Free energy?

Technically, the Sun outputs much more energy than we could ever use without cost to produce.

The real issue is collecting and using energy from a variety of sources where the cost to collect and distribute falls within an economical zone.

We just need to get more creative in developing methods to capture the abundant "Free" energy around us.

Just my Opinion,

DAB

Absolutely! There is enough thermal energy bombarding the earth daily, to provide all our enegy needs.

.. If only we could capture it!

The focus has always been to 'intercept' the thermal 'flow' and do work in the process - one has (say) a parabolic reflector focussing onto a boiler, and vent the boiling steam through a turbine.. this effectively allows the heat to do work (turn the turbine, the mechanical resistance of which is determined by the load, which is where the useful work is done) and the heat is disipated (goes more entropic, is defocussed, more spread out) according to the natural order of the universe.

The "trouble" with this scheme (and, for that matter, every scheme [including peltier] which relied on thermal difference) is that loads of potential energy which could be captured must be lost.

What we need, is some 'collector' which 'sucks' thermal energy from its 'substrate' , converts this to electrical energy which does work 'remotely' and causes cooling of the 'substrate' as a 'byproduct' ... Such a collector would collect more incedent thermal energy because it would be cold and non-radiating, it would not require any 'sink' to provide differential temperature, because the load it is driving would effectively be the 'sink'.

What I think we need is some way to rectify and collect the thermal noise found in all conductors / semiconductors, and to do this in a way which causes actual molecular / atomic movement / vibrations to be reduced in this process, therebye causing cooling.

I have been "working" on this for years but am not getting anywhere - simply dont have funds or a lab capable of the other disciplines required to really test the hypothesis - in particular, chemistry and manafacturing of specific semiconductor substrates etc is needed - using ready made semiconductor parts and materials doesnt give what I am looking for - or at least, doesnt give enough that I can measure it!

Of course - I may be completely mad!  ;-)

Fred

Personally, I find that sanity is just social concensus. 6443.contentimage_938.png

I am amazed at the number of people that think we have an energy shortage.  From my analysis, we are using just a small fraction of the energy freely available around us.  What we lack is innovation and unique ideas.

That is one of the reasons I spend time researching atmospheric lightning.  Talk about an untapped energy source, it's potential is staggering.

But as you point out, I too may be completely mad!  However, I do have a report from a BWC doctor who claims I have significant issues since my accident, which I took as a compliment as I do not want to be like everyone else.

Just my opinion.

DAB

Personally, I find that sanity is just social concensus. 6443.contentimage_938.png

I am amazed at the number of people that think we have an energy shortage.  From my analysis, we are using just a small fraction of the energy freely available around us.  What we lack is innovation and unique ideas.

That is one of the reasons I spend time researching atmospheric lightning.  Talk about an untapped energy source, it's potential is staggering.

But as you point out, I too may be completely mad!  However, I do have a report from a BWC doctor who claims I have significant issues since my accident, which I took as a compliment as I do not want to be like everyone else.

Just my opinion.

DAB

DAB wrote :  >> "That is one of the reasons I spend time researching atmospheric lightning.  Talk about an untapped energy source, it's potential is staggering." <<

I have done some feasibility studies related to capture of atmospheric electrical energy, including construction of some equipment to measure what might be available.. There are two primary sources of this energy IMO - One is triboelectric, the other is the dielectric 'charge distribution'.

We live in the dielectric of a huge capacitor (close to the -ve plate) - the electrosphere is a highly conductive positively charged "plate" (Ozone being the primary conductor or "foil") and the earth is the negetive "plate" - there are hundreds of kV between these (~300kV), and a potential gradient from earth to the electrosphere (+100V/m sometimes).. But the resistivity of air is high (even when moisture laden) and one cannot just put a collection conductor at 100m and get a usable current - one cannot even measure the voltage without an electrostatic meter, as the loading of even a normal active hi-z meter is too great - FET or VT VM's can just about work sometimes - but there certainly isnt enough current to do anything useful - even with a large collection area.

I think that if one could get a low z conductor up to the electrosphere, one could tap the HV there - but getting a wire up to the electrosphere isnt practical.. Collecting lightning (which is mostly the result of thermally induced triboelectric interacations) is, as far as I can see, impractical - it depends on intermittant atmospheric effects... One would, I think, need to implement a more reliable triboelectric mechanism.

I have devised one possible way to 'tap' the electrosphere - but alas, even the crudest "proof of concept" type of experiment is way beyond the budget of anyone I know. I think that a high power lazer which caused ionization of air in its path, could provide a low z "wire" to exist momentarily up to the electrosphere.. It the lazer fires through a collecting conductor, I think that the ionized conduction path might cause enough conduction current to initiate a plasma 'wire' which would charge the collector and then cease to exist.. The charge on the collector could then be converted to a usable voltage through some mechanism (perhaps an electrostatic motor) and used to provide output power and power to drive the lazer.. The lazer would need to fire a pulse whenever the colloctors potential dropped below some threshold level.

I think some caution is advisable with any sheme that employs our earths electrical environment as an energy source - If we were too greedy or disrespectful we might upset some critical balance we are not aware of - oh - I think it highly unlikely that there is any real risk - but who would have guessed that CFC's would cause the massive destruction they did?

Fred.

Hi Fred,

You are right about the difficulty in getting charge carriers from the atmosphere to the ground.

I had thought of using a balloon to carry a conductive mesh up into the upper atmosphere to pull down a steady stream of current, but excessive wind currants probably make it infeasible.

I know that Nicolai Tesla had an idea on using the normal rotational forces to power a generator, but he either did not write it down or it has been "mislaid" somewhere.

In my lightning research, I have come up with a reasonable model for how the charge gets into the atmosphere and how it sets up in bands accross the different air layers.  However, the discharge events do not seem to be predictible enough, though the rocket delivered wires appears to work fairly reliably.

As for CFC effects, I have to point out that there is still no proof that they had a mechanism for transport into the upper atmosphere.

My calculations showed that the Ozone holes at the north and south poles were natural phenomena and not the result of any man made elements.

Like man generated CO2, the predicted proof data does not justify the efforts made to limit its generation.  The data overwhelmingly support a natural phenomena for both the increase and decrease in CO2 levels over time.

I have also recently came up with a good fusion model that indicates that nuclear fusion does not generate excess energy.  Instead it converts kinetic energy into potential energy when the mass is fused together.  If true, it means that our dream of clean fusion energy is dead and we need to look elsewhere for a solution.

DAB