The World's Rubbish Dump

[Bolshevik]

there's another idea where you take a large football shaped balloon and add flaps around it, like a turbine. Add wires to each end and wrap them to a long rope and let the apparatus lift into the air a bit . . . bam, something to zap your kids with.

I've always want to harness the energy from rain gutter water. And the torrent that fills the depression behind my apartment. I don't think the landlords would like it. . .

[George Aar]

I've always want to harness the energy from rain gutter water.

Here ya go:

http://otherpower.com/otherpower_hydro.html

[Bolshevik]

another thing is swamps, marshes, fens . . . not for energy . . . but waste removal

there's a dude nearby I've thought about studying under. He studies the bacteria and such in swamps and wetlands, even has a fen established nearby I like to go to. He thinks we can take wetlands and turn them into waste processing factories. You could take the chlorocarbons from the drycleaner and feed it to a wetland, where some critters see it as food, and make it harmless and environmentally friendly and yada yada.

Here ya go:

http://otherpower.com/otherpower_hydro.html

sweet, now after energy production comes the problem of load leveling and energy storage. Like batteries, although, an elevated barrel of stored rain water would do.

I know one dude whose family builds there own energy harnessing devices. Also met a dude who is totally off the grid. . .

Don't know why more people don't build there own electricity generating devices. Probably the same reason nobody eats vegetables.

[Bolshevik]

Ham,

http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/02/27/hamster-powered-generator/

[Ham]

the nice thing about this micropower kind of thing.. that's about what it takes to run cell phones and such..

calculators, other little modern conveniences..

Unless we develop renewable energy.. even if we do, within twenty years, I think people (especially in colder climates) will wear some kind of environmental body suits. The cost of heating ones immediate environment, vs. heating a whole house must be quite significant.

No, they won't be "space suits"..

special units will be fitted to pre-heat and humidify air for breathing, for some..

so they will use natural sources to fuel communication needs.. and along with led technology, very little power required for lighting.. anything that has energy "muscle" will be very localized.

Well.. it's a thought, take it or leave it..

[Bolshevik]

there's simpler things . . . building materials that hold and release heat energy around certain temperatures . . .

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

(google for more info)

there's a guy in Utah or Colorado built his house around this concept. I think greenhouses use vats of water in a similar way. Leave the water in the sun during the day and let it cool during the night, releasing it's heat energy.

Some materials change their crystal structure at temperatures we like, absorbing energy and releasing it where we like it. Works great I hear. They also use these materials in batteries and bombs . . .

. . .

oh, and with the hamster wheel, store what he does in a battery, it may take time but that battery could later run something more significant than a calculator. That's where batteries become important.

google "vanadium flow batteries" . . .those are cool. Uranium flow batteries sound cooler.

[waysider]

there's simpler things . . . building materials that hold and release heat energy around certain temperatures . . .

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

(google for more info)

there's a guy in Utah or Colorado built his house around this concept. I think greenhouses use vats of water in a similar way. Leave the water in the sun during the day and let it cool during the night, releasing it's heat energy.

Some materials change their crystal structure at temperatures we like, absorbing energy and releasing it where we like it. Works great I hear. They also use these materials in batteries and bombs . . .

. . .

oh, and with the hamster wheel, store what he does in a battery, it may take time but that battery could later run something more significant than a calculator. That's where batteries become important.

google "vanadium flow batteries" . . .those are cool. Uranium flow batteries sound cooler.

Hmmm---kinda sounds like you're talking about geothermal and hydroelectric technology.

[Bolshevik]

nope. but those are good options too.

here:

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/29-the-element-that-could-change-the-world/?searchterm=vanadium%20flow%20batteries

Edited July 25, 2009 by Bolshevik

[crystalclearblue]

I appreciate this thread. My family and I are deeply concerned about our enviroment and very involved with recycling. Every little bit a person does helps. I think we are supposed to leave the world a better place for our grandchildren.

[Bolshevik]

"better" always depends on who you ask.

[crystalclearblue]

"better" always depends on who you ask.

True. Some think the world is worse because of morality and some think it's better because of technology. If my Grandchildren are safe, happy, healthy and free-then that is what I call better.