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New ideas & creative thinking

(169 posts) (24 voices)
  • Started 12 years ago by rockabye
  • Latest reply from rockabye

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  1. rockabye

    rockabye
    Member

    The idea of using evacuated tubes to power a small stirling engine is excellent. Just because it can only handle small jobs doesn't mean it shouldn't be followed up. Solar modules were only a few watts when they were first produced. Look where we are now. From little things big things grow. Cost is usually high in the development stage, however once mass production is employed these fall dramatically.

    So, thanks to Greenozi, others are getting inspired. If you care to share the details of your idea you may find others willing to develop it further. Who knows, it may lead to another great innovative idea.

    Posted Friday 31 Jul 2009 @ 10:56:07 pm from IP #
  2. rockabye

    rockabye
    Member

    In the words of Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden who said, "At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, and then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done--Then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries age."

    Posted Tuesday 4 Aug 2009 @ 10:33:21 pm from IP #
  3. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    I must say that after some consideration Sun2steam idea may work on small scale too. What about solar vaccum tube producing steam that power small, very small turbine? Efficiency could be already quite high, easy to setup without complication of Stirling engine. I want to run small experiment: One tube powering small Tesla turbine. One disadventage for such system is that need constant replacement of water, since Stirling may use air as working medium. Or maybe batter close circuit by condensing water?
    Now bigger Tesla turbine can be use to power compresor in absorption cooler, this way we have stand alone system that do not require electricity at all. Anyone have small Tesla model in Melbourne, so we can try that idea?

    Posted Wednesday 5 Aug 2009 @ 1:34:13 am from IP #
  4. rockabye

    rockabye
    Member

    Interesting new product from this company. Originally setup by CSIRO in 1992. Great potential for off grid systems.

    http://www.cfcl.com.au/BlueGen

    Posted Wednesday 23 Sep 2009 @ 10:26:11 pm from IP #
  5. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    If you are buying 4WDs utility vehicle for their share size /think safety/ I have alternative proposal.
    Let’s do Mini size vehicle with balloon like inflated front and back end. For those that size matter you are similar size now to largest Humvee, safe with gigantic airbags around, plus convenience for parking when automatically deflated. I don’t envision inflating with helium at this moment to skip traffic flying above, just pure air. (Any similarity of my inflated vehicle to ingenious nature solution -for big when needed, modest otherwise is unintentional and pure coincidental).

    Posted Wednesday 7 Oct 2009 @ 11:53:05 pm from IP #
  6. rockabye

    rockabye
    Member

    Time magazine has a very good focus on the environment in this weeks issue called Heroes of the Environment. One innovative new method of using magnesium and solar energy to produce energy storage with no CO2. Called MAGIC it holds great promise. Takashi Yabe is the scientist on the job.

    http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1924149_1924154_1924427,00.html

    Lots of other articles as well.

    Posted Thursday 8 Oct 2009 @ 9:48:33 am from IP #
  7. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    With all respect to Mr. Takashi Yabe, nuclear physics scientist by comparing:
    Energy density of:
    Storage type ↓ Energy density by mass (MJ/kg
    Magnesium (burned in air) 24.7
    Dry cow dung and camel dung 15.5
    Sodium (burned to dry sodium oxide) 9.1

    and processes involved,
    with all attractiveness of the second I would still probably decide to go for third one due to abundance of substrates end easiness of production and handling - if you like drive on moving bomb.(for all you inquisitive I spotted a difference between oxidation and hydroxylation but data above for illustration only 2Na+ + 2H2O + 2e− → H2 + 2NaOH)

    Posted Thursday 8 Oct 2009 @ 10:32:25 am from IP #
  8. Greg

    Greg
    Member

    Anyone else notice this solar powered stirling engine ? http://www.coolenergyinc.com/solar.html

    I wonder how effective it could be. If it is heating a building I am guessing there would be a lot of solar tubes, plus all the other kit, it must be quite expensive to install up front.

    Posted Friday 9 Oct 2009 @ 12:01:32 am from IP #
  9. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    Greg, I am really impressed with this Stirling Engine producing 1kW. My experimental models are near that close (altought efficiency of mine could be higher)
    and here another interesting example:

    http://www.komatsu.com/CompanyInfo/press/2009012714011528411.html

    small baby produce 24W from 25cm2 !

