Greentheo... we just got bested! Forget the Stalkerator! These guys can generate around 2000 kWh/year with a 30' vertical wind turbine. The article does not say what kind of windy knob you have to live on to do that, but the Mariah site says you only need an average wind speed of 12 mph! The sample home they showed seemed to be in a reasonable location. http://www.popsci.com/bown/2008/gallery/mariah-power-windspire-photo-gallery With a 30' height, small footprint, and quiet operation, they can get past a lot of neighborhood restrictions... probably not in my current location though... (only 8.8 dba in 50mph wind!) I could not find a price. They had a "nice" cost-saving calculator on the site, but alas, one of the fields you had to put in was the cost of the unit... duh...
I first learned about vertical turbines years ago when I read about Darrieus turbines which were invented in 1931 by French engineer Georges_Jean_Marie_Darrieus. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrieus_wind_turbine) The Mariah unit seems to be a close cousin, or maybe a nephew!
Greentheo and I have been blogging about several energy producing and saving ideas and have noted several examples of homes that only needed 1000 kWh/y. With this turbine you could splurge and watch cartoons on Saturday morning! OK Greentheo, I am ready to go build my papercrete elliptical dome in the boonies with my own little power source! I hope the wind is blowing on those cold Colorado nights!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Mars fuel to go please...
I have read quite a bit about the water ice found on Mars. I have read a lot about the prospects of life on Mars, but not much about something that immediately struck me when I heard it... Fuel to go!
As I have blogged about elsewhere, a big problem with distant space travel is carrying enough reaction mass to propel the craft. It takes an incredible amount of O2 and H2 to get our big payloads off this planet, so we must keep the amount of fuel we carry to a minimum. On the other hand there is a big difference between carrying fuel and carrying energy. A lot of energy can be carried by using nuclear sources, but what can you do with that energy if there is nothing on board to use the energy to throw out the back - ya know?
Enter ICE. Yep, good old ice. You can get several kinds of ice on Mars including water ice and "dry" ice (CO2). So, one of the really important aspects of finding ice on Mars is that we do not need to schlep our reaction mass up there for the return flight! All we need to do is take the energy! Actually, we could even capture some of the energy while we were on Mars by using solar panels.
How could we use the ice? Well I know of a couple of ways. One would be to melt the ice, then use hydrolysis to split the water into H2 and O2 (or Brown's gas). That could go into standard rocket engines to blast off and return. Other folks are working on ways to use high energy fission products to heat gas for use in rockets. In that case, all you have to do is start the fission, then throw in either kind of ice and ZOOM!
I suppose reaction mass is not as sexy as finding life, but I think it could get us boots on the ground a lot faster if we did not have to lift fuel for the return flight. What do you think?
Mars colony mining ice. http://www.redcolony.com/art.php?id=0401070
americium-242m high energy fission products for space travel: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/01/010103073253.htm
As I have blogged about elsewhere, a big problem with distant space travel is carrying enough reaction mass to propel the craft. It takes an incredible amount of O2 and H2 to get our big payloads off this planet, so we must keep the amount of fuel we carry to a minimum. On the other hand there is a big difference between carrying fuel and carrying energy. A lot of energy can be carried by using nuclear sources, but what can you do with that energy if there is nothing on board to use the energy to throw out the back - ya know?
Enter ICE. Yep, good old ice. You can get several kinds of ice on Mars including water ice and "dry" ice (CO2). So, one of the really important aspects of finding ice on Mars is that we do not need to schlep our reaction mass up there for the return flight! All we need to do is take the energy! Actually, we could even capture some of the energy while we were on Mars by using solar panels.
How could we use the ice? Well I know of a couple of ways. One would be to melt the ice, then use hydrolysis to split the water into H2 and O2 (or Brown's gas). That could go into standard rocket engines to blast off and return. Other folks are working on ways to use high energy fission products to heat gas for use in rockets. In that case, all you have to do is start the fission, then throw in either kind of ice and ZOOM!
I suppose reaction mass is not as sexy as finding life, but I think it could get us boots on the ground a lot faster if we did not have to lift fuel for the return flight. What do you think?
Mars colony mining ice. http://www.redcolony.com/art.php?id=0401070
americium-242m high energy fission products for space travel: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/01/010103073253.htm
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