Blog - All Comments

RE: AI Data Centers Require a Lot of Water, Where Does It Go?

DAB — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 19:48:44 GMT

If I was an enterprising company, I would integrate the data centers into a salt water desalination plant using the heat from the chips to heat the water and then condense fresh water from the evaporated steam. That way you could more easily get local governments to invite you in to build your data centers.

RE: Honeycomb-Shaped 3D PV Modules Could Generate More Electricity Than Flat Panels

kmikemoo — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:58:44 GMT

We can only hope that this technology makes it to market.

RE: Ancient Cities Are Now Using Solar Panels in Roof Tiles

beacon_dave — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 18:54:16 GMT

Looks like they have gone with individual tiles rather than grouping several tiles into a more traditional sized solar panel.

Lots of connections !

RE: Ancient Cities Are Now Using Solar Panels in Roof Tiles

DAB — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 18:24:17 GMT

This approach makes sense.

You greatly extend the life of the roof and provide local power.

win win.

RE: Researchers Develop Water Battery That Can Be Safely Disposed

DAB — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:45:02 GMT

I am not sure that you can make a cost effective battery with this technology.

If it is not as good as the Lithium battery and it does not last as long as a Lithium battery, where is the market?

RE: Microsoft Surface Book 2 Power Supply Teardown

Cleberson — Sat, 02 May 2026 17:19:51 GMT

Hi Guys. I'm looking for the schematic of the power supply Model 1798, Microsoft Laptop. Somebody help me. Tks.

RE: A Modeling Study Predicts That Solar Farms Could Produce Rainfall

DAB — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 18:23:10 GMT

Interesting, but I doubt that the rain would fall where the updraft is located.

When you watch weather patterns, an updraft just starts the process.

You still need the moisture and accumulation over time to reach a point where you have a cloud with rain potential.

It would be more economical to equip tankers with rain collectors and sail them into precipitation over the ocean.

You would get good clean water and then be able to take it to where you need it.

RE: A Modeling Study Predicts That Solar Farms Could Produce Rainfall

dougw — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 17:45:19 GMT

It sounds like even just darkening land surfaces would have a similar effect.

RE: Deep Fission is Burying Nuclear Reactors One Mile Deep

DAB — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:16:06 GMT

They must be using funny math, because I do not see how this approach can make a power plant less expensive.

There is also a lot of security concerns about this approach.

RE: Engineers Build a Alt Energy Device That Generates Power at Night

michaelkellett — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:08:35 GMT

"This demonstrates that sufficient energy can be harvested from the night sky."

No it doesn't - it demonstrates that energy can be harvested from the earth warmed by the sun - it's a solar powered device - not a dark powered device.

The power output is very low and there is no indication of energy output over a full 24 hour cycle.

"Year-round measurements show that the engine’s plate temperatures, temperature differential, and rotation rate correlate with the weather."

Next you'll be telling us that bears poo in the woods !

RE: Japan’s Sidewalks Converts Human Footsteps into Useable Electricity

DAB — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 20:22:19 GMT

Even in high traffic areas, it would take a long time to repay the costs of installation and I don't even want to think about how much maintenance this type of system might require.

RE: Engineers Build a Alt Energy Device That Generates Power at Night

DAB — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 20:16:01 GMT

Interesting, but the efficiencies are just horrible.

RE: Japan’s Sidewalks Converts Human Footsteps into Useable Electricity

chloro — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 12:18:06 GMT

So basically every time I miss my train and run across the station, I’m secretly powering Japan’s electricity grid? [emoticon:0f36700dfeb3494fa10d47dd9e1f90a1]
Imagine a display board saying: “This station is currently powered by 3 late commuters, 2 tourists, and one guy chasing the last train.”
Pretty cool idea though, turning everyday footsteps into energy!

RE: Japan is Working on Three Surprising Hydrogen Projects

DAB — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 19:17:12 GMT

Hydrogen is the only future fuel worth pursuing for reliable on demand power.

It is easy to get, easy to use, just not easy to store.

Once you have hydrogen, it is also fairly simple to make more complex hydrocarbon fuels, that are more easy to store.

Kudos to the Japanese for thinking long term, especially since they lack a source of oil.

RE: Japan Extracts Rare Earth Elements from Seabed Mud

DAB — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 20:40:30 GMT

Ishii may not be concerned with cost, but any investor will be. Yes the mud has a lot of material, but it will be very costly to extract the mud, then extract the MP materials from the mud. The US investment was based upon a usable quantity of rare earth materials within a reasonably extractable ore with fixed processing costs. The Japanese mud is not either of those.