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This is very true.

We can't live off it in it's present form, you can't ensure a minimum output like coal/nuclear power plants

Exactly, I mean, it's not like it could power a global transportation system. Oh wait.... d'oh!.

There's a shitload (SI units only, please) of energy bombarding (and emanating) from the Earth. If we're not capturing it, it's either because the other forms are easier to capture, or we're not being creative enough. Capture from a diverse enough pool, combine it with clever storage systems, and there's your base load.

We used one nuclear merchant ship in the 1960s to early 70s. It has been decommissioned, but had a range of over 300,000nm without refueling while carrying over 14,000 tons of cargo. That's almost 14 laps around the world at the equator. Guess how much the fuel weighed? 163lbs

So, if there was a way to get energy from outside the earth and use it to reform hydrocarbons...

One thing to point out is that there are now plenty of open source codes available for doing similar things as gaussian so it can be avoided now with relative ease. Two that come to mind are the the Department of Energy funded codes: nwchem for ab initio work and lammps for molecular dynamics. I use the NIH funded code vmd for visualization. The best part about those codes is that they're designed to be compiled using gcc and run on linux so you can get off the non-open source software train all together if you wish.

If you are in the field, can you explain why such a temperature is significant ? Was it never attained with this kind of tech ?
I was under the impression that higher temperatures were common in fusion research. I mean, the Z-machine reached more than 2 billions Kelvins : http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2006/physics-astron/hottest-z-output.html

Imagine them communicating with each other in pack and relaying GPS location data. If one finds a target, they start to zero in on the victim.

Reality: DARPA funded work on that in 1997. Sandia made it work. The Sandia concept turned out not to be too useful militarily, but paved the way for the Precision Urban Hopper..

Yeah, and as soon as you stop with the Ritalin (e.g. because your wallet is drained empty), your brain will look like this, because of what is known as “brain-zaps”.

But imagine if you'd get to drive this thing every week. Not everyone get to do that.

Here is the real sandia labs press release with more detail

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/glitter-sized-solar-photovoltaics-produce-competitive-results/

They suggest using an industrial "pick and place" machine to assemble the tiny cells onto a substrate for making the panel, at a cost of 1/10th a penny a "glitter", and you can also add a concentrator above each cell

So I don't know with government work like this, do they license patents, is it automatically open (it should be) or what? Seems like a nice breakthrough, but it still just adds to the list of other incredible breakthroughs that have lead to not much at all for reducing watts per dollar at the retail level with solar PV in general. If some one company gets it and it is locked up in a for profit patent for years and years, they will just reduce their own costs then charge the normal global prices we have seen for the past long time, around ~ five bucks per watt. None of these dozens of breakthroughs we have seen are going to be all that useful until that situation changes.

Energy independence is a national security and economic recovery issue, (along with all this climate change jazz they keep going on about) so maybe this tech will be freely licensed to drop prices and actually get this stuff to the end consumer in mass quantities.

Ronald Knief, is a nuclear engineer at Sandia National Laboratories. He is not a nuclear engineer at "Sandia National Laboratory", because there is no such place, company, or entity with that name. Sandia National Laboratories, known as Sandia, has two main sites in Albuquerque, NM and Livermore, CA along with several smaller locations. None of the sites is called "Sandia National Laboratory" even when referred to as a single site entity. Sandia's largest site is located in Albuquerque, NM and is known as Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico or SNL/NM.

I'm surprised the original post didn't link to this article from Sandia National Labs. There is a pretty interesting analysis of what would actually happen if an asteroid did hit (complete with nifty graphics).
 
From the Sandia article:So what would happen during such an impact, really? According to the simulation, the impact would vaporize the asteroid, deform the ocean floor, and eject hundreds of cubic miles of superheated water vapor, melted rock, and other debris into the upper atmosphere and back into space. Much of the debris would then rain down over the world for the next several hours and also form a high global cloud, says David Crawford of Sandia's Computational Physics and Mechanics Department. The shock wave from the impact would level much of the New England region. The heat would incinerate cities and forests there instantaneously. The global cloud would then lower temperatures worldwide, and a global snowstorm likely would ensue and last several days to several weeks, initiating a "nuclear winter" that would create more hardships for earth's inhabitants.

Sandia Z-machine peak temperature: over 2 billion Kelvin http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2006/physics-astron/hottest-z-output.html

Sun's core: 5800 Kelvin.

