Solar Tech
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Added: 2 years ago
From: NationalGeographic
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  • Look into Star Scientific Limited. Looks like they have the most efficient form of energy, Muon Catalyzed fusion.

  • what is the official name of this technology?

  • Google

    Is Building the World's Largest

    Solar Tower Power Plant

    April-12-2011---

    Google is investing $168 million to help develop a solar energy power plant in

    California's Mojave Desert. In cooperation with Brightsource energy, Google's official blog states that the new plant will hopefully generate 392 gross megawatts of solar power, or "the equivalent of taking more than 90,000 cars off the road over the lifetime of the plant,"

  • "NO ENERGY LIKE FREE ENERGY"

  • I run my house on stray backpackers. They're on treadmills in the basement. Much more efficient than wind/solar etc.

  • @kaderoder Wir tun das gleiche mit skifahren aus der Alpen!

  • Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power are the means by which our energy needs can be met. These alternate energy sources can also be harnessed at home. People are adopting alternate energy methods like solar and wind power for the electricity supply. As energy demands increase, markets for these sources will only grow. Pacific Crest Transformers has articles on the renewable energy sector in the United States.

  • People all across the united states are installing home solar electric systems. The government doesn't have to fund it, people buy it with a credit card and call an installer. The systems are an investment, but cost study will show that it's a great investment as a home improvement. Recently we started using rooftop wind turbines with our solar for hybrid energy system for homes. Solar and wind power is yours for the taking.. WHY PAY SOMEONE FOR YOUR WIND & SUN, harvest it yourself and save

  • Wow, that's amazing but there should be wind energy combined there with the solar. All our best systems are hybrid energy with both wind and solar.

  • waste of money

  • I sure hope they are smart enough to recycle that steam back to water and use it again. The desert doesn't have much spare water yo.

  • Great video...I converted my home to a net-zero solar powered home that uses no oil or gas...I made a video about it called, "Preparing for Peak Oil"....

  • This technology is the safest way for this planet.

  • It is old technology used in a new way. This isn't for a house, this is for a large power station. It doesn't need to be NEW to be GOOD.

  • i wonder how much coal power it took to create all those solar panels...

  • does it really matter? thats a one time cost, now that the solar panels are constructed, the energy they produce can be used to construct more solar panels. We must use our available energy source to construct a new infrastructure.

  • you may not understand that the energy it takes to create a solar panel is more than what the solar panel will create itself over its average lifespan. So it essentially is a netloss in effeciency

  • That would depend on the solar panel model and on the area in which they are deployed. Since these are of a relatively simple design (as apposed to the more common flat panels) and they are deployed in a desert, I'm quire sure they will more than make up for the energy it took to produce them.

  • will we end up burning the crust off the earth's atmosphere as it is reflected light? If everyone puts these on their roof then we'll have mirrors everywhere and planes will crash with the reflection causing glare, has these issues been looked at? It could potentially destroy our atmosphere just as well as coal and nuclear!

  • This isnt designed to go on someones roof, its designed for large scale use. And no, we wount burn the earths atmosphere by reflecting light :P

  • this is old technology?

  • Who put this OLD crap on here, it's older than the steam engine invented 150 years ago JERKS!! People are getting very dishonest these days- rot....

  • Be smart - don't pay any more electricity bills. more info: solar.xfollow.me (Copy to your browser's address bar)

  • I would also like to know how can you claim it is more efficient then photovoltaic panels" PV systems have no moving parts thus little to no maintenance and you must spend millions more to achieve the same outcome so how is it more efficient then a PV system, I just don't see it! You must have around the clock maintenance personnel on site and it takes fossil fuels to create all of these moving parts to start with. So where might I ask is the savings? Cost a buck to produce 10 cents???

  • Why might I ask are you not collecting the steam expelled from the system to reuse it to pressurize your system to drive either your fluids and or your cooling tower etc... ? I understand it must be vented yet why in such an inefficient manner?

  • Exciting!!!!, clear pure energy no pollution..

  • who's gonna clean all that glass?

  • very very ba(goo)d

  • Wow,very nice. . ..

  • Nice.