    Posted Friday 9 Oct 2009 @ 12:43:06 am from IP #
  10. munter

    munter
    Member

    The cool energy project still seems to be in the initial prototyping phase - still a long way to go before they have a commercial product. I wish them all the best though.

    It will be interesting to see which of the generating technologies comes out in front of this solar sourced combined heat/power race. Stirling, piston, tesla turbine etc?

    Posted Friday 9 Oct 2009 @ 1:51:37 am from IP #
  11. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    From my initial assessments of my models energy density is directly proportional to internal pressure of gases. I imagine if I could only drop my lightweight Stirlings on the ocean floor (even Marianas trench 11km below surface - pressure 1100 kg/cm2 !! or 1100 atm ) the output will be phenomenal.
    If there is only underwater hot vent as a source of heat, could be worth effort. But what to do with energy at deep ocean floor? Maybe produce something from salt water?
    The only one I can think out could be synthetic diamonds/ by CVD

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_diamond#High_pressure.2C_high_temperature

    all materials: hydrogen and methane should be in place already

    Posted Friday 9 Oct 2009 @ 2:57:44 am from IP #
  12. filament

    filament
    Member

    I've been thinking about household appliances lately, and wondering: why does the average house have two or three devices that are designed to be hot (oven, water heater, heater/reverse cycle aircon, washing machine etc) and a few that are designed to be cold (aircon, refrigerator, freezer), many of them are run using heat exchanger/heat pump systems yet none of them are linked.
    Why not use the heat from the fridge to help keep the oven pre-heated, or to heat water? Can an oven run on a heat pump? Could the same efficient heat pump/heat exchanger be used to cool the fridge/freezer/aircon while transferring that heat via insulated pipes to the oven/hot water unit/heater as needed? To take such a system further, any excess heat/cool could be used to heat/cool the house or be stored in the ground for annualised geo-solar, depending on the time of year.

    Posted Saturday 10 Oct 2009 @ 12:36:32 am from IP #
  13. cava

    cava
    Member

    Filament. I can't say too much, but a production sample has already been made and is close to being approved for both gas and electrical certification.:)

    Posted Saturday 10 Oct 2009 @ 11:27:11 am from IP #
  14. filament

    filament
    Member

    @Cava - Sweet!

    Posted Sunday 11 Oct 2009 @ 9:52:10 am from IP #
  15. munter

    munter
    Member

    Sounds interesting. I tried to spark some development of a similar kind at my workplace but I couldn't drum up the interest.
    The timing and size of heating and cooling requirements makes this a more difficult task. A fridge could provide a heat source which is topped up each time the fridge compressor operates, storage hot water is a good constant heat sink but other devices are more trickey. Air con heating is more intermittent as are other items like stoves. Matching the timing requirements could be difficult. I'd love to see it proceed though.

    Posted Monday 12 Oct 2009 @ 2:05:25 am from IP #
  16. dymonite69

    dymonite69
    Member

    Filament wrote "Could the same efficient heat pump/heat exchanger be used to cool the fridge/freezer/aircon while transferring that heat via insulated pipes to the oven/hot water unit/heater as needed? "

    Look up Carnot cycle and Co-efficient of Performance.

    The temperature gradients generated are quite different for the different appliances.

    There wouldn't be a lot of efficiency gains trying to reach oven temperatures with a heat pump.

    For smaller appliances, heat pump technology is relatively expensive e.g. heat pump clothes dryers.

    Posted Monday 12 Oct 2009 @ 9:54:16 am from IP #
  17. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    Heat pump is mayby expensive due to complicated construction and always need energy to run. I don't understand why "heat exchanger" is not used on larger scale
    - Clothes dryer - escaping hot air should preheat incoming air
    - escaping hot water after washing dishes in some commercial situation (restaurant) could preheat water going to hot water cylinder
    -dishwasher also could use used water to preheat incoming for new cycle

    etc.

