A Solar Powered Electrical Plant - that could be built right now from parts on Alibaba

in #energy7 years ago (edited)

EnergyPentagram553011a1.png

Everyone talks about the energy crisis... And nobody does anything about it.

Well, there are people putting solar panels on their roof, and that is about the best an independent person can do.

In order to understand the current state of electric you have to put on your tin-foil hat. Or your see evil goggles. It is not pretty.

The reason you see so many "save energy" promotions is not to save energy. It is to make you think that energy is scarce. It is propaganda! It is only to make you feel like you are wasting power, and its all your fault.

What has happened with everyone changing out their light bulbs for more energy efficient light bulbs? Everyone's usage went down, but everyone's bill went up. You are paying more for using less.

We are not using more and more (as the propaganda would have you believe). Per capita, we are using less. As a total (more population), we are using about the same amount that we were using back in the 1970s. Just ask yourself this. How many new power plants have you seen built since the 1970s? For most people the answer is none. If we were truly using more energy, wouldn't you think that we would need more power plants?

You are being fed a line of shit to keep you thinking that its your fault, that we are running out, and that price inflation (gouging) is necessary.


Here, I will demonstrate one energy source that can be built with parts that are already engineered and available on Alibaba. That has creates no pollution, and is almost instantly available 24 hours a day. So, now you can tell all your friends that it is not about a lack of technology, and that it is only about govern-cement and electric company corruption.

First you build a solar powered, hot water fuelled, steam turbine. Next you build a two tank, recirculating hydro electric plant.
Solar Power Plant
Solar Power Plant

Steam powered turbines are the norm in all electric power plants. So much the norm that you can buy them on Alibaba. The difference in power plants is what is used to heat the water. Heat is generally created by burning something, coal, oil or fissionable materials.

The problem with solar power has been its limited time availability. We get maximum heat output about 2 PM and we want maximum electrical production at about 5 PM. So, all kinds of intricate heat storage devices have been tried. (currently hot salt vats) Their complexity and lack of time-tested structure make them poor investments. And thus, very little experimentation/implementation has been done with them. (even though the govern-cements say they are all for solar power)

So, we enter the second piece of the puzzle. Energy storage. Hydro energy storage is not new. It is hundreds of years old. Before Tesla engineered AC, before Tesla used Niagra Falls to create electicity. Hydro power was (and still is) used all throughout the world.
WaterPowerPlant6adba.png
Water/Gravity Power Plant

Pumping water up to a tank so that later, you can let it flow down to a lower tank powering a turbine is not new. In fact, many private companies have been trying to implement such, so as to buy cheap power at night and sell expensive power during the day. Again, you can buy all the parts on Alibaba.

So, if you only had these two pieces to power your city (its not connected to the grid, and its your only power plant) Then you would use the power from the solar plant to pump water up to the higher tank between 10am and 3pm (when the suns high in the sky) and then you would let the water flow down from 3pm to 8pm for powering all the lights. (With a little trickle flowing throughout the night, the lowest usage time)

Now that we got these two pieces firmly in mind, all we have to do is to find some place to build them, and then connect them to the power grid. And one glaringly obvious place to build them; a place that has a vast low lying flat land that gets sun almost 365 days a year, and also has fairly tall mountains right next to fairly low valleys; a place that had a working solar electric plant in the 1970s... but they got tired of it and tore it down; a place that says they are environmentally friendly with laws so strict that businesses have fled for their lives; that place is California.

Given the money, I could have one of these built next year.
However, as previous attempts have shown, it will be tied up in litigation a minimum of 10 years.

So, now you know, that we aren't waiting for some future tech to solve our energy problems. We are waiting for are elected representatives to allow these things to be built. What we are never told is that these "representatives" are paid much more by the people that NEVER want this "electric problem" to go away. They want to keep it going forever. They will, bribe, collude, litigate and even kill to keep it that way. (as they have done in the past).


All images in this post are my own original creations.
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When discussing about pollution, one may also envisage the pollution created by building the pieces of the plant (and this is true for all sources of energy; in principle, if one wants to evaluated the imprint, you may want to evaluate it form the building of the plant to its dismantling including its running and maintenance).

I believe that when you account for this, even wind and solar energy are a bit less green (and I am not saying that one should not focus on them, as still greener than many other sources of energy).