    I love the sight of that steam. Reminds me of the nuclear electricity generator in France. No smoke, no carbon, just those puffy steam floating off the pipe.

  • Genius!!!

  • is the gas at the end ok for our earth?

  • That would depend on ones opinion of precipitation.

  • Dude, its steam......

  • Dude... Steam...

  • That's not how you pronounce hectare, is it?

  • nice

  • Imagine how many television sets that can be powered by that thing!

  • ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ We need as many people as possible to do this. Just subscribe to Fred and on June 1st unsubscribe. This is a real thing and thousands of people are doing it. Post this every where!!! ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

  • something like... "fuck off you stupid cunt!"...... ?

  • haha lol

  • They would have to rotate throughout the day to match the sun's movement. But a really novel idea. Thermodynamically, this could create alot of usable energy

  • What a waste of resources, with a cheap acrylic Fresnel lens you can produce a beam temperature of over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit and descentralized power. That is powering your own home.

  • 1. take ur middle finger and put on ur nose.

    2.shove it up your ass and stop posting shit on vids.

  • excellent!!hope to invent more efficient solar panel....to collect more energy.

    we will not depends on petrol anymore....

    clean planet.

  • hopefully its not too late....

  • nice. i like this song but probley cause im 13 and its like one of the first few songs i rember hearing

  • Cool! Moar solar power!

  • nooooo! It's over! Come on. I was enjoyiing it...

  • EVERY video from NatGeo and Discovery is like that on youtube.. -.-

  • israeli accents in Nevada?

  • SOLAR REVOLUTION AT MIT, GOOGLE IT!

  • curved mirrors!!!!!!!

  • precisely

  • Does anyone know why the parabolic mirrors track south to north instead of east to west ? Any serious adult could reply.

  • north south would take less movement

  • Europa está a la vanguardia de las energías renovables. Por delante del resto del mundo.

  • what is the cost of a system like this versus a nuclear power plant?

  • No Chernobyl

  • Excellent, but the problem is, this probably won't be covered anymore. If people really want this kind of technology to be set up, it has to be inserted into the collective consciousness of the general population. A video on you tube with 6000 views is not enough. Please make more videos promoting this and its more likely to evolve.

  • Humanity will only come upon the concept of sustainability until it has a preeminent utility. In such a time, it will have already become too late to become sustainable. And so, I believe, with this paradox of wanting sustainability versus attaining sustainability, humanity will, in the long term, hurt itself willingly.

  • Herdervriend, you're not too far off.

    The problem with nuclear power is the waste it produces - it has a half-life of many thousands of years. So it's very difficult to deal with in that way. It also has a huge security risk, but that is much more manageable if we control it well.

    As for oil...not only America, but the whole world needs a sort of shift in thinking. We need to realize that there are far better sources of energy, and they are more economically and environmentally sound.

  • excellent work engineers

  • im all for green energy but we need a huge breakthrough in making it more sustainable this doesnt look like it thought...bioreactors are heading in the right direction though but still...

  • this is old omfg

  • good

  • Good work.

  • because the oil companies run the earth, and compromising their power is not one of their priorities

    d(-_-)b

  • They should run cars on this

  • Its not sustainable for the amount of cars we have. It's not a feasible solution just yet. Maybe one day as the volume of production increases so that it's cheaper than other electricity generation yes.

  • WHY ARNT WE FUNDING THIS!!!!!!

  • @seriousbusinessinc

    Because according to the people who have money this isn't profitable... At least not as profitable as drilling a hole in the ground and collecting the oil and gas.

  • @seriousbusinessinc

    a 50MW power plant would be installed on 678 acres of land making it economically unfeasable unless u have a huge desert at throw away prices...(plus cost of infrastructure is high as these mirrors have to be imported from germany/isreal )

  • @seriousbusinessinc logistics

  • @seriousbusinessinc logistics.

  • interesting

  • 2:13 then why are you touching it?

  • Because the heat isn't in the mirrors themselves.. It is in the pipe..

