Free energy
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I was watching some strange documentary last night about the history of the perpetual motion machine and free energy devices. These free energy guys were going on about the benefits the world would see once these devices were invented and one of their claims was that we would all have all the energy we could use for no cost. The problem with that theory is that personally, where I live, we have all the free energy we want and it is billed at the same rate as any where else. All our local power comes from hydro electricity, there is a river and a dam further up the highway and a generator that has been there for so long it's surely paid off it's initial investment many years ago with only maintainence costs at this point. Yet I still get an electricity bill in the mail and I'm sure I'm paying roughly the same per kilowatt hour as electricity that comes from a nuclear power plant or a coal burning plant or whatever. We will never see free energy.
Well, I believe 100% in free energy. After all, everywhere you look there is energy, it all around us and includes us. Everything contains energy. That would mean that there is free energy. I do not however believe in free energy collectors. As you mention, there will always be someone in conrol and requiring you to pay for that energy even after the energy collector has been paid off. Then you have the middle man who delivers the energy to your location with yet another cost. The closest thing we can do is to tap into as much semi-free energy such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal as possible where we happen to live. I was just visiting a website for a local farm (local being about 100 miles away) where they make goat cheese. Their production is under 100 pounds per month, but that is just fine with them. They have are not connected to the grid at all. Their main power comes from three solar panels and heat from a wood burning radiant water floor system. They recently got a permit to put in a micro hydro generator on a seasonal Creek. While they are not using free energy collectors, they are not pulling any power from anywhere other than their land with the except of the wood powered heating system (they might even be using their own wood, do not know). http://pholiafarm.com/about_us.htm[^] If everyone would attempt to use the ambient energy in their location, there would not be such a need for national energy systems :)
Rocky <>< Latest Code Blog Post: OpenID - More thought - Great system if.. Latest Tech Blog Post: Corel Lightning - what is the plan?
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Yeah, I have read about several different types of generation based on solar that could fill all the USA's energy demands and although might seem costly to build, would be paid off shortly with current energy rates. The only problem is that the greed driven corporations in this world do not want them and will do everything to block all forms of solutions. They want full complete control and keep the energy costs at a maximum. One of them I recently read about (within the last year) is a large scale solar plant that they said could power the entire USA with only 1,500 sqare miles of land. Break that up to several points across the USA, and boom, no more energy problems. Will it be done? Not in our lifetime! Greed and control rules. Until that changes, essential things in our lives will always come at a bone crushing premium.
Rocky <>< Latest Code Blog Post: OpenID - More thought - Great system if.. Latest Tech Blog Post: Corel Lightning - what is the plan?
Yeah, it would be sweet if someone came up with a solar collecting asphalt that was safe to drive on.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon