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Orbiting Lasers for Hydrogen Power
DerekLyons writes: "Yahoo is carrying a story about a Japanese scientist who plans to use giant orbiting lasers to extract H2 from seawater. The interesting part of the scheme is that design uses solar pumped lasers, which avoid the loss of efficiency (and increased launch weight) from powering the laser with electricity from solar cells. Is the way to finally break the main dilemma of the hydrogen economy? (That it takes more energy to make the hydrogen than you gain in using it.)"
Is the way to finally break the main dilemma of the hydrogen economy? (That it takes more energy to make the hydrogen than you gain in using it.)
No. In order to do that, you would have to repeal the laws of thermodynamics.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
That crazy Tetsuo kid will probably take control of the orbital laser and start shooting up NeoTokyo.
Such is the infinite Grace of Popeye.
On a slightly off-topic tip, i think we can safely say that the WTC event makes it pretty unlikely that we`ll be seeing flying cars, no matter what they say in the movies.
To quote the article "Hydrogen can be produced on Earth by water electrolysis. This process may be very efficient (in excess of 80%) I think it would be safer and more realistic to produce hydrogen on earth with a large array of solar cells. Many of the countries in the Middle East that currently rely on oil also have plenty of sunlight and border the ocean. Now would be the time to convert to a hydrogen economy before the oil runs out.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
I first read about something like this is a scifi series by Michael F. Flynn- Rogue Star, Firestar. In those books they used satellites to pump microwaves down to earth to provide electricity.
But you come up with the same type of questions: What thermal effects will it have on the atmosphere? Can it be used as a weapon? What effect will it have on local weather (how cool would it be to have a _stable_, low-scale tornado centered on the warmed air around the laser!)?
Solar energy is nearly a holy grail for energy- it's always there and there is a bunch of it. The only problem is collecting it efficiently and delivering it (ok, 2 probs). Personally, I think it would be better to beam down the power and then crack the water, rather than have a huge ass laser bombarding the ocean. How many seagulls are you going to cook? Of course, you could set up "Fried Seagull Emporium" as a lunch stand for the workers!
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Of course, you realize than can only mean one thing: FNORD
Reminder: find a new sig
and there are some true trolls amongst the gems. Crapflooding is for trolls who have a better grasp on their minuscule genitals than the English language. Furthermore, if their vocabulary rivaled their exaggerated aforementioned genitalia sizes, reading troll posts would be a refreshing, enlightening and enjoyable experience.
Oh yea, and "Lasers" are cool. 'specially on the moon and shit.
I want these. I already have the Gnomes of Zurich and the Shriners. Soon my hierachy will be complete, oh yes.
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