[Vo]:OFF TOPIC A 9-year-old girl changes national food policy with a blog

2012-06-15 Thread Jed Rothwell
This could only happen in the Internet Age:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/neverseconds-shut-down/

More power to her. I wish the cold fusion researchers were 0.1% as media
savvy as she is.

- Jed


RE: [Vo]:Missing Neutrons

2012-06-15 Thread Jones Beene
Good find - and the implications are a bit convoluted. The curious thing is
that mirror matter neutrons (or deep hydrinos) will explain anomalous heat
loss quite nicely.

As you may remember, Ahern reported that some of his Arata-style samples
demonstrated anomalous heat LOSS (more of the samples show gain than loss,
and only a few showed nothing).

This paper, in fact - could explain anomalous heat loss better than anything
I have seen thus far.

BTW the all of the nanopowder samples which showed thermal loss were made of
nano-titanium embedded in zirconia. All of the nickel and palladium samples
showed gain.

Jones


-Original Message-
From: Harry Veeder 

What drives such theory making is the need to uphold CoE.
Harry

> Neutrons escaping to a parallel world?
>
> In a paper recently published in EPJ C¹, researchers hypothesised the
> existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of
> neutrons observed experimentally. The existence of such mirror matter
> had been suggested in various scientific contexts some time ago,
> including the search for suitable dark matter candidates.
>
>
> http://phys.org/news/2012-06-neutrons-parallel-world.html
>





Re: [Vo]:Missing Neutrons

2012-06-15 Thread Harry Veeder
What drives such theory making is the need to uphold CoE.
Harry

On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 8:19 PM, Harry Veeder  wrote:
> Neutrons escaping to a parallel world?
>
> In a paper recently published in EPJ C¹, researchers hypothesised the
> existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of
> neutrons observed experimentally. The existence of such mirror matter
> had been suggested in various scientific contexts some time ago,
> including the search for suitable dark matter candidates.
>
>
> http://phys.org/news/2012-06-neutrons-parallel-world.html
>



[Vo]:Missing Neutrons

2012-06-15 Thread Harry Veeder
Neutrons escaping to a parallel world?

In a paper recently published in EPJ C¹, researchers hypothesised the
existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of
neutrons observed experimentally. The existence of such mirror matter
had been suggested in various scientific contexts some time ago,
including the search for suitable dark matter candidates.


http://phys.org/news/2012-06-neutrons-parallel-world.html



Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Axil Axil
Start off with

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle

if you need more just ask.

On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 7:44 PM, Robert Lynn  wrote:

> Interesting, can you point me to any sources that discuss those issues?
>
>
> On 15 June 2012 21:11, Axil Axil  wrote:
>
>> Details, details, details…
>>
>> There are some fundamental political as well as technical problems with
>> the LFTR that take some of the luster off your high opinion of this
>> technology.
>>
>> One of the most insidious is the desire of the LFTR advocacy crowd to
>> require the use of 19.75% enriched U235 to perpetually provide the
>> supplemental neutrons needed to keep the thorium fuel cycle critical. Even
>> worst is the desire to use plutonium as the source of supplemental
>> neutrons. You can build bombs with reactor grade Plutonium as demonstrated
>> by some bomb tests in India and the USA.
>>
>> Then there is the need for U233 denaturing with U238 at a rate of 88%.
>> This produces lots of plutonium which is always a proliferation risk.
>>
>> The only way to get a PURE thorium fuel cycle is to use hot fusion is
>> some way in a hybrid to eliminate the need for uranium235 and plutonium.
>> But the LFTR advocates say that fusion is not viable.
>>
>> So currently a LFTR with a PURE thorium fuel cycle is a fantasy.
>>
>>
>> Cheers:  Axil
>> On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 1:43 PM, Robert Lynn <
>> robert.gulliver.l...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
 1/  The power source is too diffuse, and the sun doesn't shine at night
> meaning you need a huge plant to produce significant power.
>

 This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better
 than uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed
 for the mines and railroads to transport the fuel.

>>>
>>> 100MW/year is about 70kg of thorium in a LFTR (about 250 times less than
>>> a conventional non-breeding uranium reactor requires), at average 6ppm
>>> there is about 70kg of thorium in the accessible column of earth under
>>> every square meter of the earth's crust.  Thorium deposits are of course
>>> far more concentrated, so you can see the mined land and infrastructure
>>> needed to produce 70kg of thorium per year are relatively tiny and the
>>> thorium itself is benign enough to delivered by a postman.  LTFR waste
>>> decays below natural uranium radioactivity in 300 years.
>>>
>>>
 2/  You have to build mirrors heavy to survive weather/environment.
>  Hail, snow, rain, salt, wind, dust and UV all mean that the construction
> needs to be reasonably heavy if you want it to survive decades even if the
> bad weather is infrequent.
>

 That has not been a problem with existing installations. The LUZ
 installations have lasted for 30 years in a harsh environment.

>>>
>>> The point is that existing CSP is heavy but the environment means that
>>> it can't be made much lighter to reduce costs.  Each m² contains 10's of kg
>>> of expensive low iron and borosilicate glass, metals, plastics, paints,
>>> concrete, mirror controls, copper wiring, bearings, stainless steel heat
>>> piping, silver coatings etc and yet only delivers about 100W averaged over
>>> the year.  All that material content and its processing is a large part of
>>> the reason that CSP is currently optimistically $4000/kW nameplate
>>> capacity, but at $0.05/kWh delivers only about $100 worth of electricity
>>> per year.
>>>
>>>
>>>


> 3/  The plants are a relatively long distance from consumers and
> existing grid infrastructure - expensive grid connections.
>

 That is a problem with some wind installations, but not a problem with
 solar PV or CSP. The PV installations are being built right on the grounds
 of gas turbine generators, giving the overall installation about 10% more
 peak power. The Crescent Dunes installation is right next to a major high
 voltage line so it will not cost any more than a conventional generator to
 hook up. That's why they put it there.

 Solar is more flexible than wind.

 Most solar power in Japan is a couple of meters away from the people
 who will use it, right on the roof. In southern Japan -- which resembles
 the U.S. southwest only with lots more rain -- solar roofs are everywhere
 these days. They do not generate much power on rainy days, but people do
 not need much power on rainy days.