Hotter than the Sun has been done for years.

Here's a DOE Lab site. Fargin' Iceholes!

If there was some way to extract excess carbon from the atmosphere and bond it to hydrogen, could help clean up things as well. But it would still require energy to do this. Would need some kind of large energy source that covered the Earth...

It's getting there.

I have the same concerns about wind energy. There is some evidence that it can effect local ecology.

Solar energy on the other hand, isn't used very efficiently. In fact, in much of the world shade structures that converted solar energy to electricity would provide a double service: cool via shading while using unwanted radiative energy.

The only way that using solar could effect climate is if we significantly changed the albedo by placing dark solar panels in a place that was very reflective. However, other than the polar ice caps most of the earth's surface absorbs the solar energy, so we really would not affect climate by "taking out" the solar energy.

I think we should actually launch solar concentrators into orbit. Basically huge inflatable lenses that float in space and beam concentrated solar power down to heat some salt to drive a turbine. We'd just have to make sure that planes didn't fly through the beam.

it all depends how much you want to spend, what your requirements are, and what resources are available to you. the options are out there. even for large scale applications.

but from the tone of your post, you dont seem to be the type of person willing to generate your own power.

Not talking about compressed gas version of hydrogen, but liquid hydrogen. Compressed gas hydrogen doesn't carry enough fuel for the volume. Is one of the things we're working on here. Even if mobile storage is achieved, using some form of hydrid materials, the problem I was referring to is the storage, transport and distribution of hydrogen. We get a truck of liquid H and liquid He in every other week or so and the storage and use of it is a real pain.

Yup, fresh air and the sun.

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2008/solargrid.html

http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2004/renew-energy-batt/Stirling.html

it's an old article - and still waiting for it to happen - would love to see it happen..

Personally I'm gunning for Sandia Lab's Z-Pinch device, though mostly because the original looked so unbelievably fucking cool.

The last I'd heard from them, they had built a small module that could do inertial fusion, and could fire rapidly and for many cycles. They could be stacked to increase power, and in theory all they had to do (simplifying of course) was stack a bunch of these modules to make practical power generation, and a test product was supposed to be done in a few years.

Sadly, being small self-contained boxes and not a research toy they don't look nearly as awesome as the original.

But yeah. Bussard could work too. In any case, ITER seems like the real long shot.

Sandia Labs (the same group that does nuclear simulations) did work on this several years ago. They produced some excellent simulations of asteroid explosions, and their effects in the admosphere and on the ground.

A summary with some great videos is posted here:
http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/asteroid.html

If you want a "Mr. Fusion" device, it is likely to be more along the lines of an Internal Electrostatic Confinement (IEC... aka the "Farnsworth-Hurch Fusor") or the Polywell approaches.

I personally am rooting for Z-Pinch devices that seem to show a lot of promise. I eagerly await the result of their scaled-up tests. Though I'll admit this is largely because their Z Machine nuclear research device looked like this during operation. Even though the new device looks nothing like that. Awesome of that magnitude should be rewarded!

If you want a "Mr. Fusion" device, it is likely to be more along the lines of an Internal Electrostatic Confinement (IEC... aka the "Farnsworth-Hurch Fusor") or the Polywell approaches.

I personally am rooting for Z-Pinch devices that seem to show a lot of promise. I eagerly await the result of their scaled-up tests. Though I'll admit this is largely because their Z Machine nuclear research device looked like this during operation. Even though the new device looks nothing like that. Awesome of that magnitude should be rewarded!

Is it a blanket ban on incandescent bulbs? If the tungsten photonic lattice becomes practical (GE seems to be working on it), we could have good old glass-and-tungsten incandescent bulbs that are two to four times more efficient than they are now.

It even use Boost Graph Library (BGL) underneath.

Ref:
http://www.sandia.gov/Titan/media/Information_Visualization_in_VTK.pdf

The move towards commodity processors in supercomputing wasn't some kind of accident, it occurred because that's what currently gets the best results.

You are totally misinformed. COTS clusters and the move toward x86 commodity CPUs in MPPs is the direct result of CPLANT, and it was all about initial hardware acquisition cost, not performance:

http://www.cs.sandia.gov/cplant/

CPLANT is the father of all current cluster supercomputers, which make up over 90% of all supers in the world. Anyone find it interesting that the CPU architecture that started the move to COTS supercomputers was actually Alpha, not x86? What's that saying? "Truth is often stranger than fiction"?

