Re: if you were president

On 13 May 2007 13:22:01 -0700, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and
$Zero <zero@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> instead replied:

On May 8, 7:23?am, Kurt Ullman <kurtull...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

$Zero<z...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

the existing technology may be chancy, but reliance on the sun as an
energy source is hardly chancy.

but seriously, you seem to be over-focusing on silicon solar panels as
the be-all and end-all of solar power conversion.

there are infinite other possibilities and configurations.

i mean, just consider trees, FFS.

Consider them how? Anything on the drawing boards to have trees
convert sun light into energy?

i was looking at a tree the other day and it got me wondering.

how much of the energy of the sunlight that shines on a tree does a
tree absorb?

and how much is wasted?

considering how large a tree can grow, including the mass of the root
system as well as the annual leaf volume, how many watts of energy are
absorbed verses wasted?

is mother nature efficient with its use of sunlight?

or does it waste a lot, say, as pointless heat?

and wouldn't it be cool if you could plant two different trees (or
plants) next to each other which were somehow polar opposites
chargewise -- so that you could somehow tap the energy production that
was normally going towards wood/branch/root/fruit/seed creation, etc.,
and divert it into usuable raw electricity instead.

and all you needed to do was keep it well-watered (and occasionally
dump in some fresh dirt).

heh.

just plug into the two bark-mounted voltage regulating modules and
presto!

billable watt hours!

imagine the tree-huggers that THAT would create.

Read this article. The technology of these solar cells mimics tree
leaves in many ways. They're thin, plastic (which is made from
organic materials) and transfer energy using a venous structure much
like the veins in a tree leaf.
http://www.physorg.com/news96200990.html

tree-huggers hugging trees in their business suits and wing-tipped
shoes.

You're getting the idea now, Xero. If it can be made profitable, all
of these technologies will be made into practical applications. For
now, you have to be satisfied with experimenting.
http://www.homepower.com
--
Ray
.

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