> 4/  There will be alternative extremely cheap sources of intense heat
> energy available for foreseeable future (fossil fuels + nuclear, probably
> LENR, maybe hot fusion).
>

 Nuclear is not cheap! Not after Fukushima. Fossil fuels are only cheap
 because the power companies do  not pay for the 20,000 they murder every
 year, and they will not pay for the cost of global warming. Add in those
 costs and coal or natural gas would cost FAR more than CSP.

>>>
>>> That is ridiculous,

Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Robert Lynn
Interesting, can you point me to any sources that discuss those issues?

On 15 June 2012 21:11, Axil Axil  wrote:

> Details, details, details…
>
> There are some fundamental political as well as technical problems with
> the LFTR that take some of the luster off your high opinion of this
> technology.
>
> One of the most insidious is the desire of the LFTR advocacy crowd to
> require the use of 19.75% enriched U235 to perpetually provide the
> supplemental neutrons needed to keep the thorium fuel cycle critical. Even
> worst is the desire to use plutonium as the source of supplemental
> neutrons. You can build bombs with reactor grade Plutonium as demonstrated
> by some bomb tests in India and the USA.
>
> Then there is the need for U233 denaturing with U238 at a rate of 88%.
> This produces lots of plutonium which is always a proliferation risk.
>
> The only way to get a PURE thorium fuel cycle is to use hot fusion is some
> way in a hybrid to eliminate the need for uranium235 and plutonium. But the
> LFTR advocates say that fusion is not viable.
>
> So currently a LFTR with a PURE thorium fuel cycle is a fantasy.
>
>
> Cheers:  Axil
> On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 1:43 PM, Robert Lynn <
> robert.gulliver.l...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>> 1/  The power source is too diffuse, and the sun doesn't shine at night
 meaning you need a huge plant to produce significant power.

>>>
>>> This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better
>>> than uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed
>>> for the mines and railroads to transport the fuel.
>>>
>>
>> 100MW/year is about 70kg of thorium in a LFTR (about 250 times less than
>> a conventional non-breeding uranium reactor requires), at average 6ppm
>> there is about 70kg of thorium in the accessible column of earth under
>> every square meter of the earth's crust.  Thorium deposits are of course
>> far more concentrated, so you can see the mined land and infrastructure
>> needed to produce 70kg of thorium per year are relatively tiny and the
>> thorium itself is benign enough to delivered by a postman.  LTFR waste
>> decays below natural uranium radioactivity in 300 years.
>>
>>
>>> 2/  You have to build mirrors heavy to survive weather/environment.
  Hail, snow, rain, salt, wind, dust and UV all mean that the construction
 needs to be reasonably heavy if you want it to survive decades even if the
 bad weather is infrequent.

>>>
>>> That has not been a problem with existing installations. The LUZ
>>> installations have lasted for 30 years in a harsh environment.
>>>
>>
>> The point is that existing CSP is heavy but the environment means that it
>> can't be made much lighter to reduce costs.  Each m² contains 10's of kg of
>> expensive low iron and borosilicate glass, metals, plastics, paints,
>> concrete, mirror controls, copper wiring, bearings, stainless steel heat
>> piping, silver coatings etc and yet only delivers about 100W averaged over
>> the year.  All that material content and its processing is a large part of
>> the reason that CSP is currently optimistically $4000/kW nameplate
>> capacity, but at $0.05/kWh delivers only about $100 worth of electricity
>> per year.
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
 3/  The plants are a relatively long distance from consumers and
 existing grid infrastructure - expensive grid connections.

>>>
>>> That is a problem with some wind installations, but not a problem with
>>> solar PV or CSP. The PV installations are being built right on the grounds
>>> of gas turbine generators, giving the overall installation about 10% more
>>> peak power. The Crescent Dunes installation is right next to a major high
>>> voltage line so it will not cost any more than a conventional generator to
>>> hook up. That's why they put it there.
>>>
>>> Solar is more flexible than wind.
>>>
>>> Most solar power in Japan is a couple of meters away from the people who
>>> will use it, right on the roof. In southern Japan -- which resembles the
>>> U.S. southwest only with lots more rain -- solar roofs are everywhere these
>>> days. They do not generate much power on rainy days, but people do not need
>>> much power on rainy days.
>>>
>>>
 4/  There will be alternative extremely cheap sources of intense heat
 energy available for foreseeable future (fossil fuels + nuclear, probably
 LENR, maybe hot fusion).

>>>
>>> Nuclear is not cheap! Not after Fukushima. Fossil fuels are only cheap
>>> because the power companies do  not pay for the 20,000 they murder every
>>> year, and they will not pay for the cost of global warming. Add in those
>>> costs and coal or natural gas would cost FAR more than CSP.
>>>
>>
>> That is ridiculous, every industry has a death toll and of course the
>> fossil fuel industry pays for those lives, in insurance levies, higher
>> salaries for dangerous jobs etc.  But there are different standards in the
>> West to the developing world where most of those dea

Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Axil Axil
Details, details, details…

There are some fundamental political as well as technical problems with the
LFTR that take some of the luster off your high opinion of this technology.

One of the most insidious is the desire of the LFTR advocacy crowd to
require the use of 19.75% enriched U235 to perpetually provide the
supplemental neutrons needed to keep the thorium fuel cycle critical. Even
worst is the desire to use plutonium as the source of supplemental
neutrons. You can build bombs with reactor grade Plutonium as demonstrated
by some bomb tests in India and the USA.

Then there is the need for U233 denaturing with U238 at a rate of 88%. This
produces lots of plutonium which is always a proliferation risk.

The only way to get a PURE thorium fuel cycle is to use hot fusion is some
way in a hybrid to eliminate the need for uranium235 and plutonium. But the
LFTR advocates say that fusion is not viable.

So currently a LFTR with a PURE thorium fuel cycle is a fantasy.


