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50 Comments
- RobotCitizen, on 10/12/2007, -7/+35That's clearly a deathray being aimed at Iran.
- Godric, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17A blog links to a blog which links to the actual stories:
http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20060307-044851-6135r
http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20060307-034124-2862r
Good story but blogspam so no digg. - Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Even the most advanced PV cell efficency is only 24%. I can't see how heating water to run a turbine would be less efficent than that. A stirling engine would be best, although it could be overly complicated.
As for beaming microwaves back from space, the real issue is keeping them pointed at the right place on the ground, as anybody who's played SimCity knows. Having part of town vaporized suddenly always ruins your numbers for the month. :) - gamekid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10It's hard to call the UPI stories better when they don't have the picture from [ http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/03/huge_concentrat.html ].
- ilselu1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Can anyone say "MythBusters"?
- saifatlast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7But they're only going to use it for peaceful purposes. Every country has the right to a giant solar deathray!!!!
- Everman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The next step is to put one of these on the moon.....wait, that's no moon!
- RobGamble, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Sure they are expensive, but you only have to buy the solar panels once.
- GoodBrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"If only the solar panels were cheaper, and worked on cloudy days- until then don't expect to see them widely used. Or at least until we run out of oil/coal."
First off, these devices that combine a concentrator with a photovoltaic cell typically result in higher efficiencies, while reducing the number of cells required. This helps reduce the overall cost of solar energy.
Second, there are a lot of areas where electrical load goes up as sunlight goes up (think "air conditioning"). - chembro84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Trust me when we run out oil (if the economy remains dependant on oil like it is now), there won't be any heating or cooling, or lights. This economy (most of the world's) would completely collapse without cheap oil and coal.
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Son of a... is that the actual convergence point visible in mid-freakin' air? Or just a trick of the camera?
- everfalling, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i was thinking that too. usually with these mirror arrays they focus on circulating oil to be used to heat water for steam. i donno how much more effective this will be by focusing the light into a PV cell.
did they say that building and operating only ONE of these would be the same as a fossile fuel plant? see that's no good. they should make them cheaper so to build more than one of these guys next to eachother.
also, considering the fear of solar energy on cloudy days, whatever happened to the idea of collecting sunlight from panels in orbit, then trasferring the energy back down to earth via microwaves or something? - justinaugust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did you check what the blog said about cost? Same as a fossil fuel power plant?
And yes, solar cells work on cloudy days. Gravy. - 12340987, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've always wondered why PV cells didn't get mirrors pointed at them.
What they are using couldn't be a PV cell though, could it? the power of a 1000 suns wouldn't be good for it... It seems like it would be better to point that light at a fluid or something. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Honestly thats a pretty big step in the right (general) direction. I'll digg it even though its a blog and has spam. (my adblock still works great ;) ) but anyway I wish other nations would adopt a similar program because as were all painfully aware fossil fuels just wont last much longer. :/
- jgclark123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Uh, this is Israel, right? I don't think they have the water to spare for steam power.
- Feyr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2im no physicist. but the compton effect seems to be a way to calculate the amount of energy you get out of each discrete photons for a particular wavelength. concentrating the beams means there's more photons of that same wavelength, hence more energy harvested.
- tek1024, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2hmm...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine
It says there (not that it's the end-all be-all or anything) that Stirling engines need a source of energy, so and though it says solar is acceptable, it seems like it might be an extra step. Thoughts/corrections? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If it were convergence, you would see plasma, and it isn't there. Further, the focal point of the parabola is designed to be at the tip of the 'collector' so seeing convergence out there would mean a really really bad design.
- mianos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Interesting, but once again where is the 'blog to a blog button'. This one is actually a blog (here) to a blog (tree hugger), to a blog to a blog (the UPI) article. The second last guy did add some value with a photo addition. What's next, 5 levels tommorow?
- wvstephens, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Treehuggers interesting! Would you not have to clear thousands of square miles of trees and native vegetation in return killing or displacing native wildlife to equal the amount of power produced by our conventional power plants? I mean sure if you are in the desert you do not have to clear trees and native vegetation but then you have to worry about the major sand storms and the constant shifting factor in most deserts. Maybe I am wrong, just my thoughts
- vandykee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1how about if we just start with one sun.
