31–40 of 44 posts
See also this godzilla of solar plants :) http://www.fastcoexist.com/3057288/this-huge-new-solar-farm-...
One wonder if wind power could be used to melt salt in a similar fashion, to stabilize the output.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's an interesting idea for a place like Australia - use solar power to desalinate water, and pump it inland. You could create an oasis in the middle of nowhere, sort of like Las Vegas.
You still have to deal with the bi-product of salt and other various minerals that come out of the desalinated water.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>By 2020, China plans to build 10 more—the equivalent of 100 solar farms the size of Crescent Dunes. The ability of china to scale never ceases to amaze me.
One of the upsides of not being a democracy is that NIMBY, environmentalism and health&safety can be pushed much further down on your list of concerns/priorities.
This and the Odeillo plants are pretty amazing. It is remarkably easy these days to build something which can create some really amazing temperatures. I used a Fresnel lens from a 50" rear projection TV to build a concentrator for the kids as part of a science project. We have also used more commercial solar ovens[1] to cook bread and other parts of dinner in the backyard or at camp. That said, I've always wondered i…
This also gets vastly harder the further you get from the Sun and the asteroid belt is not all that close. A solar concentrator + solar panel + more traditional methods may work better especially out in the ort cloud.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's an interesting idea for a place like Australia - use solar power to desalinate water, and pump it inland. You could create an oasis in the middle of nowhere, sort of like Las Vegas.
You still have to deal with the bi-product of salt and other various minerals that come out of the desalinated water.
Throw bottles in; slowly extrude house on sunny days...
On sunny days, London's 'walkie talkie' building makes the sidewalk nice and toasty (and melts plastic bits on your car) with its south-facing concave glass wall: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23944679 Not quite a solar furnace, though.
There's a hotel in Vegas with a slight.... design flaw, causing similar problems: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39403349/ns/travel-news/t/death-ra... Actually hang on, is it the same architect?? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Viñoly Maybe he's actually out to burn things on purpose... /s
I used to live in a place with a strong ecological ethos for recycling, but no economic use of recycled glass. I always wondered if one could pulverize glass and extrude extremely durable housing structures using a solar-fired glass melting 3d printer. Throw bottles in; slowly extrude house on sunny days...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of the upsides of not being a democracy is that NIMBY, environmentalism and health&safety can be pushed much further down on your list of concerns/priorities.
All true, but in this case there's millions of acres of cheap desert in the US. I think there's other forces than those retarding solar progress.
Environmentalists dislike these things because they are essentially a death ray for birds.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
All true, but in this case there's millions of acres of cheap desert in the US. I think there's other forces than those retarding solar progress.
That doesn't mean that nobody cares. Republicans in the West hate solar because of their historical ties to coal and petroleum. Environmentalists dislike these things because they are essentially a death ray for birds.
Focusing on least harm is far more constructive then selective outrage.
(I volunteered at Audubon for a decade, trying to conserve habitat for fish, birds, trees, etc.)