Cheers:  Axil
On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 1:43 PM, Robert Lynn  wrote:

>
>> 1/  The power source is too diffuse, and the sun doesn't shine at night
>>> meaning you need a huge plant to produce significant power.
>>>
>>
>> This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better
>> than uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed
>> for the mines and railroads to transport the fuel.
>>
>
> 100MW/year is about 70kg of thorium in a LFTR (about 250 times less than a
> conventional non-breeding uranium reactor requires), at average 6ppm there
> is about 70kg of thorium in the accessible column of earth under every
> square meter of the earth's crust.  Thorium deposits are of course far more
> concentrated, so you can see the mined land and infrastructure needed to
> produce 70kg of thorium per year are relatively tiny and the thorium itself
> is benign enough to delivered by a postman.  LTFR waste decays below
> natural uranium radioactivity in 300 years.
>
>
>> 2/  You have to build mirrors heavy to survive weather/environment.
>>>  Hail, snow, rain, salt, wind, dust and UV all mean that the construction
>>> needs to be reasonably heavy if you want it to survive decades even if the
>>> bad weather is infrequent.
>>>
>>
>> That has not been a problem with existing installations. The LUZ
>> installations have lasted for 30 years in a harsh environment.
>>
>
> The point is that existing CSP is heavy but the environment means that it
> can't be made much lighter to reduce costs.  Each m² contains 10's of kg of
> expensive low iron and borosilicate glass, metals, plastics, paints,
> concrete, mirror controls, copper wiring, bearings, stainless steel heat
> piping, silver coatings etc and yet only delivers about 100W averaged over
> the year.  All that material content and its processing is a large part of
> the reason that CSP is currently optimistically $4000/kW nameplate
> capacity, but at $0.05/kWh delivers only about $100 worth of electricity
> per year.
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>> 3/  The plants are a relatively long distance from consumers and
>>> existing grid infrastructure - expensive grid connections.
>>>
>>
>> That is a problem with some wind installations, but not a problem with
>> solar PV or CSP. The PV installations are being built right on the grounds
>> of gas turbine generators, giving the overall installation about 10% more
>> peak power. The Crescent Dunes installation is right next to a major high
>> voltage line so it will not cost any more than a conventional generator to
>> hook up. That's why they put it there.
>>
>> Solar is more flexible than wind.
>>
>> Most solar power in Japan is a couple of meters away from the people who
>> will use it, right on the roof. In southern Japan -- which resembles the
>> U.S. southwest only with lots more rain -- solar roofs are everywhere these
>> days. They do not generate much power on rainy days, but people do not need
>> much power on rainy days.
>>
>>
>>> 4/  There will be alternative extremely cheap sources of intense heat
>>> energy available for foreseeable future (fossil fuels + nuclear, probably
>>> LENR, maybe hot fusion).
>>>
>>
>> Nuclear is not cheap! Not after Fukushima. Fossil fuels are only cheap
>> because the power companies do  not pay for the 20,000 they murder every
>> year, and they will not pay for the cost of global warming. Add in those
>> costs and coal or natural gas would cost FAR more than CSP.
>>
>
> That is ridiculous, every industry has a death toll and of course the
> fossil fuel industry pays for those lives, in insurance levies, higher
> salaries for dangerous jobs etc.  But there are different standards in the
> West to the developing world where most of those deaths occur as life is
> not valued so highly.  Coal is 15 deaths per TWh in USA, but almost 300 in
> China.  Gas is just 4 per TWh worldwide (1 TWh is worth about $200 million
> at retail level).
>
> Nuclear is in global terms still extremely safe even after Fukushima and
>

RE: [Vo]:FYI: ZPF-inertia work applied to subatomic particles; spatial harmonic resonances

2012-06-15 Thread MarkI-ZeroPoint
Hi Fran.

 

What I like about their work, especially the recent stuff, is that it is
based on a physical model.. a physical reality, and not just abstract math.

 

Clarification please, you wrote:

".such that  the effects of the equal and opposite zones are prevented from
cancelling."

R U referring here to a polarization of the vacuum as well, creating a
dipole of some sort?

 

And this:

"It's all about the segregation of these 'spacetime micro-curvature effects'
mentioned by Nickisch and Mollere."

 

Again, segregation would imply a separation or concentration of
 into a nonhomogenous state, at least at a
microscopic/nanoscopic level.  In my visual model, this separation then sets
up local 'fields' which impart forces onto subatomic particles.  At a large
scale these fields manifest as the electric and magnetic fields.  Again, I
feel strongly that we could easily come up with better models if we started
from scratch and only considered models which incorporated some physical
reality to them. 

 

I recently posted a msg to the Collective on just such a model which is very
similar to mine, but which has been developed and more importantly
described, to a much greater extent.  It is still basically a qualitative
model, but at least it explains numerous phenomena with a logical physical
model; physical entities:

http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-l@eskimo.com/msg66212.html

 

http://cordus.wordpress.com/

 

For you theoretical types, I think it's worth the read.

 

-Mark

 

From: Roarty, Francis X [mailto:francis.x.roa...@lmco.com] 
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2012 6:23 AM
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Subject: RE: [Vo]:FYI: ZPF-inertia work applied to subatomic particles;
spatial harmonic resonances

 

Mark,

Nice  choice of citations,  I believe Haisch and Rueda  got
it right but the connection drawn by Nickisch and Mollere (2002):
zero-point fluctuations give rise to spacetime micro-curvature effects
yielding the origin of inertia  could, in fact should  have gone further.. I
think the wormholes described at the quantum foam level can be responsible
for most of the anomalous claims we are discussing on vortex, from
superconductivity to modification of decay rates, Casimir effect and
unexplained spectrum shifts.  What we call isotropic space time is only a
macro effect that can actually be segregated to different levels by matter
and geometry - not giving anything for nothing but isolating equal and
opposing regions of space time that average out to what we consider
isotropic -  the Nature paper indicates the space-time is modified by the
lattice but I would posit the material exposed to these regions must be
chosen to have a biased preference for one geometry over another such that
the effects of the equal and opposite zones are prevented from cancelling
and we get these opposing claims of decay modification from different
researches using different lattices or gases.  

 

I posit the lattice equates to the Haisch Rueda abstract
.[snip] in accelerated reference frames results in a force that appears to
account for inertia [/snip]  but,  velocity relative to a perpendicular
ether isn't needed - instead the "equivalent" velocity of the ether we
perceive as C is directly modified through suppression [taken to extreme
Casimir effect] and results in a much simpler way to modify the Pythagorean
relationship between V and C .. In a Puthoff atomic model I think this
"standard" relationship between matter and C is what establishes the
periodic relationship of elements. This is why this paper in Nature needs
the lattice to create both heavy and speedy electrons and why Rossi and
Mills need the lattice to create relativistic hydrogen [call them hydrinos
or inverse Rydberg hydrogen no matter] - It's all about the segregation of
these "spacetime micro-curvature effects" mentioned by Nickisch and Mollere.
- I think we are at a PV/T moment where time is going to be exposed as the
hidden variable to be manipulated only instead of air conditioners this may
yield free energy, propulsion and even the possibility of temporal effects
at the macroscale.