  • im talking about that glass(over of the reflective material) which is highly transparent and sophisticated, so fingerprint might cost

    anyway, thx 4 answering

  • Solar and Wind energies should be the U.S.'s #1 priority! I'm sick of hearing about coal! They just want to get their moneys worth out of coal because we have so much of it...

  • yes, and the amount of people who still make a living from coal is a very large number im sure. I dont think they could pull up stakes just yet.

  • check out the im on a boat remix on my page

  • Am I the only one the cringes whenever someone touches mirrors, LCD screens, windows, and parabolic mirrors and leaves their prints behind?

  • Nope. I hate that!

  • yes you are. a normal person just walks over and cleans the print.

  • yes

  • I stand corrected! I prefer your answer anyway. It gives a stronger argument for solar energy.

  • Well who ever said energy was free? In order to gain something you've got to lose something.

  • BLISTER

  • Awesome!

  • That's nice =D

  • solar panels need far more energy to build than they produce

  • wow when did they start this project

  • Desert + Water + Water Shortages + Huge Amounts of Land = Something that must be taken into consideration. Still better than nuclear and coal, that is for sure.

  • why is it better than nuclear?

  • Its renewable. And theres no waste.

  • you seriously don't know??

    read a book, damn.

  • cause its a natural source of energy, and there are unlimited supplies of it.

  • I don't see what's so natural about hoisting sheets of metal in an ecosystem. And the maintenance costs are very high, so we're going to have more taxes and more resources spent on keeping these things operational than we'll actually save.

  • no not the sheets of metal, they're manufactured, but the energy source itself is clean and pure. and u don't have to go though the trouble of like mining expeditions and extracting oil fro the ground. yes it is expensive, but eventually, and very soon actually, the cost of making it, will be a lot less then the amount of money we save and the electricity we produce from it.

  • prove this

  • There is no such thing as "natural" electricity. All electricity is generated by unnatural means.

    The difference between this and conventional methods is that this produces no pollution; it's cleaner, not more natural. That's the point.

  • The word 'natural' is itself difficult to define. And used waaaay too often.

  • lightning is pretty natural ;), so is static electricity. Just bugging you btw. hehe

  • Cause it doesnt blow up?

  • Nuclear power isn't supposed to cause explosions but it can happen when careless mistakes are made, such as the Chernobyl Disaster. It's like a tool take proper care when using it, and it works out fine. Be careless with it, and you could cut a finger off.

  • Heres the problem, "it isnt supposed". but it can still blowup. We were actually pretty lucky with Chernobyl, could have been way worse.

  • As mentioned before, that can only happen when careless mistakes are made.

  • But still it CAN happen. And when it happens, its more than a little accident.

  • But generally its supposed to work. And the chances of a disaster happening are minimal. Look at France, they use a lot of nuclear energy, and nothings happened to them.

  • Well, we've got to look at the tightening international tensions. With terrorists getting stronger even with the contigency operation, I don't think it's a good idea right now. And waste is produced the will last for thousands of years. That's really not too safe.

  • Alright well I hear about all these negative aspects of nuclear but why haven't i heard anything about solar?

  • Well, it's not perfect alright, but at least terrorists can't endanger us if they get their hands on our solar plants.

  • Thats some pretty bad logic. "Look at this driver, he's been driving without a seat belt for 2 years and nothing happened to him" or "Look at those smoker, they smoked all their life and they dont have lung cancer"

  • Yes, but people are naturally retarded.

  • I'll say that people are naturally careless and prone to take shortcuts than the proper method.

  • Nuclear Reactors Create Radioactive Waste That Will Remain Hazardous For 240,000 Years . . . that's what I have read.

  • but tehn teh desert is a place with a lot of sunlight, so its good in tht way i guess.

  • Just cause the desert has a lot of sunlight doesn't mean you're disrupting an entire hidden ecosystem. If you really want to use solar power, build the panels on the tops of roofs where there's plenty of sunlight and where there's nothing living there.

  • clever

  • Technology is great.

  • its wicked seeing all the energy technology that man is coming up with. just a matter of time till we get rid of oil and dirty technology permanently

  • I hope so

  • the same amount of water being used in a PSI system could be used in a electrical water dam to make equal/greater energy..

