The Next Big Thing?

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

The Next Big Thing?

Copper · **Superhero Extraordinaire**

New energy efficient fuel? Best ask Santa about that one

Lite · **I'm lite... and I'm fantastic!**

On that new Honda advert they say they've made a car that dosnt polute at all...aparntly only pure H2O comes out

That'd be pritty cool

specialy if they can do it for aircraft

HaloBurn · **Dad** Yarrr...

I remember seeing NASA launch a mirrored object (it looked like a spinning top).

Basically a high power laser was shot up under the top and the laser was focused into a rim running round the top, this caused the oxygen in the air to combust and launched the top up the path of the beam.

I always though that pistons in car engines could be worked using this method and would result in electric powered combustion engines, or am I being a geek.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Hmmm.

A quick google showed me this:

"Space sails" pushed by photons in lab experiment
NASA scientists have beamed microwaves and laser energy to "fill" lightweight sails in laboratory demonstrations of how these technologies might provide propulsion for interstellar exploration - the sails used in the microwave experiment were actually driven to liftoff and flight, while the laser-driven sails achieved horizontal movement, and the experiments are the first known measurements of laser photon thrust performance using lightweight sails that are candidates for spaceflight: JPL Press Release, Microwave Sciences info, CNN, SPIEGEL, SpaceViews.

I seem to recall something about one of these being tested in space recently - like in the last month or two. You could be on to something there, HB.

Short Santa · **For entertainment purposes only!**

Hydrogen fuel cells offer real hope. just need to find a clean way of making hydrogen :(

Short Santa · **For entertainment purposes only!**

HaloBurn wrote:

I remember seeing NASA launch a mirrored object (it looked like a spinning top). Basically a high power laser was shot up under the top and the laser was focused into a rim running round the top, this caused the oxygen in the air to combust and launched the top up the path of the beam. I always though that pistons in car engines could be worked using this method and would result in electric powered combustion engines, or am I being a geek.

Problem with all of this stuff is where you get the energy for the 'high powered laser' - if its from the sun or the wind or, ahem, nuclear fission, then cool, if not it aint gonna help reduce CO2 levels

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Short Santa wrote:

Hydrogen fuel cells offer real hope. just need to find a clean way of making hydrogen :(

Well what are you doing posting here then? Go find it!

You might want to try down the side of the fridge. Whenever I'm looking for something there's a one in three chance that it's down the side of the fridge. Or under one of the cushions on the sofa.

HaloBurn · **Dad** Yarrr...

I suppose it would greatly depend on how much energy was required to produce the laser combustion v the energy the combustion produces, if the laser could be produced from very little energy and the combustion was several thousand factors more powerful than that used to create the beam then it would be a goer; esp if the battery could be charged from a solar panel on the roof of the car! Then you would never have to refule.

On another note given that the entire world economy is based on fossil fuel prices I wouldn't expect to say any alternative energy being made public until the oil runs out, you have to wonder what would have happened if Africa had oil, I would imagine much the same as what happened in Iraq and we wouldn't need live 8. Saw a new interview with Dubya today what a f***ing moron.

bonniepirateanne · Date: Jul 4, 2005

the next thing is gonna be wireless power i reckon.. nothing will have to be plugged in, you just turn it on wherever and use it

..

imagine, you could go on a picnic and take your microwave with you heh heh

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

HaloBurn wrote:

if the laser could be produced from very little energy and the combustion was several thousand factors more powerful than that used to create the beam then it would be a goer;

Is that possible? I always understood that energy was simply converted from one form to another - therefore the energy produced by the laser would be the same as the energy required to cause it. The trick would be in the efficiency of the mirrors or sails or whatever you used and the mechanics/aerodynamics of the vehicle. on the other hand, I'm no engineer. I know squat. Quite a lot of squat in fact.

HaloBurn wrote:

Saw a new interview with Dubya today what a f***ing moron.

Come on Halo. You're amongst friends here. We won't judge you. Say what you mean. Stop beating about the Bush.

-- Edited by ddvmor at 14:31, 2005-07-04

HaloBurn · **Dad** Yarrr...

lol think your getting confused with solar sails, the propultion sytem I am talking about focused a laser into a mirrored rim causing the oxygen to explode. I could be wrong but since the explosion of the oxygen is a by product of the focused laser and not a direct transference of the energy then you can get more energy from the explosion than the laser needed to produce it.

And speaking of the great white monkey that is Dubya, honestly has anyone ever believed a word that red neck ever spouted? He wont sign a treaty to stop global warming because it's not in America's economic interest to do so. If a cheap clean energy source was adopted tomorrow the US economy would fail, hello third world Texas.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

HaloBurn wrote:

lol think your getting confused with solar sails, the propultion sytem I am talking about focused a laser into a mirrored rim causing the oxygen to explode. I could be wrong but since the explosion of the oxygen is a by product of the focused laser and not a direct transference of the energy then you can get more energy from the explosion than the laser needed to produce it

Heh. Like I said. Squat!

Susan · Tickle me, Elmo! I'm Roger Moore's Stunt Double!

Ah well. There are some things in life I'm just not destined to be able to hold my own in conversation over.

bonniepirateanne · Date: Jul 4, 2005

HaloBurn wrote:

And speaking of the great white monkey that is Dubya, honestly has anyone ever believed a word that red neck ever spouted? He wont sign a treaty to stop global warming because it's not in America's economic interest to do so. If a cheap clean energy source was adopted tomorrow the US economy would fail, hello third world Texas.

and if they'd gotten kerry he'd be changing his mind about global warming every other day

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Here we go:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- An eco-car that can travel the world using a fraction of the electricity it takes to power a light bulb has been unveiled by its British creators.

The hydrogen-powered Ech2o needs just 25 Watts -- the equivalent of less than two gallons of petrol -- to complete the 25,000-mile global trip, while emitting nothing more hazardous than water, the UK's Press Association reported.

But with a top speed of 30mph, the journey would take more than a month to complete, even if the car was driven flat out with no pit-stops.

On Thursday Ech2o, built by British gas firm BOC, will bid to smash the world fuel efficiency record of over 10,000 miles per gallon at the Shell Eco Marathon at the Rockingham Raceway track in the UK.

The record is currently held by the PAC-Car II, a hydrogen-fueled Swiss vehicle, that traveled the equivalent of 5,385 km/per liter at a testing track in France.

The BOC Ech2o, which was originally designed to demonstrate fuel efficiency, is a remodeling of the BOC Gh2ost which failed to break the world record in Aberdeen last year.

Unlike most other eco-marathon vehicles that run on petrol or diesel, the BOC Ech2o's driving force comes from electricity, created in a hydrogen fuel cell.

John Carolin, BOC global director sustainable energy, told the PA: "It sounds unbelievable how little power is used to keep the BOC Ech2o moving, but it demonstrates the impact of careful design and is a valuable lesson for car makers in the future.

"The lessons from this and other projects will show that hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles could be a practical, attractive and a viable economic alternative to diesel or petrol fueled vehicles."