    Posted Monday 12 Oct 2009 @ 11:21:47 am from IP #
  18. transformrplanet

    transformrplanet
    Member

    Hi people. There is FREE energy available to all of us. Take a look at this.
    http://www.lutec.com.au/
    This technology has been available to us for the last 100 years but suppressed by global money making corporations such as the gas/oil companies. See Nikola Tesla websites for more insights. At the risk of sounding like a nutter, I have been educating myself on free energy for a little while now....
    http://www.free-energy-info.com/
    and what I have discovered seems to fly in the face of what is possible. However, sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction.
    If we can get enough people to understand this technology, to embrace it and demand it be trialled and tested and used by our government, we may have a chance to make free energy a reality for every person in Australia and maybe, on this planet. However, it would take courage, discernment and an absolute willingness to stand firm in the face of much opposition.

    Posted Saturday 17 Oct 2009 @ 9:20:01 am from IP #
  19. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    Excellent transformrp. There is no point to argue obvious for me, so I am only more than happy to buy cheaper electricity from this guys. For sure that should be their business model. Run their "mysterious devices" and they should be able to generate something useful i.e electricity for nothing.

    Or back to school and listen that physics lesson they been sleeping on.

    Posted Saturday 17 Oct 2009 @ 11:53:29 am from IP #
  20. dymonite69

    dymonite69
    Member

    I love a conspiracy theory.

    Posted Saturday 17 Oct 2009 @ 11:57:18 am from IP #
  21. transformrplanet

    transformrplanet
    Member

    Dynomite69, I love a conspiracy theory too. However, this is not a conspiracy theory. It is fact. And there are many who will testify to the fact that free energy is available and here now. Contact the people at Lutec. They are an Australian company. You can then hear from someone who is doing it now. I dare you to re-discover what is already known...and has been hidden...Educate yourself. As I said before, it takes courage, discernment and a willingness to stand firm in the face of much opposition. And there is much opposition because there are TRILLIONS of dollars at stake for the oil/gas companies. Think about it. There is no money to be made in free energy because it is FREE.
    We always ridicule what we don't understand.
    And there are those who would have you believe that it is all a conspiracy theory and that there is no such thing as free energy. It makes it easier for them to continue their operations unabated. They hire people to spread disinformation and pay them top dollar to do so. It is sad but true. They fund scientists, academia, media and many others to continue the spin and people believe it because corporations understand the power of media. And they have a bottomless pit when it comes to their spin because they understand that if people knew that this technology has been available since the turn of the last century...Well, what do you think might happen? And they have the funds to bankroll whatever studies/research that will debunk anything that stands in the way of their making profits. And they are laughing all the way to the bank.
    And contrary what oil/gas companies would have you believe, there are unlimited supplies of oil/gas available. But don't believe me, do the research yourself. And ask yourself, "Why would they want us to believe that there is a shortage?" Nothing to do with profits perhaps...shortages equals higher prices??

    Posted Saturday 17 Oct 2009 @ 9:37:27 pm from IP #
  22. transformrplanet

    transformrplanet
    Member

    Thanks Greenozi. We continue the good fight

    Posted Saturday 17 Oct 2009 @ 9:48:36 pm from IP #
  23. Sunshine

    Sunshine
    Member

    transformrp,

    Are you using this to make "free electricity"?
    I have seen these devices on TV before, but when tested they don't live up to their claims.
    Einsteins theory is energy cannot be made, only converted, and when converted energy is lost.
    So where does the extra energy come from?

    Posted Saturday 17 Oct 2009 @ 10:05:03 pm from IP #
  24. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    Sunshine
    I am not advocating free energy, just want show one more point of view on “free energy"
    Think what is Real energy hidden in water?
    1. Thousands year’s age people found hydrostatic and gravitational energy hidden in water. They invented water mills to utilize it at rate E= mgh

    Storage type Energy density by mass (MJ/kg)
    Water at 100 m dam height [ 0.001

    2. Few hundred years ago they split water and starts utilizing chemical energy of the hydrogen and oxygen bond

    Storage type Energy density by mass (MJ/kg)

    Hydrogen, gas (burned in air) 143

    There was not much on the horizon for a long time and not much seems to be more feasible since hydrogen energy density was : 3x then diesel oil, 30x then TNT explosive, 350x then battery and 143.000x more than energy in water falling from 100m waterfall !

