Scientists Discover Strong Magnetic Effect Of Light

[virtualban]

Talking about lighting, what if we get a couple of spammers and tie them to the lighting rod, will they be able to absorb all the lighting energy?

 

[guruofchem]

Lots of electrical production is more than 2nd generation - a typical coal fired plant uses chemical energy to produce heat, uses the heat to generate kinetic energy in the form of steam, that kinetic energy transfers to spin a turbine, and that spin produces electricity. 2nd Law of Thermodynamics guarantees that every time you transform energy, there is some degree of loss.

@Zingam - with you on fusion, but the problem is going to be getting net energy gains out of a fusion reaction. It takes so much energy to initiate and contain the reaction that breaking even may be really tricky. Stars do a great job with this, but I don't want one in my backyard... ;-)

 

[guruofchem]

@ virtualban - I'm not sure. Let's get some spammers and give it a try. Empirical evidence is always better...

 

[virtualban]

I like the way you think

 

[lukeeu]

With solar efficiency is unimportant. Only thing that counts is $/W.

 

[husker]

[citation][nom]lukeeu[/nom]With solar efficiency is unimportant. Only thing that counts is $/W.[/citation]
Agreed. 10% might not sound that great, but actually there is a lot of energy in sunlight. The problem with today's technology is that recouping the expensive initial cost of installing solar panels could take up to 20 years. But if this new technology allows a return on investment in just a couple of years, then the need to get efficiencies >10% is no longer necessary in order to make it worthwhile.

 

[husker]

Please excuse double post, but I just came across some interesting information that explains photosynthesis, under optimum lighting and atmospheric conditions, is only 6% efficient in converting sunlight into energy.

 

[3lectric]

you mandate a layer of the material be included in the construction of new roads and building over 4 stories required to include 30% of the material to generate power, the cost would offset by market forces and it would pay off in the long run.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I really hope the low efficiencies don't turn people off to this. It sounds like cells using this technique are already fairly affordable compared to conventional solar cells and that's before anyone has had a chance to streamline production or improve designs. This is actually a pretty big deal and I'm excited for where it could go.

 

[heffeque]

Well... the Spanish company Abengoa makes relatively cheap solar panels and they are 28% efficiency panels.

Who makes 10% efficiency panels anymore?