- SL33PY, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Very nice technology... If you have the right climate for it..
Theoretically one can achieve the less then $1000 per kilowatt. But what if you live in a country like oooh let's see.... Belgium, where the standard day is gray, what will the cost per kilowatt be? - chembro84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1oh boo-hoo
- XTCinOvaltine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Some dude is already doing this, but cooler.
http://www.solardeathray.com
Really great site. Shows things being melted by his solar death ray, using mirrors and stuff. Like a Furby. - durandal2005, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's cool that it's so powerful, but I thought photovoltaics weren't the best way to go with solar power: aren't stirling engine systems more efficient?
- sixister, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Me likey!
Bonus: If you lined it up right you could use the resulting convergence of light to (slowly) kill a strapped-down James Bond! Shibby. - JangoFett, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'm pro-death ray.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That was my science fair experiment this year!!! Only on a massive scale. Don't I get an award?
- williamhelmick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wow, that'd be great! that is, until the hail comes...
- durandal2005, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Even though the stirling engine adds some mechanical complexity, I seem to remember reading about how you can squeeze more electricity out of the same amount of sunlight with stirlings rather than solar panels.
- Draconiko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It seems like everybody wants/has a solar death ray now....
- elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2As for electrical use going up as sunlight goes up because of Air conditioning, don't forget that when we run out of oil, most heating will also switch to electrical heating, which would mean that electrical load would go up as sunlight gets LESS
- gp120, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It is strange the poster felt it necessary to convert from metric to US. Arent Digg folk really more of a metric bunch?
- jawadshuaib, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It all depends on the frequency/wavelength of the incoming light. Electrons absorb/release a fixed amount of energy (non-continuous) otherwise known as quanta. This happens when the incoming light carries the exact same frequency required by the electron.
What this basically means is that you can have a lot of intensity, but if the frequency is not right, it will not convert into energy. Hence, rendering the Solar panel useless.
Jawad Shuaib - TheGalacticFork, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Indeed, the energy production is just to power the targeting computers.
- maht, on 10/12/2007, -1/+110cm is 3.937" not 3"
- DrYeti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Photovoltaic cells will work with diffuse radiation (i.e. a cloudy day), however, solar collectors will only focus direct beam radiation so this would effectively be useless on a cloudy day. Not bashing solar though, I work in a solar energy lab.
- imkookoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually, I think it is the focal point... the collector isn't hooked onto the dish yet, so you should be seeing it away from the dish a bit... if you look closely, you could see the triangle formed by the rays from the dish as well.
- pageld, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0personally I hope they'd put it in let's say a desert somewhere. Where there's lots of sun. And hopefully not too much hail/rain. Then you only have to worry about the cacti and the six shootin' cattle wrestlers.
- saifatlast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Uh, this is Israel, right? I don't think they have the water to spare for steam power."
Dude, almost all power use steam turbines. Don't be a moron. - FelixdaaHack, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2nice to see US tax dollars at work (and no thats not a typo)
- opusagogo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0No digg. Misleading article.. 1000 suns ? Thats exadurating a little bit.
Did they increase the intensity of a 1"x1" square 1000 times? .. by using 100 square inches of reflection?
Whopte freaking do.
Terrible job by submitter. - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2At least their not ashamed of it, the blog's name is treehugger.com.
If only the solar panels were cheaper, and worked on cloudy days- until then don't expect to see them widely used. Or atleast until we run out of oil/coal. - matts0344, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Of course they depend on the intensity of the sunlight. And not only sunlight, how does my calculator work with light from other lights in my house at night?
- gookie, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2This project is too much for normal solar cooking...LOLOLOL!
--> http://home.germany.net/100-441770/cooker03.jpg - jawadshuaib, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6"it can concentrate the intensity of the sun's energy by a factor of a thousand."
From what I understand, solar panels do not rely on the intensity of the sun, but rather the frequency (1/wavelength). It has to do with the compton effect:
http://www.chem.brown.edu/chem277/slides/lect3Illust/compton3.gif
The actual intensity is not included in the equations because they do not play a part in it.
Jawad Shuaib - RobotCitizen, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5And speaking of mullahs, if Israel could kindly aim that thing at Kansas next I'd appreciate it.
- 12340987, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3+digg lol
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