The first time I read an article where I think Los Alamos was ordering a supercomputer with 8192 Pentium Pro processors in it, I was like WTF?

The system you're thinking of was called ASCI RED, and it was installed at Sandia, not Los Alamos:

http://www.sandia.gov/ASCI/Red/
http://www.top500.org/system/4428

The first time I read an article where I think Los Alamos was ordering a supercomputer with 8192 Pentium Pro processors in it, I was like WTF?

The system you're thinking of was called ASCI RED, and it was installed at Sandia, not Los Alamos:

http://www.sandia.gov/ASCI/Red/
http://www.top500.org/system/4428

The first time I read an article where I think Los Alamos was ordering a supercomputer with 8192 Pentium Pro processors in it, I was like WTF?

The system you're thinking of was called ASCI RED, and it was installed at Sandia, not Los Alamos:

http://www.sandia.gov/ASCI/Red/
http://www.top500.org/system/4428

A new efficiency record was set with a solar-to-grid sterling engine setup (page 6).

The award recognizes a solar-to-grid system conversion
efficiency record set by SES Serial #3 solar
dish Stirling system in January 2008 at Sandiaâ(TM)s
National Solar Thermal Test Facility. The existing
1984 record of 29.4 percent was toppled by the new
31.25 percent net efficiency record.

The conversion efficiency is calculated by measuring
the net energy delivered to the grid and dividing
it by the solar energy hitting the dish mirrors.

Now, whether sterling engines carry over to vehicles, yeah, that's another thing.

Yup, it's one of the things they're working on here. I'm still hoping they get a decent fusion setup going but the solar work is still pretty cool.

Yup, it's one of the things they're working on here. I'm still hoping they get a decent fusion setup going but the solar work is still pretty cool.

Now, the CX1 really is Cray in name only. Don't make the mistake of thinking of Cray as a maker of itty bitty clusters. Oak Ridge has a >30,000 core Cray XT4, NERSC has an almost 20,000-core XT4, and of course Red Storm has over 26,000 cores.

Umm, that is Cray in name only. The real Cray (Seymour) designed from scratch computers which had performance as their only goal, and which shattered the performance standards of their peers. He did not cobble together existing parts in basically the same way a half dozen other companies do. Now, you can argue whether something like the old Cray is even possible anymore, let alone economically viable, but you shouldn't pretend that the current Cray is in the same league.

Are you trying to imply that Cray the company is "in name only?" Because that's not at all the case.

It's true that Cray was a shadow of its former self after Tera bought it, but many of the Tera executives have left, and some of what Cray Research used to be has re-emerged.

Now, the CX1 really is Cray in name only. Don't make the mistake of thinking of Cray as a maker of itty bitty clusters. Oak Ridge has a >30,000 core Cray XT4, NERSC has an almost 20,000-core XT4, and of course Red Storm has over 26,000 cores.

Even with solar-driven steam turbines, you can't generate any power at night and afaik, there's no effective way of storing energy.

Yes, there is.

Not saying this discovery wouldn't be useful, though.

For the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, this is the solution that was developed:
Permanent Markers Implementation Plan, United States Department of Energy, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (PDF)

Some brainstorming that led to the above document--this contains some of the more "exotic" ideas that were considered:
Expert Judgement on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (PDF)
Excerpts in HTML format

Overview of warnings for Yucca Mountain

Basically, the idea is to take a multi-layered approach, starting with simple "Danger" warnings (both symbolic and in current languages, large scale and small), and finishing with detailed scientific information about what we will have buried. There will be instructions to add new structures with translations into whatever languages will have arisen in future societies. Sturdy but low-value materials will be used. There are a lot of other considerations; the "Expert Judgement..." document is an interesting read.

I agree with the other posters saying that reprocessing should make all of this moot, though.