 

 

Regards

Fran

 

 

 

From: MarkI-ZeroPoint [mailto:zeropo...@charter.net] 
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2012 4:47 AM
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Subject: EXTERNAL: [Vo]:FYI: ZPF-inertia work applied to subatomic
particles; spatial harmonic resonances

 

When I lived in SoCal I visited Dr. Rueda several times to discuss his work
on inertia and the electromagnetic zero-point field. their seminal paper
came out in 1994.  Dr. Rueda did the math in that paper, which is way
above my pay-grade!   I now see that they've been applying their work to
atomic physics.

 

Update on an Electromagnetic Basis for Inertia, Gravitation,

the Principle of Equivalence, Spin and Particle Mass Ratios

http://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0209016.pdf

 

Abstract

A possible connection between the electromagnetic quantum vacuum and inertia
was first published by 

Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Jed Rothwell
Robert Lynn  wrote:


> 100MW/year is about 70kg of thorium in a LFTR (about 250 times less than a
> conventional non-breeding uranium reactor requires), at average 6ppm there
> is about 70kg of thorium in the accessible column . . .
>

Yes, thorium does have higher overall energy density. I was talking about
uranium. Also I meant uranium which is not used in a breeder reactor.


The point is that existing CSP is heavy but the environment means that it
> can't be made much lighter to reduce costs.
>

CSP mirrors are much lighter than they were 30 years ago, and they use much
less materials. Most of the equipment is now in the tower.



> Nuclear is not cheap! Not after Fukushima. Fossil fuels are only cheap
>> because the power companies do  not pay for the 20,000 they murder every
>> year, and they will not pay for the cost of global warming. Add in those
>> costs and coal or natural gas would cost FAR more than CSP.
>>
>
> That is ridiculous, every industry has a death toll and of course the
> fossil fuel industry pays for those lives, in insurance levies, higher
> salaries for dangerous jobs etc.
>

The coal industry pays NOTHING for the 20,000 people it kills. Not one
dime. I guess they have have to pay expensive lawyers to fight periodic
lawsuits, and of course they have pay for the Member of Congress they have
bribed, but those are trifling expenses compared to what an industry would
pay if it killed 20,000 urban middle class or wealthy people. You can kill
off as many rural poor people as you like. It is always open season for
them.

As for nuclear power, it is never covered by insurance. Only governments
cover it. See the Price-Anderson act. They have a similar arrangement in
Japan.

There is no way TEPCO will ever begin to pay the cost of the Fukushima
accident. It would bankrupt them a dozen times over. ~90,000 people have
lost their houses, schools, factories, town halls, roads and livelihoods,
which in the aggregate costs millions of dollars per person. TEPCO has
offered them $16,000 per family.


Coal is 15 deaths per TWh in USA, but almost 300 in China.
>

Coal costs far more deaths than that in the U.S., according to the EPA.
That is just the direct cost of accidents and mining. Coal smoke kills far
more people. As I said, the power companies pay a few lawyers and buy off
members of Congress, in return for a license to commit mayhem and murder.


Nuclear is in global terms still extremely safe even after Fukushima and
> Chernobyl, and will be very cheap once perfected . . .
>

It is not close to being perfected after 60 years. There is no chance it
will be now. The Japanese are shutting down the entire industry. I expect
other countries will follow.

It is possible that one or two nukes will open this summer and next year,
in the Osaka area. After that, I predict that all 54 plants will be closed
permanently.

Perhaps it is unwise to precipitously abandon nuclear power, but Japan is a
democracy and the voters have spoken. If an MP were to suggest they should
continue using nuclear power, he would lose the election by a landslide.

- Jed


Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Jed Rothwell
Chemical Engineer  wrote:


> This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better
>> than uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed
>> for the mines and railroads to transport the fuel.
>>
>> That is terrible power density.
>

No, it isn't. As I showed in subsequent messages, a 1,600 acre strip mine
producing power at this rate would only last 30 years. This will last
indefinitely.



>  If you are going to use railroads & mines you need to take into account
> mining and transportation for glass and rare earths used in csp and pv.
>

The mass of those materials is less than one trainload of coal for a
typical plant. Trains are dispatched to a coal plant weekly for the entire
time it is in operation. The total amount of mass that is processed is many
orders of magnitude greater than for CSP.



>  You also need to take into account all of the fossil fuels required to
> clean millions of mirrors you are talking about.
>

It does not take fossil fuels. This can be done with electrically powered
robotic equipment, powered by the CSP itself. The energy overhead is very
small.



>   Luz installations require frequent washing and blowdown in the middle of
> the desert!  Where/how are you getting that water?
>

As shown in the documentation it takes very little water to clean them. In
this case, all of the water they need is available in the 1,600 acre
lot. Again, it takes many orders of magnitude less water than a
conventional coal steam plant.


Last time i looked i did not see alot of existing high voltage transmission
> lines running through the mohave and sahara...
>

Look at the photos of this site and you will see they chose it because it
has high voltage lines nearby.



> That price does not include the cost of the land that is destroyed by
>> fraking. Add that in and we are paying a fortune and destroying our living
>> space, our wildlife and our future.
>>
>
> But you are OK filling up the Mohave with solar panels, washing vehicles
> and transmission lines and irrigation lines?
>

Absolutely I am! It is infinitely better than killing 20,000 people a year,
or causing global warming. Every technology requires a trade off. This one
is reasonable.



>  Killing thousands of birds with thousands of megawatts of concentrated
> flux.  Crushing tortoises, etc
>

Strip mining kills far more wildlife than this will. The smoke from coal
kills millions of birds. In any case, it is better than killing people or
causing global warming.



> Yes CSP does cost more. $2.2B for 392 MW at Ivanpah is a taxpayer and
> consumer rip-off.  That is 4-5 times the cost of a gas turbine plant.
>

1. It will cost far less if it is scaled up and mass produced. Mirrors are
cheap. The materials are abundant.

2. The cost of a gas turbine plant, if you factor in global warming, would
be incalculable. It might cause the extinction of millions of species, and
kill billions of people. No one knows how bad it might get.