  • This should sum up how my face looked when I first saw this: O_O'

  • Hahaha get some on your roof and you get free electricity, but installation is expensive. ;-;

  • yeh would be a great investement thats if you live in a hot country with long sunshine hours.

  • that country is called australia =D

  • Thats incredable... These NatGeo Youtube shorts are very infromitive... I've learned so much from them.

  • harness sun rays from space would be even bettter, but then it would cost to bring it down to earth. :(

  • I wonder how efficient this system is?

  • cleaver stuff

  • We have to be careful about falling in love with solar power. Before you know it we'll be strengthening global warming on purpose just so that there's more sun power to harness.

  • it wouldn't work that way, increased smog and air pollution blocks out a lot of the sun light. When the sun beams most in the form of microwaves hit earth, they kind of crumple and reflect back as infrared waves (most of the rest of the light reflect off clouds, ice, the atmosphere or absorb). Microwaves can easily pass through cloud cover however infrared waves can't so they reflect back in heating the planet.

  • We can find ways.

    Plus solar energy isn't the only way, Blinkie.

    There are other ways like geothermal and tidal, not to mention wind. Everything coupled with each other would be efficient. I would assume so, at least.

  • But is it worth it, what's the input (how much money) and the output (amount of energy created)?

  • Well ...

    It multiplies the strength of the ray almost 70 times.

    So take the energy of one ray, multiply it by 70. Then find the cost of the solar panel + special mirrors and multiply it by 200 000 (or something like that) and you'll find the cost.

    Then compare it to a nuclear plant or whatever.

  • Cool we know how it works but the big question is... how much electricity does it produce?

  • Yes, and how much could a nuke plant that same size produce. The fact they don't say is what makes it suspect.

  • wow that is brilliant !

  • aa, that's how solar power works

  • Brilliant !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111­111111111111111111111

  • this is brillant..much more efficient than solar panels!

  • steam and solar energy combined would be a capitol idea!

  • but the problem with team is it has no potential, whereas solar cell tech is still developing n will be much cheaper n more efficient by when this so called concentrated solar power will end its short life.

  • it's an excellent idea, unfortunately not all places can afford to build these types of solar plants and there are some places that aren't very sunny so it wouldn't make a terrible amount of sense.

    where it does make a lot of sense is in the sahara desert. one large desert which receives a lot of sun and few clouds. they should build them by the boat load over there, they could generate so much energy.

  • nice !!

  • i thought it going to be some kind of new tech...it just steam....

  • so steam is making a comeback huh

  • good old steam, nothing beats it

  • Two steps forward one step back...... Steam power, yeah.....what a world I live in, Nuclear power plants DOWN, nuclear warheads still coming UP. I am to be excited about steam power plants? I will get excited when Solar panels get to sixty percent capacity, witch hopefully will be soon.

  • But, as I understand it, all nuclear power does is use the heat from uranium to boil water to create steam to turn turbines -- only in a much dirtier way

  • Pretty much, but the new generation plants are a lot smaller and provide more power and rather solid state, thus more safer then they ever been. The steam both plants provide is just water vapor clean water vapor. I mean yeah there is the waste your right, but it makes less and we have ways to dispose of it safely. I just do not see the point of building this huge ass grid! Its just sorta depressing, when we have had this great technology forever now.

  • I've heard about nuclear plants being way safer these days and I know they can produce WAY more power than solar.

    I've also heard that solar is way cheaper and more efficient than it was just 5 years ago.

    For me, there's always been problems with nuclear -

    1.) The waste (both where to put it and how to keep it secure and away from terrorists) and

    2.) The chance that terrorists might attack a plant directly - like in 2007, when thieves got to that nuclear plant in South Africa.

  • still, I hope fussion comes soon

  • @ BeondaPale

    From what I've read, fusion is at least 40 years away, minimum.

  • Out of interest, where did you read this?

  • It's on the ITER website, I think. They have a timeline showing its expected development phases. I'd be very surprised if fusion is available before the 2040's.

  • @1:51 It's made of very very clean glass, except right here where i'm rubbing my hand on it!

  • reminds me of the movie gattaca