Chris, what is the Stirling cycle? short tongue in cheek reply: a well kept secret!
in truth it is an external combustion engine which uses the thermal expansion and contraction of gas to produce motion. typically the system is sealed, there is a 'hot' end and a 'cold' end, The energy input in the form of the temperature differential can be extracted as work from a piston and crank. Alternatively put work into the shaft and you can maintain a temperature differential...... try searching the web for Stirling cycle the amount of information available has increased significantly in the past year or so there is hope :-) I believe people under estimate the incoming energy that penetrates the cloud cover. I don't have figures but I think long wave infrared reaches the ground through clouds. It can be focused by solar collectors. The oil/gas/electricity utilities and their PR departments would like us to believe we are helpless and dependant on their massive infrastructure. I believe they make sure we have the limitations of photovoltaic cells and rechargeable batteries rammed down our throats to discourage independent thinking. Electrolysis, fuel cells, flywheels, solar collectors, stirling engines, wind and wave power, all are coming and will be usable on a small scale by individual households. I plan to power/heat/cool my residence with solar energy and disconnect the utility lines in the foreseeable future. ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: davehe...@attbi.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list"