Are You In?

very scientific RIU presidential election

  • obama

    Votes: 55 60.4%

  • romney

    Votes: 36 39.6%
  • Total voters
    91
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Trolling said:
Global warming is not a theory, it's real.

Also, Neil Tyson says it is and I will gladly follow that man blindly. I dunno the solution to a completely green world but I do know we need to find one soon and if we are indeed a long way off, gas prices are gonna be a scary thought, everyone is gonna need hybrids in the future. All I know is of we don't come up with a solution soon, Florida is gonna be underwater and the weather is just gonna get weirder and more worse.
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The solution, if it arrives in time, will be a carbon-free, clean, intense and sustained source of energy. I hope for fusion in my lifetime.
The trouble with wind and solar, quite aside from questions of its sustainability (if i may use one word for my unconfirmed belief that solar and wind use more in their manufacture than they return in use) is its failure to adjust to demand. Wind and sun observe their own schedules. Hydro, at least, allows one to store the energy (water's gravitational potential) until we're ready to draw on it and send it through the penstocks. cn
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
Trolling said:
Global warming is not a theory, it's real. Also, Neil Tyson says it is and I will gladly follow that man blindly. I dunno the solution to a completely green world but I do know we need to find one soon and if we are indeed a long way off, gas prices are gonna be a scary thought, everyone is gonna need hybrids in the future. All I know is of we don't come up with a solution soon, Florida is gonna be underwater and the weather is just gonna get weirder and more worse.
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Hybrids and all electric cars are mostly using coal derived energy that has been transported hundreds of miles, losing about half the power in transmission. If fossil fuels weren't so cheap to produce electricity, your electric car would cost a lot more to drive. A Nissan Leaf is basically a coal powered car, producing just as much pollution as a gasoline powered car. The pollution is just in someone else's backyard.
 
Trolling

Trolling

New Member
Yeah, I was just talking about the gas prices of gas, since hybrids are suppose to get more mileage. Never said they were the solution to cleaner air lol.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
cannabineer said:
The solution, if it arrives in time, will be a carbon-free, clean, intense and sustained source of energy. I hope for fusion in my lifetime. The trouble with wind and solar, quite aside from questions of its sustainability (if i may use one word for my unconfirmed belief that solar and wind use more in their manufacture than they return in use) is its failure to adjust to demand. Wind and sun observe their own schedules. Hydro, at least, allows one to store the energy (water's gravitational potential) until we're ready to draw on it and send it through the penstocks. cn
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Solar ponds can store heat energy for weeks, they are much cheaper to build (just dig a hole, water proof it, and fill it with salt water) and can be used on-demand. I don't know why so little research has been done on them.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Red1966 said:
Solar ponds can store heat energy for weeks, they are much cheaper to build (just dig a hole, water proof it, and fill it with salt water) and can be used on-demand. I don't know why so little research has been done on them.
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How can I use this solar pond to electrify my house? cn
 
A

althor

Well-Known Member
We KNOW Obama is a terrible president.
We THINK Romney will be a terrible president.
Anyone who cares anything at all for their childrens' futures could not cast a vote for Obama.
 
canndo

canndo

Well-Known Member
althor said:
We KNOW Obama is a terrible president.
We THINK Romney will be a terrible president.
Anyone who cares anything at all for their childrens' futures could not cast a vote for Obama.
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You dont "know" he is a terrible president, what you know is that you don't agree with his policies and you are not happy with our current economic conditions. What you should suspect I believe, is that Romney will do nothing that hasn't already been done that has contributed greatly to this situation in the first place.


Here we go with the old cannard "it's for the children's futures". When ever I see that statement eminating from a conservative it is always about the national debt or some patriotic "take our country back" nonesense.

althor, if you care about your children you might want to look toward our massive drought, you might want to look at the amount of mercury and lead in the water, the acid in the air, the constantly constricting legal policies enacted by a conservative SCOTUS. Do those play any part in your concern for our children?

Tthe money thing can be fixed far more easily than global warming, or Hubert's projection of the inevitable or our increasing obesity, diabetic propensities and the dumbing down of our youth by religious zealots.

Those who mourn our children at the thought of Obama's second term have an agenda that really has little to do with our children's future.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Red, I tried to PM you but your Inbox is full. I am genuinely interested in the solar pond concept but am put off by two words you used: "heat" and "weeks".
If it's just a low-grade heat differential of a coupla dozen degrees, how can this energy be put to proper use, e.g. running an AC compressor?
And if it can only be tapped as heat, "weeks" won't help using August's extra heat get me through March frosts.