- Jed


Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Robert Lynn
>
>
> 1/  The power source is too diffuse, and the sun doesn't shine at night
>> meaning you need a huge plant to produce significant power.
>>
>
> This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better
> than uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed
> for the mines and railroads to transport the fuel.
>

100MW/year is about 70kg of thorium in a LFTR (about 250 times less than a
conventional non-breeding uranium reactor requires), at average 6ppm there
is about 70kg of thorium in the accessible column of earth under every
square meter of the earth's crust.  Thorium deposits are of course far more
concentrated, so you can see the mined land and infrastructure needed to
produce 70kg of thorium per year are relatively tiny and the thorium itself
is benign enough to delivered by a postman.  LTFR waste decays below
natural uranium radioactivity in 300 years.


> 2/  You have to build mirrors heavy to survive weather/environment.  Hail,
>> snow, rain, salt, wind, dust and UV all mean that the construction needs to
>> be reasonably heavy if you want it to survive decades even if the bad
>> weather is infrequent.
>>
>
> That has not been a problem with existing installations. The LUZ
> installations have lasted for 30 years in a harsh environment.
>

The point is that existing CSP is heavy but the environment means that it
can't be made much lighter to reduce costs.  Each m² contains 10's of kg of
expensive low iron and borosilicate glass, metals, plastics, paints,
concrete, mirror controls, copper wiring, bearings, stainless steel heat
piping, silver coatings etc and yet only delivers about 100W averaged over
the year.  All that material content and its processing is a large part of
the reason that CSP is currently optimistically $4000/kW nameplate
capacity, but at $0.05/kWh delivers only about $100 worth of electricity
per year.



>
>
>> 3/  The plants are a relatively long distance from consumers and existing
>> grid infrastructure - expensive grid connections.
>>
>
> That is a problem with some wind installations, but not a problem with
> solar PV or CSP. The PV installations are being built right on the grounds
> of gas turbine generators, giving the overall installation about 10% more
> peak power. The Crescent Dunes installation is right next to a major high
> voltage line so it will not cost any more than a conventional generator to
> hook up. That's why they put it there.
>
> Solar is more flexible than wind.
>
> Most solar power in Japan is a couple of meters away from the people who
> will use it, right on the roof. In southern Japan -- which resembles the
> U.S. southwest only with lots more rain -- solar roofs are everywhere these
> days. They do not generate much power on rainy days, but people do not need
> much power on rainy days.
>
>
>> 4/  There will be alternative extremely cheap sources of intense heat
>> energy available for foreseeable future (fossil fuels + nuclear, probably
>> LENR, maybe hot fusion).
>>
>
> Nuclear is not cheap! Not after Fukushima. Fossil fuels are only cheap
> because the power companies do  not pay for the 20,000 they murder every
> year, and they will not pay for the cost of global warming. Add in those
> costs and coal or natural gas would cost FAR more than CSP.
>

That is ridiculous, every industry has a death toll and of course the
fossil fuel industry pays for those lives, in insurance levies, higher
salaries for dangerous jobs etc.  But there are different standards in the
West to the developing world where most of those deaths occur as life is
not valued so highly.  Coal is 15 deaths per TWh in USA, but almost 300 in
China.  Gas is just 4 per TWh worldwide (1 TWh is worth about $200 million
at retail level).

Nuclear is in global terms still extremely safe even after Fukushima and
Chernobyl, and will be very cheap once perfected, but we are not there yet.
 The global nuclear plant development hiatus of the last 30 years hurt, and
antiquated plants like fukushima have to go, but new build nuclear is
<$2000/kW in China (targeting $1000/kW) and much much safer, with tiny fuel
and operations costs.  However it is still only a stop-gap until breeder
reactors are developed to reduce waste and Thorium in particular offers
huge gains in safety, waste minimisation and fuel efficiency that will all
lead to big cost savings.  If you are willing to assume favourable learning
curves for CSP then you should be willing to do the same for nuclear.

Without wanting to open another can of worms, not a whole lot of warming
apparent in last 15 years, and falling rate of sea level rise since 2006.
 While the earth warmed in the 20th century and it seems most likely CO2
had some positive effect, the IPCC's assumed high positive H20 feedbacks
were ill-founded and are now being steadily revised downwards.  Even their
"best-case" model predictions from 10 years ago have now been shown to be
excessively pessimistic.  Seems very likely that CO2

Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Chemical Engineer
On Friday, June 15, 2012, Jed Rothwell wrote:

> Robert Lynn  wrote:
>
>
>> 1/  The power source is too diffuse, and the sun doesn't shine at night
>> meaning you need a huge plant to produce significant power.
>>
>
> This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better
> than uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed
> for the mines and railroads to transport the fuel.
>
> That is terrible power density.  If you are going to use railroads & mines
you need to take into account mining and transportation for glass and rare
earths used in csp and pv.  You also need to take into account all of the
fossil fuels required to clean millions of mirrors you are talking about.
Luz installations require frequent washing and blowdown in the middle of
the desert!  Where/how are you getting that water?

>
>
>> 2/  You have to build mirrors heavy to survive weather/environment.
>>  Hail, snow, rain, salt, wind, dust and UV all mean that the construction
>> needs to be reasonably heavy if you want it to survive decades even if the
>> bad weather is infrequent.
>>
>
> That has not been a problem with existing installations. The LUZ
> installations have lasted for 30 years in a harsh environment.
>
> The luz installtions are troughs which have a much smaller wind profile
than a flat mirror when operating.  Troughs only reflect the light 10 feet
to a receiver.  Flat mirrors have to point and hit something a 1/4 of a
mile away, which is nearly impossible in wind.

>
>
>> 3/  The plants are a relatively long distance from consumers and existing
>> grid infrastructure - expensive grid connections.
>>
>
> That is a problem with some wind installations, but not a problem with
> solar PV or CSP. The PV installations are being built right on the grounds
> of gas turbine generators, giving the overall installation about 10% more
> peak power. The Crescent Dunes installation is right next to a major high
> voltage line so it will not cost any more than a conventional generator to
> hook up. That's why they put it there.
>

Last time i looked i did not see alot of existing high voltage transmission
lines running through the mohave and sahara...

