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I found this web page discussing a similar microfiche library, the Appropriate Technology Library, which appears to be available only on CD-ROM or DVD now, which is unfortunate.

I'm not sure it's the same thing; the earliest copies in libraries seem to date only from 1986 or so.

Why not?

Maybe someone will invent a Bio-panel...

An Algae solar panel that produces hydrogen by depriving it of oxygen
like Mr. Melis's research indicates .

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70273-0.htm l?tw=wn_index_19

http://www.green-trust.org/2000/algaehydrogen.htm

Be pretty wild to see huge areas covered in some green translucent liquid paneling, lol .

I had same idea for Bio-diesel from Algae paneling .

Ex-MislTech

There are extensive tests and research into various algae that produce hydrogen from water in sunlight. (Think vast fields of the stuff in the UAE when the oil runs out :-)

http://www.green-trust.org/2000/algaehydrogen.htm

regarding your 500% territoy && lots of research point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

specifically: (note the Algae number)

Different plants produce usable oil at different rates. Some studies have shown the following annual production:

* Soybean: 40 to 50 US gal/acre (40 to 50 m/km)
* Mustard: 140 US gal/acre (130 m/km)
* Rapeseed: 110 to 145 US gal/acre (100 to 140 m/km)
* Palm oil: 650 US gal/acre (610 m/km) [2] (http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.h tml)
* Algae: 10,000 to 20,000 US gal/acre (10,000 to 20,000 m/km)

this guy computes you could cover US oil needs with 10,000 square miles of alage producing biodiesel:
http://www.green-trust.org/biodiesel.htm

What about a methane-based power generation? (either a fuel-cell or retrofitted gas generator)

Some farmers already use them. They extract the methane from manure from their livestock as the manure is prepped for fertilizer use (they need to let it "rest" before they can use it as fertilizer). The extracted and captured methane is typically fed into a retrofitted generator. It's called Bio-Methane
In some cities, they extract it from sewage. So if u have a septic system, you might be able to collect methane from ...well...u'r backside.

And don't forget to invite Cowboy Neal when u have a mexican food BBQ. He goes wild with the beans.

This same idea can be used make underwater buildings. It only takes about 1 kWh to make 4.2 lbs of seacrete and its about as strong as sidewalk concrete.

Its time to grow an underwater home!

Umm, I think you are attacking some unrelated generalization you've heard in the past, not the actual poster's comment. He made no statement about hydrogen or solving fossil fuel dependancy.

But, since you are on that topic, there are a number of avenues besides fossil fuel for generating the electricity or heat or whatever for creating hydrogen:

Bacteria. Some scientist at UCLA did some calculations, and determined that a decent sized canyon in the Mojave desert covered 2 feet of water and a sheet to collect the hydrogen produced by the bacteria would be enough for all of Southern California.

Geothermal

Photovoltaics

Tidal

Convection

Fission

Fusion

Biomass Fuels

Solar Thermal

Wind

Hydroelectric

So, who are you swinging your fists at? Certainly not the original poster?

LS

In India, they call them gobar gas plants (more details in a 1971 Mother Earth New article). As long as one keeps the 30:1 carbon/nitrogen ratio, they can consume other organic waste too (grass clippings, urine, food waste, etc.). The only problem with them is that they tend to create hydrogen sulfide that makes the gas highly corrisive to iron equipment (some people use a filter of steel wool to remove the H2S).

How about pedal-powered aircraft as the ultimate human-powered tech-toy?

One problem is the low power budget for human-powered systems. The average fit adult can only crank out about 75 W. (No specs on the power output of the average computer user). Even a athletic cyclist only puts out about 200W.

A cyclist should be able to power a laptop, but running much more than that would be difficult.

How much corn does it take to generate 335 kilo-joules of energy? How long does it take for that corn to grow? I'm willing to bet that miles of traditional solar panels will still produce more power over the same amount of time. But who wants to give up hundreds of thousands of acres of land for solar power generation?

"Currently. Ford, Dodge and Volkswagen all void warranties if biodiesel is used. Volkswagen, however, sells a "biodiesel kit" that includes a few modifications suggested if biodiesel is used.

They can't "void" warranties unless they can show that the use of biodiesel caused the failure. It's simply not legal. That's what prevents car companies from refusing warranty repairs on your car because you used a Fram air filter rather than one made by the manufacturer.

Want to see how forgiving the diesel engines are? Here's a link to people who are powering VW diesels from used vegetable oil that restaurants throw out.

Bio-algae pretty much looks like it's going to be a winner here. 1 week producton cycles generating 10% of the algae mass as hydrogen by volume. And that's before they've had the geneticists take a crack at them to improve the photosynthesis speed.

It's cheap, it's renewable, it's hydrogen producing pond scum.