Maybe there is some truth in this Free Energy claim?

[yvanleterrible]

Why complicate things? The sun already beams efficiently enough.

Ther are new PV panels on a rubber substrate. From there it would only be a step to replace roof shingles. Double duty would be fantastic, you'd get roofing protection and a power supply in the same deal!

[NatCh]

I should think the only reason would be if the other approach actually worked better.

[yvanleterrible]

Can you think of something more dangerous than a high power beam gone askew?
Roofing has to be redone every 20 to 90 years depending on material and PVs have an expected usable life of 30 years. What better combination could we dream of! What needs to be done now is to fine tune PV processes as to augment their efficiency from the 12-16% for 30years to at least 25% for 50years. When properly applied and when one contains energy spending, today's PVs are practical enough.

Personally I couldn't use solar because of my shop. Its energy drain is considerable. But when I can I do small things like using a hand tool instead of a big machine. Last year I also changed the lighting from halogen to full spectrum compact fluorescent. One of my dreams is to build a woodshop in a windmill with every machine hooked to it and small power tools on solar. The major hurdles are construction codes and the urbanism restrictions like no windmills and no solar panels to deface the neighborhood. I'd have to move out to more remote places and that is not ecological since the first law is to reduce one's footprint on earth.

[yvanleterrible]

So! Any fresh news on the original topic?

[NatCh]

I haven't seen anything since they postponed it indefinitely.

[Bob Russell]

Here's a BBC article. Hopefully not a repeat...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6283374.stm

But this pompous professor seems to be confused about the difference between an energy source and a perpetual motion machine. We've seen a lot of deluded people be wrong about perpetual motion machines and the conservation of energy, but can't he admit the possibility of energy created usefully from a system that transforms energy from a useless state (e.g. a tiny bit of mass) into a useful state (e.g. current flow or motion)?

I don't think these guys are onto anything either, but I am not ready to rule out a fanciful future energy source. We already know that nuclear energy works (with many problems, of course), and it doesn't contradict conservation of energy.

Energy doesn't need to be scientifically "free". It just needs to cost us something that isn't precious. If it can run on a supply of ordinary dirt, I think we'd be pretty happy with the energy source, even if it wasn't a perpetual motion machine. The sun is a pretty effective energy producer, even if it's not a perpetual energy source.

This guy just needs to come down off his high horse, step out of the news spotlight, and start thinking like a real professor!

[JSWolf]

Does anyone know a site where one can get a solar powered AC adaptor?

[NatCh]

Here's one.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Here's one.

And because it has a Sony PSP tip available, it will charge the Sony Reader as well. Nice!

[Bob Russell]

Engadget has news about orbo...
http://www.engadget.com/tag/Orbo/

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

Engadget has news about orbo...
http://www.engadget.com/tag/Orbo/

The Restated Three Laws of Thermodynamics:

1. You can't win.

2. You can't break even.

3. You can't get out of the game.

Steorn's claims are up there with perpetual motion machines. Remember "cold fusion"? Folks with a lot better credentials in that area were claiming they'd achieved it, but no one was able to reproduce their results, which made their claims highly questionable.

Steorn isn't willing to release enough info for anyone to attempt to independantly reproduce their results, but their failure in their first demo savaged their credibility, too.

They may honestly believe they've found a loophole in the laws of thermodynamics, but personally, I'll start taking it seriously when they have a working prototype that is independently confirmed to behave as they state.

Right now, I'd have to call it blarney. (Unless they've found a way to tap into the Other World of Robert A. Heinlein's "Waldo"... )
______
Dennis

[yvanleterrible]

Perpetual movement devices, if ever possible, would need to generate their own power to exist and function; whatever that would be. To think that one would be able to use part of its energy output is pure heresy. This source would have to be able to produce more than what it takes to keep it going and the energy quantity left would be infinitesimal. To work as an energy milk cow this device would have to be the size of a planet, again if ever... Hey we could use the planet's rotational inertia, but then again, that's not perpetual.

[tribble]

I can belive (or better want to believe) that the Orbo works. Well, not really believe, more hope that something like this could work. But it would most probably not be something that would fit into a perpetual motion category but rather tap into some kind of not yet charted form of energy, which would be extracted from another system. Big question then would be, what are the consequences.

Or maybe i am just a Sci-Fi fan

[yvanleterrible]

We already have one form of energy that comes from outside the planet that most every lifeform depends on. Why change it?

[tribble]

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

We already have one form of energy that comes from outside the planet that most every lifeform depends on. Why change it?

Who wnats to change that. But my iLiad and CyBook dont run sufficietly on solar power Not yet of course. In southafrica the Solio was great, but in Bonn during winter its not so efficient.

So i would like to see lots of ways to get the suns power into my laptop, ereader and car. But i would not mind having other ways aswell. And basically all fossil fuels are converted solar energy aswell.