>
> Solar is more flexible than wind.
>
> Most solar power in Japan is a couple of meters away from the people who
> will use it, right on the roof. In southern Japan -- which resembles the
> U.S. southwest only with lots more rain -- solar roofs are everywhere these
> days. They do not generate much power on rainy days, but people do not need
> much power on rainy days.
>
>
I am ok with distributed pv and solar hot water heaters where it makes more
sense


4/  There will be alternative extremely cheap sources of intense heat
>> energy available for foreseeable future (fossil fuels + nuclear, probably
>> LENR, maybe hot fusion).
>>
>
> Nuclear is not cheap! Not after Fukushima. Fossil fuels are only cheap
> because the power companies do  not pay for the 20,000 they murder every
> year, and they will not pay for the cost of global warming. Add in those
> costs and coal or natural gas would cost FAR more than CSP.
>
>
>
>> Given massive availability of shale gas produced electricity at
>> $0.04-0.06/kWh (currently <$0.04/kWh in USA due to extremely low gas price)
>> . . .
>>
>
> That price does not include the cost of the land that is destroyed by
> fraking. Add that in and we are paying a fortune and destroying our living
> space, our wildlife and our future.
>

But you are OK filling up the Mohave with solar panels, washing vehicles
and transmission lines and irrigation lines?  Killing thousands of birds
with thousands of megawatts of concentrated flux.  Crushing tortoises, etc

>
> If you burn the furniture in your house in winter to keep warm, you can
> live cheaply for a month. Then what do you do? After we destroy large parts
> of New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where will we live? What will
> we eat?
>

Wood/biomass is a renewable resource.  You cut more wood/make more
furniture in the summer. I grew up in Maine, I know these things

>
>
>
>> and the best CSP running along at $0.2-0.3/kWh, there is just no
>> foreseeable technology path that can bring the CSP cost down by a factor of
>> 4 to compete with gas and (eventually) nuclear.
>>
>
> That's absurd. What is so expensive about making mirrors? Do you think
> they cost far more than gas turbines? And what do you think coal
> electricity would cost if 20,000 families every years successfully sued
> them for murdering their fathers and mothers? As I said here before, if the
> airlines killed 20,000 people in one year, the entire aviation industry
> would be closed down, and we would soon have high speed trains instead. The
> only reason that does not happen with coal fired electricity is because the
> victims are poor people living downwind of the generators. They do not vote
> and they cannot afford to file suits, so you can kill them off with
> impunity. No one but his family gives 

Re: [Vo]:CSP solar power density is high compared to a strip mine

2012-06-15 Thread Jed Rothwell
I meant to say I am sure a 1,600 acre strip mine would NOT produce 110 MW
continuously for a century. I did a rough estimate here which bears that
out. The strip mine will last 10 to 30 years at best.

After the strip mine is closed down it will be a toxic wasteland, whereas
after the CPS is closed down it will be exactly the same as it was before.

Uranium mines are no better. It is a myth the fission power plants are
compact. That is only true if you fail to account for 99% of the space the
fission system as a whole takes up. The fission plant itself is compact,
but the rest of the system takes up lots of space. When it explodes from
hydrogen the way the Fukushima plants did, it suddenly takes up the land
that 90,000 people lived on, a significant fraction of all the land in
Japan.

To say that coal or fission takes up little space compared to solar or
wind is a lot like saying that cars take up little space. Your car, sitting
in your driveway takes up only a little space. The roads needed to make
your car into a useful transportation system take up more land area than
the entire state of Georgia.

- Jed


[Vo]:CSP solar power density is high compared to a strip mine

2012-06-15 Thread Jed Rothwell
I wrote:


> This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better
> than uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed
> for the mines and railroads to transport the fuel.
>

I do not know how much coal a 1,600 acre strip mine would produce, but I am
sure it would produce 110 MW continuously for, let us say, 100 years.
Whereas the land devoted to the CSP will continue to produce 110 MW for the
next several billion years. To say this power density or energy density is
low is ridiculous.

Here is a source that claims that it generally takes about  314.1 acres to
produce a million tons of coal:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_footprint_of_coal#National_estimate_for_U.S._.28excluding_Wyoming.29:_314.1_acres_per_million_tons

I assume those are U.S. tons. Various sources claim that coal has 15 to 20
million BTU per ton, depending on the type of coal. Roughly 35% converts to
electricity with a modern plant, so that's around 7 million BTU. That's
7,385 MJ per ton, or 2.05 megawatt hours. That is electricity, after you
burn the coal.

Okay, so we have 1,600 acres. If that was an average strip mine it would
produce 5.09 million tons before it is played out. That is 10.4 million MWH
of electricity. The 110 MW CSP solar plant produces that much in . . .
94,932 hours of operation. Daylight peak hours, that is. That is 3,956
days. Or 11 years.

Of course the solar plant does not produce power 24 hours a day, but we do
not need power 24 hours a day either. A coal fired plant is not needed 24
hours a day at full power. Or if it is used for baseline generation, that
means a gas-fired plant somewhere is shut down at night. You still have to
pay for the gas turbine equipment, even though you do not use it at night.
The bank charges interest 24 hours a day.

Assuming the CSP produces 1/3 of peak power on average, that means the
1,600 acre installation will produce as much power as a 1,600 acre strip
mine every 33 years. After 330 years it has produces 10 times better energy
density than the strip mine, and far better power density. You can use it
indefinitely, millions or billions of years into the future, and it will
still be producing 110 MW.

I have not even added in the space taken by the railroads needed to
transport the coal. I have not added in the living space destroyed by
rising ocean waters from global warming. Or the extra space devoted to high
tension power lines and the cost of wasted electricity caused by the fact
that you have to put coal fired plants far from cities, so you do not kill
off rich people, whereas you can put a CSP right next to a population
center in a place like Nevada.

- Jed


Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Jed Rothwell
Robert Lynn  wrote:


> 1/  The power source is too diffuse, and the sun doesn't shine at night
> meaning you need a huge plant to produce significant power.
>

This is 110 MW on 1,600 acres. That is excellent power density. Better than
uranium fission or coal, when you take into account the land needed for the
mines and railroads to transport the fuel.



> 2/  You have to build mirrors heavy to survive weather/environment.  Hail,
> snow, rain, salt, wind, dust and UV all mean that the construction needs to
> be reasonably heavy if you want it to survive decades even if the bad
> weather is infrequent.
>

That has not been a problem with existing installations. The LUZ
installations have lasted for 30 years in a harsh environment.



> 3/  The plants are a relatively long distance from consumers and existing
> grid infrastructure - expensive grid connections.
>

That is a problem with some wind installations, but not a problem with
solar PV or CSP. The PV installations are being built right on the grounds
of gas turbine generators, giving the overall installation about 10% more
peak power. The Crescent Dunes installation is right next to a major high
voltage line so it will not cost any more than a conventional generator to
hook up. That's why they put it there.

Solar is more flexible than wind.