This is well trodden land for /. : This Place is Not a Place of Honor http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/11/011235 Radioactive Warning for Future Generations http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=185062 Check out the official SANDIA report: http://www.prod.sandia.gov/cgi-bin/techlib/access-control.pl/1992/921382.pdf

I posted this below:

http://www.sandia.gov/LabNews/LN12-18-98/intel_story.htm

1998 Intel and the US Gov starting working on hardened Pentium CPUs.

Intel allowed the government to have a no-fee license to produce a radiation hardened Pentium chip. The article has some details on radiation hardening.
http://www.sandia.gov/media/rhp.htm

I've built replacement keyboard assemblies for one of the systems on that. Not sure which. It was a rf and fluid gasketed oversized heavy aluminum box. The actual keyboard was made by Cherry. I was so disappointed. It's like finding a Yugo engine in a Corvette. http://www.cherrycorp.com/

When doing embedded electronics for the military you are not going far pitching Intel stuff.

Yeah, that's true. Because the military would never use radiation hardened pentiums under a no fee-license from intel or anything.

Well, given this http://www.sandia.gov/LabNews/LN12-18-98/intel_story.htm was in 1998, and about 10 years of development and testing, I guess we're finally seeing CPU's on the B2's that will actually allow them to fly through some of the massive radiation/electrical crap that they would be generating.

1000 square feet is about 93 square meters. Solar radiation is "approximately 1000 watts per square meter for a surface perpendicular to the Sun's rays at sea level on a clear day." (wikipedia)

Now, at 1000 watts per square meter, 93 square meters is 93,000 watts. At 5.5% efficiency, that's a little over 5kw (5,115 watts). If this particular technology isn't that efficient yet, it probably will be soon, and you'll get that call.

In the meantime though, what I'm really psyched about though is the solar thermal plant that Sandia has had in the works for a while. They're sporting over 31% efficiency, or a little less than six times the amount of power per 1000 square feet than you're interested in. This is a fairly recently article on their efforts.

There are also alternate technologies for Photo Voltaic Cells which require a lot less energy to make. These include (but are not limited to):

• Cells made by Vapor Deposition and
• Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Both these techniques are cheaper and will repay investment a much faster than the traditional silicon wafer PV cell. While they may not match the very impressive 31.25% efficency of a Solar Thermal system, they will undoubtedly get better in the future.

The change from a centralized power generation system to a decentralized power generation system is undoubtedly going to break lots of business models. The Powers-That-Be have a lot of interest in keeping the status quo exactly the way it is. They are (quite rightly) nervous about Joe Sixpack discovering that he can put a wind turbine and two solar thermal reflectors on the roof of their house and suddenly make the power company a lot less profitable. Peak-Rate Power is the most profitable kind, and every watt reduced is money from their bottom line.

As this technology gets cheaper and more affordable, the reasons not to have power generation distributed and closer to the point of use vanish. The oil company loses demand (exponentially reducing the price of their product) and the power company's infrastructure monopoly suddenly becomes a whole lot less valuable.

This upcoming technology shift is going to be similar in scale to the replacement of million-dollar record pressing plants with $80 CD-R drives, and we all know how long that is taking to shake out.

Anybody notice the mention of Lockheed Martin in the original article?

Really? Is more outsourcing of sensitive government tasks the way to go? Have we learned nothing from experience...

The federal government outsources just about all of their sensitive science and engineering. Sandia National Lab is run by Lockheed Martin. LANL and LLNL are also run by contractors. Nothing new.

It should be bringing nuclear wessels. With the cost of oil to fire a ship being what it is, the Savannah would have been competitive back in the 70's. The only problem to solve is that high seas piracy still exists and the US government doesn't want the nebulous "bad guys" to steal a nuclear wessel and reuse its atomic fuel for something nasty.

Solar Panels: 22% efficiency SunPower
Electrical Transmission: 92.8% efficiency (by jtoomim (217124) Alter Relationship on Thursday June 12, @06:10AM (#23761407))
Battery Charging: 85% efficiency John W. Stevens and Garth P. Corey
Electric Motor: 90% efficiency

78% loss -> 7.2% loss -> 15% loss -> 10% loss = 15.6% efficiency, not 2.5%.

If you don't factor in the "loss" in the efficiency of the panel to collect the rather amazing amount of energy produced by the sun (of which the Earth only intercepts a tiny fraction), the efficiency is in the 70% range.

Numbers Here.
Actually, if you can keep your total charge to 90% of the battery's rated capacity, you can easily get 85% efficiency. And that's on Lead-Acid. Lithium-ion batteries are even more efficient. It all comes down to proper power management.

It's still better than 20-30% efficiency on a combustion engine.