If you are going to try to think at this level, you need to go much further. All things are intricately tied together. (including thinking of what bad things may be caused by us not producing electricity)

But, lets compare what I have envisioned here with a coal fired power plant. A coal fired power plant requires the same basic power plant building.
Plus a mine, with huge area that gets covered in coal powder, and will never grow anything for years. (check out the pictures on google) The coal fired power plant also needs a huge plastic lined dump to put all the ash into. And it needs miles of train tracks, and lots and lots of train cars filled with coal (that do spill every now and then)

And finally we get to comparing something that is burning coal, producing all kinds of contaminants and pollutants, vs a system that boils water with the sun. A say the system I have outlined beats the alternative hands down, in pollutants and in overall structures required.

Also, building could be designed to blend into their environments. I know that we haven't been very good at that lately, but there are some really beautiful buildings being built now.

I didn't want to go that far, but just to mention that a pollution-free plant does not exist. However, I agree with you: the coal fired plant does not hold the comparison.

But what we really need is a decent funding to develop alternatives! That is in my opinion the only way to move forward in the solution of this problem (without going all back to the trees).

I will actually show, in future posts, that we do not really need development funds. The problem is govern-cement and the electric companies. They like the current arrangement, and will do everything they can to keep it.
All we have to do is build this. (or one of the other ideas that have been proven) And, every time it is tried, it is stopped by govern-cement regulations or stupid contract law.

Want to build a revolutionary, clean burning, trash powered electric plant? Well, the garbage dump is one corporation, and the power company is another, and you aren't allowed to have one that does both. (True story)

This is an important discussion that people around the globe should be having. The power grids on the planet are wasteful, if the energy isn't used it is lost. Any such technology which prevents energy waste during times of low demand and allows for efficient supply during times of peak demand can drastically reduce the load on our worlds power plants! We should be demanding all available technologies be used to achieve a more efficient power grid, and be prepared to continue implementing future tech increasing efficiency and reducing effect on the planet.

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Pumping water up to a tank to flow down to a lower tank powering a turbine

To pump water up, there would also be the use of "bélier hydraulique" invented by Joseph-Michel Montgolfier
Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9lier_hydraulique
The "bélier hydraulique" with multiple tanks placed lower than the turbine could bring the water back into the tank at reduced cost.

Actually it doesn't. The bélier hydraulique uses water flow to create a water geyser. It leaves more of the water at a lower level.

One of the essential parts of the water storage tanks is that it reuses all of the water. It cannot have what wikipedia calls the "free flow at waste valve".

In the two tank system, the pump and the turbine will probably never be used at the same time. It is a storage of kinetic energy for future use. In this particular example, to pump water to the top tank between 10am - 3pm, and then use the water, mostly between 3pm and 8pm, with a small trickle all night (however, there are many other power plants that NEED to supply electricity at night.)

I will edit my post to make it more clear sometime soon.

You are paying more for using less.

Well said.

Thank you, your feedback is important

For all we know someone has even solved an efficient method of fusion which would be even better than this and it is being sat on due to them being bought out or worse by the oil companies. Even if it is not the case it is kind of crazy that we let all that free energy from the sun go to waste.

There are a lot of things coming down the pipeline. And thank goodness for the internets, in that we may actually get it out there.
I do not know if we will ever get fusion working efficiently. There are other things coming that will put it in the realm of, yeah, that was neat, but we got something easier, thanks.

This post is mostly a throw away. It exists here so that I can point all the people saying, if it was so, where is it?
Still, California should get off of its butts and get some of these built.

Yes it is a matter of will. A few years ago there were all sorts of government incentives for solar which really gave the industry and hence the technology (as well as various projects a push). New politicians came in and scrapped it which basically all but killed the momentum. I wouldn't be surprised if they they leave government to go and work for BP or Shell or someone like that. That is what holds these things back.

Folks out of the University of Utah said they created a Low Energy Nuclear Reactor maybe a decade ago. I think it's pretty possible. Check you the e-cat page about the e-catalyzer. Pretty sure energy has been solved for a while, but since America is an oil company with an army progress isn't tolerated.

You know I wouldn't doubt it. There are powerful interests at play there as you aptly put. Not just nations but global corporations and industry which are in some respects more powerful in terms of being able to tell states what to do.

govern-cement! lol I think what you describe here is a problem that exists throughout society, not just in the energy sector, a consequence of profit and survival being the primary goal of an organization.

Thank you. If you want something to go away, mock it out of existence.
When my brain came up with govern-cement, I just really like it. Every way you look at it, its apropos.
Please feel free to use it everywhere.

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