The answer to all our fuel problems - or is it?

[DrewKaree]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/renewable/Story/0,2763,1627425,00.html

[shmokes]

I hope it's not just smoke.  That would be badass.

[Harry Potter]

Why bother with alternative energy. Drew already produces enough hot air to power America for a year. 

[Stingray]

Never happen in the US, we're too comitted to fossil fuels. As soon as the oil runs out, we're gonna start burning republicans.

-S

[Havoc]

Interesting article, however I find if something is too good to be true  ... it usually is.

[ChadTower]

The whole concept of oil running out, of being finite, is a left wing conspiracy made up to put a running time limit on the Conservative party's power base.

[Crazy Cooter]

Why are they even talking about whether the theory is correct or not?

"...claims to have built a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel. Independent scientists claim to have verified the experiments..."

99.9% of the world wouldn't care "how" or "why"... just "when".  Either there is a prototype or there isn't.  Hopefully there is.  I had Quantum Physics in college and would love to burn those books  .

[Crazy Cooter]

The whole concept of oil running out, of being finite, is a left wing conspiracy made up to put a running time limit on the Conservative party's power base.

I thought it was a right wing conspiracy to reap the wealth from the masses and claim "supply/demand".

 

[ChadTower]

Either way, it's all a big pile of BS, the whole OIL scene.  I bet some guy in the desert in Saudi Arabia mass produces it in an underground lab.

This new one does have that "way too good to be true" vibe.

Not that it would matter to us personally.  It would take 150 years for the technology to filter down to cars, which is the most immediate need.

[ChadTower]

Wave generators

No longer a dead duck, the hopes of engineers are riding on bobbing floats again. The British company Trident Energy recently unveiled a design that uses a linear generator to convert the motion of the sea into electricity. A wave farm just a few hundred metres across could power 62,000 homes.

That's pretty cool, and you don't get any more renewable than the ocean tides.

[Dermbrian]

Wave generators

No longer a dead duck, the hopes of engineers are riding on bobbing floats again. The British company Trident Energy recently unveiled a design that uses a linear generator to convert the motion of the sea into electricity. A wave farm just a few hundred metres across could power 62,000 homes.

That's pretty cool, and you don't get any more renewable than the ocean tides.

It sounds remarkably like my own idea.  A huge ocean farm of 100' tall bobbing bird toys, equiped with generators.

Brian

[hypernova]

it's all amazing to me...how can we use BILLIONS of barrels of oil, and not have parts of the earth crumbling beneath us at some point or another.

[shmokes]

Wave generators

No longer a dead duck, the hopes of engineers are riding on bobbing floats again. The British company Trident Energy recently unveiled a design that uses a linear generator to convert the motion of the sea into electricity. A wave farm just a few hundred metres across could power 62,000 homes.

That's pretty cool, and you don't get any more renewable than the ocean tides.

Until some fool blows up the moon, that is.

[Crazy Cooter]

GREAT  .

Now I've lost the element of surprise.

[DrewKaree]

it's all amazing to me...how can we use BILLIONS of barrels of oil, and not have parts of the earth crumbling beneath us at some point or another.

I, and many of my Evil Conservative cohorts, have taken it upon ourselves to change our own oil.  This accomplishes 2 things.  We take a job away from a person living on the subsistence wage oil change monkeys receive, and secondly, it allows us control of the oil after it's used.  We've been pouring it into storm drains and sewers around America.  This also has resulted in the added benefit of tree-hugging frog-kissing dirt-eaters believing all the time they waste cleaning up the Earth is working, when in reality, we're simply keeping them busy while we concoct more Evil Conservative schemes.

Now that you've read this, please post your address, so we know where to go to kill you now that you know our plans.

[patrickl]

it's all amazing to me...how can we use BILLIONS of barrels of oil, and not have parts of the earth crumbling beneath us at some point or another.

Doesn't the ground level go down over these wells? In the Netherlands we exploit some gas fields, but they sure make the groundlevel go down as the gas is taken out.

[menace]

it's all amazing to me...how can we use BILLIONS of barrels of oil, and not have parts of the earth crumbling beneath us at some point or another.

Usually the oil is taken from reserves quite deep--for the earth to actually subside at that depth the pocket would have to be one immense bubble.  Typically however the oil is in a series of interconnected pockets (like a sponge) so the earth pressure is shifted to the surrounding rock and it remains relatively stable--in the event of an earth quake you may have some local subsidence.

[Stingray]

Now that you've read this, please post your address, so we know where to go to kill you now that you know our plans.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

-S

[Harry Potter]

isn't that a whore house?

[Crazy Cooter]

isn't that a whore house?

I think so.  They screw everyone there .

[jbox]

Why are they even talking about whether the theory is correct or not?

Because

"...claims to have built a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel.

Often a prototype usually means it doesn't actually perform in net positive, but that the energy loss has been proved to occur in the generator framework rather than the generator core. Once this has been proven, the work then switches to refining the overall design. Just like we have 'fusion prototypes'.

Independent scientists claim to have verified the experiments..."

Who? Or is it whom? Apparently several other independant scientists have been having a fair amount of trouble recreating these results, which means it doesn't count as a breakthrough yet.

Considering this guy has been 'raising capital' since 1991, and there would need to be some fancy reason why all electrons don't just fall down to their new ground state straight away, I'd say this one is a bust.

[Crazy Cooter]

It says the prototype does work though.  I say throw the switch so everyone can see.  Then talk about theory.  If nothing happens when the switch is thrown... push the guy into it  .

[jbox]

It says the prototype does work though.  I say throw the switch so everyone can see.  Then talk about theory.  If nothing happens when the switch is thrown... push the guy into it  .

Fusion reactors also work. So does solar energy, wind energy, bio-diesal, and so on. Working prototypes are a dime a dozen, actual production-line models are what I suspect you think this is when he says 'prototype', but this is not generally the case. I will believe they have a net-positive system when they are actually using it to power someone's house, and I will believe they have a new theory after they have net-positive systems in mass production. Until then anyone can build a working prototype of an energy production system.

[DrewKaree]

In the Netherlands we exploit some gas fields, but they sure make the groundlevel go down as the gas is taken out.

I was wondering why box9 needed to keep buying new clothes