I equate "useful" energy with electric or mechanical, e.g. torque. That can be efficiently converted to electrical. But heat, esp. low-gradient heat, has been a thorn in the sides of engineers since Watt's engine. I don't see a solar pond as being able to run even only my house's energy needs. cn
 
londonfog

londonfog

Well-Known Member
With the advancement of energy storage we will soon learn the power of wind and solar. If you want to help the world, figure out ways to store wind and solar energy. Lets start developing a new power grid to carry this energy. The answers are right in front of us. Lets wake the fuck up
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
londonfog said:
With the advancement of energy storage we will soon learn the power of wind and solar. If you want to help the world, figure out ways to store wind and solar energy. Lets start developing a new power grid to carry this energy. The answers are right in front of us. Lets wake the fuck up
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Are the answers in front of us? They need to be engineering answers: answers of practicality, not only of intent. cn
 
londonfog

londonfog

Well-Known Member
cannabineer said:
Are the answers in front of us? They need to be engineering answers: answers of practicality, not only of intent. cn
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answers are always in front of you..Its just up to you or me to see it.

Hell remember when Obama said the joke about Romney putting something on the top of the car , but it was not a windmill..lol

Well how about using the wind that your car generates down the road thru a duck/windmill on the roof...store it in a battery..use fuel when you need to charge battery..

sounds stupid... but guy..ideas are always in front of us

we just need to wake the fuck up ..that includes me
 
chrishydro

chrishydro

Well-Known Member
scroglodyte said:
Barak is such a strong name.....................
Newt........Mitt.........these are pussy president names.
i'm voting for the man who punched OBL's ticket to paradise.
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Was not too long ago

Bush Was Pres
Dick was VP
Collin was Secretary of State
Scooter was cheif advisor

lol
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
cannabineer said:
Red, I tried to PM you but your Inbox is full. I am genuinely interested in the solar pond concept but am put off by two words you used: "heat" and "weeks". If it's just a low-grade heat differential of a coupla dozen degrees, how can this energy be put to proper use, e.g. running an AC compressor? And if it can only be tapped as heat, "weeks" won't help using August's extra heat get me through March frosts. I equate "useful" energy with electric or mechanical, e.g. torque. That can be efficiently converted to electrical. But heat, esp. low-gradient heat, has been a thorn in the sides of engineers since Watt's engine. I don't see a solar pond as being able to run even only my house's energy needs. cn
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True, the ponds can't store heat that long, but you can generate power at night from sunlight collected the day before, or even several days before. You can use all the solar heat collected over several days to generate very high power levals in a short time period. Increasing or slowing the flow of the hot water acts like a throttle for the heat engine. It is a low grade heat, practically at about 160-200F. The hot water can be pumped thru a heat motor, basically a AC compressor used in reverse to generate electricity. The heat motor can even use freon as a working fluid. The pond is filled with super saturated salt water. As the water heats from sunlight, the salt gradient prevents convection from cooling the water. While you can't make a pond track the sun, the nature of it allows it to absorb indirect sunlight well, ending up with efficiencies near that of sun tracking, concentrating collectors, but not the concentrating abilities. I think the University of Arizona has built a experimental one that gets about 1mw from a 1.5 acre pond. There is a naturally occurring one in Israel that powers a nearby village. There's no limit to how big the pond can be and they are very cheap to build. The low grade heat is not the easiest way to generate power, but the "fuel" is free. I view it as a supplemental power source that can be used on-demand, with the ability to absorb and accumulate energy in between demand periods . As I said, there has not been a lot of published research done on this, so I can't really give a lot more info. But, no, it's not perfect. Can it generate power as cheaply as fossil? I don't know. There are environmental concerns too. Saltwater leaks can contaminate the ground water, but is relatively benign. Birds have landed in them and been scalded, but not fatally. The top foot or so is near ambient, but if you jumped into one, I imagine you would get burned pretty bad. Walk past some concentrating collectors in the wrong place and you'll heat so quickly you'll explode! I'll have to check my inbox, I haven't looked at it for days.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
londonfog said:
answers are always in front of you..Its just up to you or me to see it. Hell remember when Obama said the joke about Romney putting something on the top of the car , but it was not a windmill..lol Well how about using the wind that your car generates down the road thru a duck/windmill on the roof...store it in a battery..use fuel when you need to charge battery.. sounds stupid... but guy..ideas are always in front of us we just need to wake the fuck up ..that includes me
Click to expand...
sounds stupid
 
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