Power your house with a leaf

[Ms Tree]

MIT's artificial leaf

The device is an advanced solar cell, no bigger than a typical playing card, which is left floating in a pool of water. Then, much like a natural leaf, it uses sunlight to split the water into its two core components, oxygen and hydrogen, which are stored in a fuel cell to be used when producing electricity.

Now even if this does not pan out, I think it does go to show that with more investment into alternative power sources we can break our selves from fossil fuels.

Very impressive. Unfortunately no US company saw fit to invest in this idea so India gets to play with it.

 

[delldude]

MIT's artificial leaf



Now even if this does not pan out, I think it does go to show that with more investment into alternative power sources we can break our selves from fossil fuels.

Very impressive. Unfortunately no US company saw fit to invest in this idea so India gets to play with it.

Maybe, like solar energy....the investment doesn't get a return to justify.

 

[Ms Tree]

This is solar energy and I find it very hard to believe a possible replacement for home energy needs does not have a financial future.

The US might want to consider being very very nice to India in the future.

 

[delldude]

Solar and wind driven energy can never be a replacement for home energy.

 

[Ms Tree]

Those motorized contraptions will never replace a good horse and buggy.

 

[SparrowHawk]

Those motorized contraptions will never replace a good horse and buggy.

Now if they could just harness the energy generated by farting! Think of the environmental benifits. The average human farts 14 times per day generating harmful methane gases. Methane however is very efficient fuel when burned in a controlled manner. Harness this energy, sell the technology to over 1 billion Chinese and we solve our balance of trade, green house gas emmission and a cheap renewable source of energy.

What more could a progressive want? 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

 

[dapoes]

Didnt they say the same thing about pinwheels (windmills) at one time. A single windmill could power all the needs the owner could have, blah blah blah.


Eco nuts never give up on their fantasies.

 

[delldude]

Those motorized contraptions will never replace a good horse and buggy.

Yeah you're right.......

Yo' dude...anything for the head?

 

[xUT]

Yeah you're right.......

Yo' dude...anything for the head?

I don't appreciate you stealing my picture...

 

[SparrowHawk]

Didnt they say the same thing about pinwheels (windmills) at one time. A single windmill could power all the needs the owner could have, blah blah blah.


Eco nuts never give up on their fantasies.

Alt energy sources are not all fantasies. There are several interesting technologies out there of which wind is but merely one. As to wind I do know one person who has the ideal location. They have one windmill and they get something around $20.00/mo on average from the power company for their excess power. Problem with windmills is you have to have an ideal location as they do and precious few do.

Another is the geothermal heat pump which can knock about 50% of your heating/cooling costs and it's a relatively cheap one time investment. It's pretty slick. Slick enough that Ryland Homes is installing them as standard equipment at a development about 8 miles from me.

What we have now is several promising technologies that could ultimately replace oil in my lifetime. If we have oil in the $100.00bbl range the free market will be all that's required to move the development of these technologies forward. The added side benefit is that the speculators that helped throw us into a recession will be severely spanked by the economic forces driving the change in technology.

All of this will take place WITHOUT government intervention. So have a seat Barack and watch March Madness for the next 20 years. Hey maybe "W" will come keep ya company

 

[delldude]

I think something like 4000 windmills would be needed to meet the needs of NYC.

NIMBY!

If its so touchy feely....why is it crapping the bed in Spain?

 

[SparrowHawk]

I think something like 4000 windmills would be needed to meet the needs of NYC.

NIMBY!

If its so touchy feely....why is it crapping the bed in Spain?

Dell,
With all due respect this is why it's impossible to accomplish a single blessed thing in this country. Everything just gets divided into Reps & Dems, Tree Huggers Vs Nuclear or whatever.

Anyone who see wind as an overall solution is smoking way better weed than I have access to. However you knock down out dependence on Foreign Oil by 5 to 8 percent and you're talking BILLIONS of dollars in the balance of trade deficit which is another deficit no one desires to discuss as it is as harmful if not more so than the staggering debt and obligations of the Federal Government.

Nuclear power right wrong or indifferent has been stopped dead in its tracks thanks to the events in Japan. IMO, we should be building these plants as fast as we can in order to get out from under the weight of buying oil.

Solar has come, well light years from where it was. To the point where it's beginning to become economically viable. This could reduce dependence by a few percentage points.

Hydrogen based fuel cells are already viable and beginning to take some market share.

If you take all of these alternate technologies and put them together what you end up with is an energy independent United States. You take the US dollars out of the oil market and you dry up a huge source of funding for terrorism and their ability to mount a significant effort against western countries.

Call it my Libertarian isolationist streak if you like but energy independence is something that would hasten the decline of Islamic terrorism without us having to lift a finger. Additionally it would reduce and even possibly eliminate the balance of trade deficit and improve the lives of every US Citizen and the illegal aliens residing here.

 

[delldude]

What was funny was all the New England liberals touting windmills and someone proposed putting them off the coast they freaked out....

Solar is fairly cost prohibitive and quite unenvironmentally friendly,almost to the point of not being worth it, with a very long time to recoup investment.
Windmills were supposed to go on Indian lands but the eco wonks went ballistic with that and solar in the desert....

 

[SparrowHawk]

What was funny was all the New England liberals touting windmills and someone proposed putting them off the coast they freaked out....

Solar is fairly cost prohibitive and quite unenvironmentally friendly,almost to the point of not being worth it, with a very long time to recoup investment.
Windmills were supposed to go on Indian lands but the eco wonks went ballistic with that and solar in the desert....

Yeah the late Senator from Massatwoshits didn't want his view of the Vineyard spoiled from Hyannis by something as eco friendly as windmills. Another Liberal Hypocrite and fraud. Most honest thing Teddy Kennedy ever did was own up to the fact he enjoyed a good scotch.

Er ah when I returned Mary Jo and the car were gone! Supposedly she wanted to marry him and his reply was "Mary Jo will cross that bridge when we get to it"

 

[signals]

This is solar energy and I find it very hard to believe a possible replacement for home energy needs does not have a financial future.

The US might want to consider being very very nice to India in the future.

Yeah, cause that's where your jobs are going! Greener Wiener should realize that what works in one part of the world may not work in the US. This might be a good foreign investment, though! 😉