by Dr Evil » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:40 pm
I did have a link to this, but on the BBC2 programme "James Mays Big Ideas" a solar concentrator is shown shining light at very high temperature on to a ring furnace with a catalyst directly converting water and air into petrol! Now given the high energy needed to extract pure silicon for conventional solar cells, and hence the high capital costs, I can understand the skepticism, but this process uses common and inexpensive materials with minimal energy to produce petrol-James fills his car from one of these units at the end of the programme!
I know the difference between science and pseudo-science (even though I have broken fundamental laws of physics myself) but I only trust other people when they invent things within the laws of thermodynamics, and wanted to privately invest in this idea, but was told it is only open to large venture capital organizations.
Certainly nanotechnology based solar panels, perhaps made out of less energy intensive materials show a lot of promise, but this technology is here right now-live in the Sunbelt and put this in your garden (about five meter dish I estimate) and never pay for petrol again. Cover the American and Mexican desert (conscripting all the Mexican illegals to do a useful job) and the worlds energy problems are solved, bringing Saudi style riches to a more deserving nation which has (foolishy) exported its other (industrial) wealth production abroad.
No greenhouse effect either, since extracting atmospheric CO2 actually reverses it! Also one of the objections to most green electricity is the expense of storing it, but petroleum produced in this way is of course the perfect storage medium.
I will try and find the link-I really have looked at these ideas very throughly and they are both practical right now and quite brilliant- Pardon me if I appeared a bit glib on this issue, but I thought going into detail would bore people.