Most solar power in Japan is a couple of meters away from the people who
will use it, right on the roof. In southern Japan -- which resembles the
U.S. southwest only with lots more rain -- solar roofs are everywhere these
days. They do not generate much power on rainy days, but people do not need
much power on rainy days.


> 4/  There will be alternative extremely cheap sources of intense heat
> energy available for foreseeable future (fossil fuels + nuclear, probably
> LENR, maybe hot fusion).
>

Nuclear is not cheap! Not after Fukushima. Fossil fuels are only cheap
because the power companies do  not pay for the 20,000 they murder every
year, and they will not pay for the cost of global warming. Add in those
costs and coal or natural gas would cost FAR more than CSP.



> Given massive availability of shale gas produced electricity at
> $0.04-0.06/kWh (currently <$0.04/kWh in USA due to extremely low gas price)
> . . .
>

That price does not include the cost of the land that is destroyed by
fraking. Add that in and we are paying a fortune and destroying our living
space, our wildlife and our future.

If you burn the furniture in your house in winter to keep warm, you can
live cheaply for a month. Then what do you do? After we destroy large parts
of New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where will we live? What will
we eat?



> and the best CSP running along at $0.2-0.3/kWh, there is just no
> foreseeable technology path that can bring the CSP cost down by a factor of
> 4 to compete with gas and (eventually) nuclear.
>

That's absurd. What is so expensive about making mirrors? Do you think they
cost far more than gas turbines? And what do you think coal electricity
would cost if 20,000 families every years successfully sued them for
murdering their fathers and mothers? As I said here before, if the airlines
killed 20,000 people in one year, the entire aviation industry would be
closed down, and we would soon have high speed trains instead. The only
reason that does not happen with coal fired electricity is because the
victims are poor people living downwind of the generators. They do not vote
and they cannot afford to file suits, so you can kill them off with
impunity. No one but his family gives a damn when a poor person dies at age
60 instead of 70 or 80.

This is not because power companies are particularly evil. If Delta
Airlines could get away with murdering 20,000 passengers to make the same
kind of money the power companies do, I am sure they would do it. The
tobacco companies kill of hundreds of thousands of people with impunity. As
long as society lets corporations or individuals massacre people for
profit, they will do it.

- Jed


RE: [Vo]:FYI: ZPF-inertia work applied to subatomic particles; spatial harmonic resonances

2012-06-15 Thread Roarty, Francis X
Mark,
Nice  choice of citations,  I believe Haisch and Rueda  got it 
right but the connection drawn by Nickisch and Mollere (2002):  zero-point 
fluctuations give rise to spacetime micro-curvature effects yielding the origin 
of inertia  could, in fact should  have gone further I think the wormholes 
described at the quantum foam level can be responsible for most of the 
anomalous claims we are discussing on vortex, from superconductivity to 
modification of decay rates, Casimir effect and unexplained spectrum shifts.  
What we call isotropic space time is only a macro effect that can actually be 
segregated to different levels by matter and geometry - not giving anything for 
nothing but isolating equal and opposing regions of space time that average out 
to what we consider isotropic -  the Nature paper indicates the space-time is 
modified by the lattice but I would posit the material exposed to these regions 
must be chosen to have a biased preference for one geometry over another such 
that  the effects of the equal and opposite zones are prevented from cancelling 
and we get these opposing claims of decay modification from different 
researches using different lattices or gases.

I posit the lattice equates to the Haisch Rueda abstract 
...[snip] in accelerated reference frames results in a force that appears to 
account for inertia [/snip]  but,  velocity relative to a perpendicular ether 
isn't needed - instead the "equivalent" velocity of the ether we perceive as C 
is directly modified through suppression [taken to extreme Casimir effect] and 
results in a much simpler way to modify the Pythagorean relationship between V 
and C  In a Puthoff atomic model I think this "standard" relationship 
between matter and C is what establishes the periodic relationship of elements. 
This is why this paper in Nature needs the lattice to create both heavy and 
speedy electrons and why Rossi and Mills need the lattice to create 
relativistic hydrogen [call them hydrinos or inverse Rydberg hydrogen no 
matter] - It's all about the segregation of these "spacetime micro-curvature 
effects" mentioned by Nickisch and Mollere. - I think we are at a PV/T moment 
where time is going to be exposed as the hidden variable to be manipulated only 
instead of air conditioners this may yield free energy, propulsion and even the 
possibility of temporal effects at the macroscale.


Regards
Fran



From: MarkI-ZeroPoint [mailto:zeropo...@charter.net]
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2012 4:47 AM
To: vortex-l@eskimo.com
Subject: EXTERNAL: [Vo]:FYI: ZPF-inertia work applied to subatomic particles; 
spatial harmonic resonances

When I lived in SoCal I visited Dr. Rueda several times to discuss his work on 
inertia and the electromagnetic zero-point field... their seminal paper came 
out in 1994.  Dr. Rueda did the math in that paper, which is way above my 
pay-grade!   I now see that they've been applying their work to atomic 
physics...

Update on an Electromagnetic Basis for Inertia, Gravitation,
the Principle of Equivalence, Spin and Particle Mass Ratios
http://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0209016.pdf

Abstract
A possible connection between the electromagnetic quantum vacuum and inertia 
was first published by Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff (1994).  If correct, this 
would imply that mass may be an electromagnetic phenomenon and thus in 
principle subject to modification, with possible technological implications for 
propulsion.  A multiyear NASA-funded study at the Lockheed Martin Advanced 
Technology Center further developed this concept, resulting in an independent 
theoretical validation of the fundamental approach (Rueda and Haisch, 1998ab).  
Distortion of the quantum vacuum in accelerated reference frames results in a 
force that appears to account for inertia.  We have now shown that the same 
effect occurs in a region of curved spacetime, thus elucidating the origin of 
the principle of equivalence (Rueda, Haisch and Tung, 2001).

[ I separated out the rest of the abstract for emphasis ]

A further connection with general relativity has b een drawn by Nickisch and 
Mollere (2002):  zero-point fluctuations give rise to spacetime micro-curvature 
effects yielding a complementary perspective on the origin of inertia.  
Numerical simulations of this effect demonstrate the manner in which a massless 
fundamental particle, e.g. an electron, acquires inertial properties; this also 
shows the apparent origin of particle spin along lines originally proposed by 
Schrodinger.  Finally, we suggest that the heavier leptons (muon and tau) may 
be explainable as spatial-harmonic resonances of the (fundamental) electron.  
They would carry the same overall charge, but with the charge now having 
spatially lobed structure, each lobe of which would respond to higher frequency 
components of the electromagnetic quantum vacuum, thereby increasing the 
inertia and thus manifesting a heavier mass.

