Biotech Values

[apljack]

OT: Solar thermal energy. This concept is so parsimonious that no one wants to mess with it (IMO). Take a look at the following for what a high school student figured out:

http://xenotechresearch.com/solfurn1.htm

That is a piece of plastic that costs less than a dollar to manufacture (in contrast to photovoltaic cells) and generates 750 watts of power in direct sunlight! Put a couple 100,000 of these on residential roofs (along with a small turbine) and we get a big chunk of our residential power needs met during a sunny day.

Now consider this. Virtually ALL critical business and healthcare infrastructure has backup deisel generator equipment, on standby AND VIRTUALLY NEVER USED. If some smart person could engineer a solar thermal add-on to these generators, they could be used virtually every day (particularly in the south, southwest and west), supplying point source energy, relieving the grid of a considerable energy burden, and it would be virtually carbon neutral.

aj