MartinW 0 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 John will have to catch this on BBC iPlayer after the event of course. Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only, but all BBC iPlayer Radio programmes are available to you. So anyone, like John, Marcus and myself, cannot watch it Link to post Share on other sites
ddavid 149 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hey, Martin - don't take anything this guy says seriously. He still believes, erroneously, that our sun and other stars derive their energy from nuclear fusion. This is not correct. The radiated energy from stars is the result of an electrical plasma phenomenon - not fusion. Check it out! Cheers - Dai. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 It's darkons, actually. The universe is filled with darkons, but the nearby sun blocks the effects of them so we enjoy a "shadow" of light from that part of the sky where the darkons are shielded by the sun. Seriously, I'm a huge fan of fusion as the next big thing in the human use of energy. It will come eventually and could replace most everything we use now. For transportation applications, I expect that it will evolve to hydrogen combustion with the fuel produced from electrolysis of water using fusion-generated electricity. I doubt I'll live long enough to see the first commercial fusion reactor operated, but it's the inevitable next step. All the folderol about renewables, solar, wind and all that are just stopgaps, mostly too small, too un-economic and for some methods, just impractical. The greens don't really want us to do any of that, they mainly just want us to STOP doing what we are doing. Fission nuclear is the best way forward until fusion becomes available. In the US at least, fission nukes are starting to make a comeback with several utilities in the early stages of design and construction for new units. These will be the first nuclear units launched in the US since Three Mile Island in1979. In the meantime, the fleet of about 100 fission nukes provides about 20% of US electrical generation. Quite a number were put in service after TMI, but all had been in progress at the time of the accident and most of those were completed and brought on line. No utility broke ground on a new one after that event, however, until very recently. John Link to post Share on other sites
MartinW 0 Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hey, Martin - don't take anything this guy says seriously. Yes Dai, what does he know about it anyway? Just because he's a member of the high energy physics group, works on the LHC, has a PhD and is a Royal Society research fellow, he thinks he's an expert. it makes me sick, anyone knows that the government are in league with the Roswell aliens anyway, and working on a zero point module that can extract energy from the vacuum. The quantum foam is the key and they know it. :wow: :unclemartin: :unclemartin: :unclemartin: :unclemartin: Link to post Share on other sites
MartinW 0 Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 All the folderol about renewables, solar, wind and all that are just stopgaps, mostly too small, too un-economic and for some methods, just impractical. I'd agree with that partly. I see a future in which fusion reactors are commonplace and providing the bulk of our energy, and other technologies used in concert. We mustn Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 There Link to post Share on other sites
MartinW 0 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 There's plenty and stealing a few gigawatt-hours a day would not materially cool the earth. The heat would be released later anyway when the energy is eventually used. Not sure I'm with you there, if a significant amount of energy generation was from super efficient PV cells, rather than coal fired power stations, the release of Co2 would be minimized. Hence green house effect reduced. As for heat released later, yes, but there would be no net increase, and the climactic balance retained, rather than emitting green house gases. Heat generation isn't the issue, heat is re-radiated into space all the time. It's the green house effect from green house gasses preventing re-radiation thats the issue. The problem is storing it and transporting it to where it's needed. England, for instance, is not known for having copious amounts of sunlight. The only major load segment that always coincides with strong sunlight is air-conditioning load. For most of the rest, it is needed at a different place and at a different time than when/where the sun is beating on the solar panel. Solar power from PV cells in England Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 "Not sure I'm with you there, if a significant amount of energy generation was from super efficient PV cells, rather than coal fired power stations, the release of Co2 would be minimized. Hence green house effect reduced. As for heat released later, yes, but there would be no net increase, and the climactic balance retained, rather than emitting green house gases. Heat generation isn't the issue, heat is re-radiated into space all the time. It's the green house effect from green house gasses preventing re-radiation thats the issue." We Link to post Share on other sites
MartinW 0 Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 As for greenhouse gases, if they Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 The need is undeniably great Link to post Share on other sites
MartinW 0 Posted February 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 That Link to post Share on other sites
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