    3. The suddenly come nuclear fusion

    Storage type Energy density by mass (MJ/kg)
    Nuclear fusion of hydrogen (energy from the sun) 645,000,000

    (Ok there is not much deuterium and tritium in the ordinary water but there is example how deep hidden energy was)

    4. If you think that all you are wrong again. Mix that ordinary water with anti-water and

    Storage type Energy density by mass (MJ/kg)
    Mass-energy equivalence 89,876,000,000

    That is right. 139X more energy than in Hydrogen bomb!

    That will be all for now but my own private theory foresee:

    5. Energy of the space itself to be again in the factor or 1000s bigger again but we need to wait a few hundred years for science to follow up. Storage type Energy density by mass (TJ/kg)
    Space equivalence ? X ?

    You are right, There is not much more energy hidden in magnets spring energy but if we look at water above example all I can say : Let allow guys to play with their magnet toys (for their own money) , never know what they can come with up.

    Posted Sunday 18 Oct 2009 @ 12:29:26 am from IP #
  25. dymonite69

    dymonite69
    Member

    A blog commentary on Lutec's device:

    http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/10/28/lutecs-perpetual-mot.html

    'No one has proved it doesn't work' is not a very convincing argument.

    Posted Sunday 18 Oct 2009 @ 1:17:53 am from IP #
  26. Greenozi

    Greenozi
    Member

    dymonite69, this actually not the best argument:
    'No one has proved it doesn't work' is not a very convincing argument"
    Actually whole modern mathematics and science is based on this exactly principle.
    Hypothesis (or statement) is true as long as you can prove otherwise.
    Maybe that is main difference to our common social law that works just opposite?
    That is way our justice system and law not a science and never will be but more like arts and witchcraft?

    Summarizing.
    To answer simple question: What is energy of/in water depend more of level of our competence that on the water itself.
    By a chance there could be analogy with magnetic force, but as water mill doesn’t work with nuclear fusion existing magnets wheel/motor have nothing to do with future exploration potential.

    Posted Sunday 18 Oct 2009 @ 3:55:52 am from IP #
  27. dymonite69

    dymonite69
    Member

    GO,

    I am familiar with Karl Popper. What I am syaing is that Lutec have created a concept that either is not verifiable or has not yet been verified - and therefore have claimed its veracity.

    Posted Sunday 18 Oct 2009 @ 4:11:50 am from IP #
  28. sun2steam

    sun2steam
    Member

    I think there must be a spelling mistake.
    'lutec' should be spelled 'lunatic'

    Happy about new ideas. But I'd like to keep my feed on the ground.
    Cheers,
    sun2steam

    Posted Sunday 18 Oct 2009 @ 11:13:01 am from IP #
  29. sun2steam

    sun2steam
    Member

    another spelling mistake (this time by myself)
    'feet' not 'feed'

    Posted Sunday 18 Oct 2009 @ 11:14:18 am from IP #
  30. pauser

    pauser
    Member

    Some good posts here... my two cents worth... Ok, Hydrogen is the mostest in the universe I agree, but down here on earth there is something better and easier to get at, easier to deal with, cleaner,i.e. not polluting, safer and more importantly, inexhaustible! The answer is AIR. Compressed air is ALWAYS solar heated air. It contains energy even when cold, although getting the embodied energy out at low temps is more problematical then.

    Now getting our heads around the idea that wimpy compressed air could ever be useful for anything other than a toy car takes a lot of science and a little history to prove. If you think it can't work in a useful or efficient way, consider this; just before WW2, the Germans had made a 2,500HP Diesel/air hybrid locomotive that was 30% more fuel efficient than a comparable Diesel/electric. It got bombed while Ford factories where untouched, now there is a conspiracy! The French and the U.S. both had extensive air tram systems. The U.S. and Germany had hundreds of air powered trains at many mines, especially coal mines. But, and this is the most exciting bit, here in Australia, Ballarat(?) and several times in the U.S., there have been self fueling air cars capable of impressive speeds in their primitive incarnations. Self fueling is probably not scientific but it was an expression used by a U.S. journo and it stuck. No, it's not perpetual motion, it is solar powered, again all air is heated and it can be made to 'pump' itself.

    Without turning this into a tutorial, take a look at the guru of compressed air on aircaraccess.com It should be the future.

    Posted Monday 19 Oct 2009 @ 10:23:26 am from IP #

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