And in another paper 

[Vo]:Baking Soda Cancer Therapy?

2012-06-15 Thread Michele Comitini
UA Biomedical Engineers Find New Test for Effectiveness of Baking Soda
Cancer Therapy

Prof. Mark "Marty" Pagel has received a 2M$ grant from NIH.
http://www.engineering.arizona.edu/news/story.php?id=429

mic



[Vo]:Possible news on Defkalion GT

2012-06-15 Thread Akira Shirakawa

Hello group,

I was skimming through several recent links on LENR-related news 
entries/blog posts, when I found this on PESN:


http://pesn.com/2012/06/06/9602103_Why_doesnt_Utah_media_cover_latest_cold_fusion_developments/

I'm referring to this excerpt in particular:


Exhibit 4

Defkalion, of Greece, as a spin-off from Rossi, is also nearing the market. 
They recently completed a month of third party testing by at least seven 
different groups interested in licensing the technology for manufacturing. The 
results are expected to be published in August in conjunction with a major 
European trade show.


We already know that Defkalion GT will be attending ICCF17 this August 
in South Korea to make presentations on an early prototype LENR reactor 
(supposedly the model tested earlier this year) and future prospects 
[1]. But what would the "European trade show" in August be?


Any ideas?

Cheers,
S.A.

[1] http://www.infinite-energy.com/resources/upcoming.html



[Vo]:FYI: ZPF-inertia work applied to subatomic particles; spatial harmonic resonances

2012-06-15 Thread MarkI-ZeroPoint
When I lived in SoCal I visited Dr. Rueda several times to discuss his work
on inertia and the electromagnetic zero-point field. their seminal paper
came out in 1994.  Dr. Rueda did the math in that paper, which is way
above my pay-grade!   I now see that they've been applying their work to
atomic physics.

 

Update on an Electromagnetic Basis for Inertia, Gravitation,

the Principle of Equivalence, Spin and Particle Mass Ratios

http://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0209016.pdf

 

Abstract

A possible connection between the electromagnetic quantum vacuum and inertia
was first published by Haisch, Rueda and Puthoff (1994).  If correct, this
would imply that mass may be an electromagnetic phenomenon and thus in
principle subject to modification, with possible technological implications
for propulsion.  A multiyear NASA-funded study at the Lockheed Martin
Advanced Technology Center further developed this concept, resulting in an
independent theoretical validation of the fundamental approach (Rueda and
Haisch, 1998ab).  Distortion of the quantum vacuum in accelerated reference
frames results in a force that appears to account for inertia.  We have now
shown that the same effect occurs in a region of curved spacetime, thus
elucidating the origin of the principle of equivalence (Rueda, Haisch and
Tung, 2001).  

 

[ I separated out the rest of the abstract for emphasis ]

 

A further connection with general relativity has been drawn by Nickisch and
Mollere (2002):  zero-point fluctuations give rise to spacetime
micro-curvature effects yielding a complementary perspective on the origin
of inertia.  Numerical simulations of this effect demonstrate the manner in
which a massless fundamental particle, e.g. an electron, acquires inertial
properties; this also shows the apparent origin of particle spin along lines
originally proposed by Schrodinger.  Finally, we suggest that the heavier
leptons (muon and tau) may be explainable as spatial-harmonic resonances of
the (fundamental) electron.  They would carry the same overall charge, but
with the charge now having spatially lobed structure, each lobe of which
would respond to higher frequency components of the electromagnetic quantum
vacuum, thereby increasing the inertia and thus manifesting a heavier mass.

 

And in another paper at arXiv, I believe they incorporate a polarizable
vacuum:

Gravity and the Quantum Vacuum Inertia Hypothesis

http://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0504061.pdf

 

Makes me seriously regret not having the math skills to express my
qualitative models quantitatively.

 

G'nite all.

 

-Mark

 



[Vo]:FYI: Majorana modes materialize.

2012-06-15 Thread MarkI-ZeroPoint
Tried to send several FYIs yesterday eve, but they kept bouncing. here is
one more.

 

Majorana modes materialize.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v486/n7402/full/486195a.html

 

-Mark

 

 

 



Re: [Vo]:Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

2012-06-15 Thread Robert Lynn
>
> There is no technical reason why CSP cannot become competitive with other
> technologies, especially if you factor in the cost in lives, health, and
> global warming from the alternatives such as coal and natural gas from
> fracking. Of course it is not competitive now. If I had a cold fusion
> generator right now, you can be darn sure it would be hundreds or perhaps
> thousands of times more expensive per watt than any alternative. The first
> 100,000 cold fusion power reactors will be far more expensive than any
> other kind. The first computers cost way more than mechanical calculating
> machines. Some of the first transistors cost $17 and they
> replaced vacuum tubes costing a nickel each. That comparison misses the
> point. It was obvious that transistors would soon get cheaper. Granted, not
> many people realized they would someday cost a millionth of of a penny, but
> it was clear there was "plenty of room at the bottom" (Feynman).
>
> - Jed
>

I would dispute that.  There is are very strong technical reasons why it
can't become competitive with other technologies:
1/  The power source is too diffuse, and the sun doesn't shine at night
meaning you need a huge plant to produce significant power.
2/  You have to build mirrors heavy to survive weather/environment.  Hail,
snow, rain, salt, wind, dust and UV all mean that the construction needs to
be reasonably heavy if you want it to survive decades even if the bad
weather is infrequent.  Occasional cleaning and other maintenance will
still be required.
3/  The plants are a relatively long distance from consumers and existing
grid infrastructure - expensive grid connections.
4/  There will be alternative extremely cheap sources of intense heat
energy available for foreseeable future (fossil fuels + nuclear, probably
LENR, maybe hot fusion).

Given massive availability of shale gas produced electricity at
$0.04-0.06/kWh (currently <$0.04/kWh in USA due to extremely low gas price)
and the best CSP running along at $0.2-0.3/kWh, there is just no
foreseeable technology path that can bring the CSP cost down by a factor of
4 to compete with gas and (eventually) nuclear.  Rooftop PV can compete
because it can avoid paying for the grid and distribution costs that
dominate domestic electricity costs but CSP currently only works in scales
too large for urban sites (excepting very expensive dish stirling).