'Outside the box' ways to generate electricity....

[Smilin]

heheh

 

[GridOner]

Thats ridiculous!...

A cafeteria on the moon?!

 

[syberscott]

Originally posted by: Kntx
Here's an idea... make this big pully thing around the circuference of the earth... then put a rope around it and tie both ends to the moon, then as the moon spins it would turn the pully. The pully would be attached to some gears and stuff... which would connect to some rods and shafts, which would spin some lazy susan muffin display in a cafeteria.

then people could ask " I wonder what makes it turn" to which another persone could reply... "pshh. who cares"

Other than the moon decelerating and crashing into the earth, it's a great idea!

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Fencer128

Originally posted by: RayH
Massive composite kite flying in the jet stream with fans and generators anchored to the ground with carbon nanotubes which double as superconductors.

I've seen a slight variation on the tehtered power concept - albeit using a different source. Not so long ago NASA was experimenting with satellites in orbit. The satellite was to have a long (km) conductor tethered to it that would be dragged through the earth's magnetic filed as the satellite orbitted. The change in magnetic field --> electric filed generation --> power for the satellite.

I don't know hopw efficient this process was to be, but in theory at least the satellite could be tethered to the earth (i'm guessing even geostationary satellites will move through the eartch's dynamic? magnetic field) and power generated and transferred along that line.

EDIT: What do you know, just seen this story right now on the BBC news site. I quote:

So too is so-called tether technology, which involved dragging an electrically conducting wire, possibly several kilometres long, through the Earth's magnetic field. The interaction produces a propulsive force that can be utilised.

Cheers,

Andy

Interesting link there, concerning what antimatter could do for stellar exploration. One problem though I learned of with spacecraft is that we're going to want/need some sort of intertial damper system - otherwise, it would take a LONG time (can't remember how long exactly, many many hundreds of years I believe) to accelerate to the speed of light without killing everyone on board. Maybe take it to 1.5 G's - everyone might toughen up eventually - but that will still take many generations before the ship is near light speed. And then you need to wait again while the ship decelerates. The Star Trek: TNG technical manual said that, without the intertial dampers, the crew would be turned into "chunky salsa" whenever the ship made a standard maneuver. Something like just going to full impulse (167 million mph), in the time it takes the helm officer to say "Aye Sir, full impulse", would kill everyone instantly.

Originally posted by: BoogieQ
This is a great discussion! I like the ideas and thoughts coming out in this thread.

It is neat to see that some of these ideas ARE being implimented in some form or another around the world.


What I am starting to see is that there are SOOOO many ways for us to generate electricity from the energy that is in nature that there is basically no need for our current methods of electrical generation. I DO hope they eventually sway away from conventional means for things like this power tower in the Outback and underwater generators run off of ocean currents.

The main issue is location. If you're in a place that really doesn't have a lot of good options for power generation, it'll be difficult to get the energy to you, and do so with great reliability. There's also the issue of space that a generating plant will take up. A wind farm uses a lot of ground space, as would a large solar generator facility. Ok, so you put it in a desert where there's not a lot of people anyway. You've still got to keep the panels clean. Though I will say, that idea does seem kind of feasible, provided it's not the kind of desert with lots of sand dunes, as they'd bury the panels completely. Solar generators in a desert, with robotic rovers that could clear dust or debris from the panels. Expensive to produce, but cheap to maintain. Yes, it would need to have a massive array of batteries too, but still, throughout the day, you get cheap power.

Originally posted by: syberscott

Originally posted by: Kntx
Here's an idea... make this big pully thing around the circuference of the earth... then put a rope around it and tie both ends to the moon, then as the moon spins it would turn the pully. The pully would be attached to some gears and stuff... which would connect to some rods and shafts, which would spin some lazy susan muffin display in a cafeteria.

then people could ask " I wonder what makes it turn" to which another persone could reply... "pshh. who cares"

Other than the moon decelerating and crashing into the earth, it's a great idea!

Set up huge springs, or something to absorb the impact of it, and at the same time, produce a LOT of energy.

 

[Kntx]

Originally posted by: syberscott

Originally posted by: Kntx
Here's an idea... make this big pully thing around the circuference of the earth... then put a rope around it and tie both ends to the moon, then as the moon spins it would turn the pully. The pully would be attached to some gears and stuff... which would connect to some rods and shafts, which would spin some lazy susan muffin display in a cafeteria.

then people could ask " I wonder what makes it turn" to which another persone could reply... "pshh. who cares"

Other than the moon decelerating and crashing into the earth, it's a great idea!

duh, the moon would be tied to jupiter.