 tuapui
Male, 18-29, Asia
 89 Posts
|
Friday, November 26, 2010 4:34:09 AM
whoaaaaa.........
.....it's a double rainbow! |
|
 Angilion
Male, 40-49, Europe
9533 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 3:27:16 PM
On the plus side...if you look at the numbers, it's possible on paper to meet the entire world demand for electricity a fair few times over with CSP blanketed over deserts. |
|
Angilion
Male, 40-49, Europe
9533 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 3:14:35 PM
Oh, and the cost per watt is a couple of times as much as it is for coal/oil/gas.
Fancy your electricity bill doubling? Tripling? |
|
Angilion
Male, 40-49, Europe
9533 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 3:11:04 PM
The other problem is the amount of land used.
California is a good place for this sort of thing - lots of strong sunlight, lots of land that isn't already built on, lots of "green" frenzy.
So they're planning on a record-sized CSP power station.
It generates 370MW, which makes it a small-medium power station.
It covers 3400 acres.
It damages or destroys fragile ecosystems.
This sort of thing is part of an answer, but it's not the magic wonderthing some people make it out to be.
Details and a picture of a small-scale CSP tower in Spain
Good looking power station, though. |
|
Angilion
Male, 40-49, Europe
9533 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 3:04:43 PM
hey buddy got a light? imagine the energy you could produce using this to heat water and it could be used as hot water heater or power generator .....wow how come we aren't using this on Mass production or plant situations ?
People are. It's the CSP (concentrated solar power) that I referred to earlier. It's used to generate electricity the same way that most power stations do it - by boiling a fluid and using the steam to drive a turbine.
Making a very small area very hot is not the same thing as boiling fluid on a huge scale, though. That's much harder and much less dramatic. You need to elevate the tank so that more rows of mirrors can focus on it over the top of the row in front of them, which quickly leads to unfeasibly tall towers. 380ft for an 11MW tower at the moment and there's not very much scope for improving on that. |
|
 W2
Male, 13-17, Eastern US
245 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 2:12:02 PM
sunhax! |
|
Djarum
Male, 18-29, Western US
310 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 1:41:28 PM
@k-two, No, keeping track of the sun's position isn't that hard. The equipment to any commercial generator is the hard part with expenses, because no one wants to take a risk loaning you money on an iffy venture. |
|
 k-two
Male, 40-49, Europe
112 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 12:01:00 PM
@pumba62: This is being used in power plants, and has been been for a long time. It's not that easy (or cheap) though, because the Earth rotates and you need to keep track of the sun with the mirrors. |
|
pumba62
Male, 40-49, Canada
649 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 9:37:05 AM
hey buddy got a light? imagine the energy you could produce using this to heat water and it could be used as hot water heater or power generator .....wow how come we aren't using this on Mass production or plant situations ? |
|
 SebastianLam
Male, 13-17, Western US
734 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 9:25:26 AM
That's awesome |
|
 TalcumX
Male, 50-59, Eastern US
565 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 5:18:27 AM
spambot |
|
 slab-of-rage
Male, 18-29, Europe
779 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 4:21:31 AM
Bang Goes the Theory is an AWESOME show, (plus has the cutest scientist in the world on it) but was anybody else watching this and hoping they would bring in some gigantic irradiateed ants like in 'Them!'? |
|
Jonno22
Male, 18-29, Europe
42 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 1:57:56 AM
....and then someone builds it into a weapon. |
|
 SvampeBob
Male, 18-29, Europe
3088 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 1:12:14 AM
HELL yeah science FTW!!!
@Djarum pointless the answer is yes it will melt except for what chuck Norris and C. Dale Petersen touches |
|
Angilion
Male, 40-49, Europe
9533 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 12:51:28 AM
Oh and anyone know what this is for?
Experiments into high temperature conditions. It's an efficient way to generate extremely high temperatures and rapid changes in temperature. They can rig up various conditions around the furnace, so you can answer questions like "what happens if this material is heated by 1000C in 1 second in a vacuum?".
The one in the video is one of the very small ones.
The main one is outside. It's about 200 times as powerful. |
|
watbid
Male, 40-49, Europe
2 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 12:44:08 AM
@LionHeart. It's from a show 'Bang Goes The Theory'.
Clicky here
Full Vid might be there, but it's a very good show. |
|
Angilion
Male, 40-49, Europe
9533 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 12:33:51 AM
"I see steel melt every day"
... wow, what do you do for a living?
He makes things. If you want a one-off machine to do something, especially for a TV program, he's the man for the job. His background is aeronautical engineering, but he's mainly a maker of things. He does a lot of work with metal, so that's where he sees steel melt. Sort of like the Mythbusters people with more welding. |
|
 Arvz
Male, 18-29, Canada
235 Posts
|
Thursday, November 25, 2010 12:30:21 AM
@LoofahBoy
I think the Greeks did it once. Archmides had the idea of using Mirrors to set aflame incoming ships :) |
|
Djarum
Male, 18-29, Western US
310 Posts
|
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:35:56 PM
Time to make a new YouTube show, "Will this melt?" |
|
 sylphies
Female, 18-29, Eastern US
285 Posts
|
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:26:51 PM
@LoofahBoy Giant Magnifying glass. IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE! |
|
 LionHeart-72
Male, 18-29, Western US
494 Posts
|
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:19:20 PM
Aww... too short. I wanted to see more stuff melt.
Oh and anyone know what this is for? |
|
 Linkenberger
Male, 18-29, Canada
1066 Posts
|
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:11:28 PM
No Wai-Yu, the only thing that is known to do that is a deep fryer.
Or some mad baking skillz. |
|
 LoofahBoy
Male, 18-29, Western US
3481 Posts
|
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:00:33 PM
How can we weaponize this? |
|
 kribbe
Male, 18-29, Europe
2000 Posts
|
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 9:58:13 PM
@lazyme: perhaps he knows how to weld stuff |
|
 LazyMe484
Male, 18-29, Canada
10503 Posts
|
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 9:29:21 PM
"I see steel melt every day"
... wow, what do you do for a living? |
|
Back to Listing
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}
){kind=avatar}