretty sweet, and as about unobtrusive as you can get with it sticking up above the house like that.
LOL...okay, go ahead and make jest of me...poor ole dirt farmer that I am....I’m trying to make a difference here...trying to save the planet!
Actually, I just want to quit giving so much money to the stupid electric and gas company. And that stupid wind has got to be good for something. I wouldn’t mind sitting there listening to it blow, if I knew it was not just pushing my corn stalks over...but it was making electricity.
I believe Jay Leno got the seahawk....lol
When/if the break even point is five years or less I'll take the plunge - the savings will be so great that it doesn't matter nearly so much that something better comes out afterwords...
How does that thing run on Mars? What keeps it going? How can all those computers work, and also run a post hole digger?
Hey, let me advise you a little. I have some of the things you say you want.
We have the windows...don’t see a real difference there.
The tankless water heater is the way to go! We wash laundry, do dishes and have 2 people taking showers at the same time ( I have two daughters—three women in the house) and never run out of water. No kidding. There are 4 of us using it. Great investment. Hot water heaters just waste money. Heating that water constantly is stupid.
Also, the toilets. Toilets from Australia. Only way to go. They know how to engineer toilets. Use lots less water, and never clog....
??????
Seems like we would have heard of this one.
Yeah i’m quite familiar with the concept of the “bleeding edge”, But like with computers, my wants and needs are existential: Does it do what I need it to do? I’ve got a couple of computers, that are only clock rated at 1700 Mhz...But they do everything that I want and need them to do. They can connrect to the internet, watch/record a DVD, play music, have several USB and even a Firewire port. I usefd to be a type that allways felt the craving for the next new processor/PC...Don’t feel that way anymore. I’m content with what i’ve got...At least until they come out wit a killer App that requires a 5Ghz OctoPrcessor to run it! :o)
I muvch more wish for a bigger broadband pipe, though.
I feel the same way about what kind of self sustaining power I can produce...Once I can get myself to the point that I can go at least a couple of weeks, “Off the Grid”, if not completely...I’ll stop “feenin” for “More POWER!” (arh arh arh!)
Just a note, energy efficient components do not always imply the least cost solution.
Largest cost for solar power is battery maintenance.
Solar water heating is generally efficient, but those who install it on rooftops frequently fail to consider cost of roof maintenance and roof/housing damage in the event of a leak.
Using less quantity is not always the proper metric to refer. Frequently higher power systems provide more robust, reliable and certain solutions.
That’s good, but the big problem is storing the electricity. Batteries just aren’t good enough.
I haven’t priced it out in detail yet, but I was not unaware of the need for a bank of sealed batteries, and their replacement schedules...But this is not unproven tech..as a matter of fact it’s way past the ‘Proof of Concept” stage too. Numerous people have systems installed..systems that power all of their power needs.even when the Oven and hot tub are on, and the dryer is running.
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That’s why I so like the idea of using the solar energy to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen. and use a fuel cell for power at night. besides, the hydrogen is a more flexible and portable fuel.
Is that the “SOULar TRAIN”?
Big Electron squelched it.
And for mere trillions of dollars.
Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
Bump!
Preliminary work has begun and we may see his ideas in production in 2-3 years.
In other words, we aren't ever going to see it.
agree, to me they make sense if you can afford them and have the time to upkeep them, I've got one of those battery backups from APC with the powerchute software and it is constantly going off, If people knew how unstable most power is in most neighborhoods they would switch in a heart beat. Those spikes and sags don't do electronic equipment any good over time. Solar power is much more stable.
You should check out Xantrex battery packs. I’ve bought some over the years, and they have held me in good stead..keeping my modem and router running, keeping a PC running, keeping some medical equipment running, keeping a 7” clip fan running, and have gotten me through several 1 to 12 hour outages with a relative comfortability. Outages that used to be quite onerous as they usually seemed to happen at night..Why, i’ll never know.
BTW: When I say 1 to 12 hours, it’s because I have several
of the Power Packs. You must realise they are for lower wattage uses, and we are talking hours for a fully charged unit, not half a day.
Lepcon uses thousands of microstrips of a conductive metal laid down on a glass substrate. To convert the electricity produced you need some form of rectification that can handle terahertz frequencies.
Lumeloid used a polymer film to do this, but it only last a year or so, then broke down.
AFAIK, these limitations were never overcome by Marks, but we are getting closer on the rectification speed required for the solar antenna(LEPCON).
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