Sterling Engines - these can save the planet!

[lakewood85]

To bad Stirling had to file BK.

[lawse]

Isnt it called "Stirling", not "Sterling"?

[Killahxxx]

l0l

[hecklovetch]

Instead of massive fields of these, they should mount them on tall buildings and in smaller localized fields. The power would have less distance to travel, and they could tie into the existing grid.

[luc59457]

This is more suitable in someones backyard, than a coal, nuclear or fusion power plant of any significant output.

[DanishSFxProd]

In Denmark we already have solar cells on the roofs.. rawr.

[Kabitu1]

@DanishSFxProd Har vi det? Hvor?

[fireofenergy]

Don't know why it wouldn't let me post it all together, it was under the char limit anyways, if we don't do this, we may be left in the dark, finincially too

[fireofenergy]

At that rate, they would become MUCH cheaper to make and would effectively convert EVERYTHING to electric including its own continued production and lithium iron phosphate battery robotic manufacture that can be recharged 2,000 times!

[fireofenergy]

I figure that if 1/10th of remaining world oil supply was used to make these, they would supply 3 times the total oil supply worth of energy! Based upon 1 year energy pay back time and 30 year life.

[fireofenergy]

It wont let me post about actual facts!

[fireofenergy]

YA!

[luc59457]

This is awesome stuff, I am all for it

[luc59457]

add enough oil and insulate it, and you could have electricity after sunset for a decent amount of time.

[pjharro]

Man u guys are negative. Of course it's not as cheap or small as a coal plant. To make better technology it needs be in use, having something sitting in a lab is no good. Only when u try deploying these things for "real" use do people focus on making better and smaller. When cars first rolled out people said that horses were more efficient I bet.

[luc59457]

Actually, if you fit one in your backyard and it is able to power 10 homes, that is pretty good. BTW, most of these materials are cheap, very cheap.

[robertg222]

You discredited the whole video with the "these can save the planet" comment.

[Aimrehtopyh]

Only discredited it for backwards people who think pollution and fossil fuels are "the future of cool".

[t5e2]

the most environmentally friendly for cloth drying is hang drying in the yard. Use that free solar energy! Cloth dryers is the biggest energy waster, really bad for the environment. There's really no excuse for people living in a sunny weather not to hang dry their cloths outside in the yard.

[MesaLX666]

i hope everyone realizes that to make enough of these (20,000 according to the video) it would cost WAYYYYYYY more then to just build a coal power plant. (and to all you crazy liberals, with the money saved we could buy carbon credits) ... I'm not against the idea of solar, i just think it needs to get more efficient and reasonable. I know were talking vast deserts but these need to occupy the same amount of space and provide the same amount of energy as a coal plant to be used country wide.

[luc59457]

No mesa, it would not cost way more, it would save in the long run, less maintenance etc. This is not crazy.. The sun provides 1360watts radiating at the top of our atmosphere. Down here it is much less, but this is not considering the concentration of light.. Really, they could place these close together or somehow stack them, but to get much smaller would make a great reduction in heat.. More heat = more potential for more converting to electricity.

[luc59457]

1360w per cubic meter

[KoyotoShadow]

Well, this is a step is a better direction. It's not perfect by any sense, but still gives a viable, renewable source of power that isn't driven by the volume of a particular resource (coal, oil, etc). This alone won't replace fossil plants, but it will reduce their usage. And in a time when those fossil plants are getting old and are showing their wear, that's always a good thing. I suppose the only 'permanent' solution would be when they get cold fusion working on this sort of scale...

[embretr]

Seen where the coal comes from or where the carbon released into the air goes to? It's not ONLY about the generating, but the whole picture, which, no offense, you seem to be missing a bit of.

[KoyotoShadow]

I think I viewed it from the whole picture, if you read through what I said. In an environmental sense, yes, anything to reduce pollutants and impact on the world is obviously a step in the right direction. In a societal sense, we're running towards the max of our current power grid in much of the country. As power consumption will only increase in the future, finding ways of generating more --and cleaner-- power is the primary concern of most people in this field.

[KoyotoShadow]

If you're concerned primarily with environmental impact, there's many different up and coming power generation and saving technologies already in their prototype phase, and will probably appear in the next several years. Protecting the planet is important, but for the majority of people worldwide, they'll only do so as it maintains or enhances their current way of life. It's an environmental versus economic quandry all people try to strike some sort of balance between.

[randommagnum]

500MW isn't very much for a nuke or a coal-fired plant, and a field of 20,000 would make the environmentalists holler even louder, what with all the use of land and light pollution.

The only way you are going to get solar to come online is to make it more efficient, thereby producing more per unit of space. This may be better than photovoltaic cells, but we've still got a ways to go.

[tecnax]

2500W per home, huh?

nice going dumb ass

[littlemute]

WITCHCRAFT!

[tomterahedrob]

Do these Stirling engines have ceramic pistons and cylinders?

[semiliteratedgod]

cool stuff, put those freakin vast deserts to work

[kerogre256]

BlindDogFulton

I like my penis :-)

[kerogre256]

Just type in google 'IBM CPV Research' raw power from this panel is 230 watt but at the moment they extract just 70 Watt elecricity from 1 square centimeter. Sorry i cant explayn this more simply.

[kerogre256]

BlindDogFulton

Reality check for you, IBM have solar panel producing 70watt from 1cm2 its 7000Watt from 1m2, and they just start.

[BlindDogFulton]

Tell me, does using that terminology that few give a flying fuck about actually make you feel better about yourself and your ego? Or are you just compensating for an embarrassingly small penis?

[JamesGladun]

--------------------------

BlindDogFulton

Reality check for you, IBM have solar panel producing 70watt from 1cm2 its 7000Watt from 1m2, and they just start.

--------------------------

If this post not a post "duck",it is a cool perspective of a cool life!

[teemuruskeepaa]

If we were on the verge of extinction because of pollution, and there was no way to continue the present industrial capitalist economy, we would probably resort to the sterling engine. But the rich, middle aged upper class white males otherwise won't allow their profits to be taken away.

[BlindDogFulton]

Uh-HUH.

The idea that solar power can power our world alone is about as plausible as perpetual motion.

Just remember folks- If it's on TV, it's primary goal is to STAY ON TV. They will say whatever they can to get and keep attention.

It's almost comical. This makes me want to ponytail my hair, light a joint, go read "A People's History of the United States" and talk about whether or not something is "green" enough.

[LordTeaOfBiscuits]

dude everyday enough power from the sun falls on the surface of the earth to power the entirety of humanity for a year, if we can tap into even a thousandth of that then we'll solve the global warming crisis.

[BlindDogFulton]

Uh-huh. So... Are we even close? No. You hippies like to rip on the government so much and put out those statistics as to how much money is spent on national defense that could feed starving children or scholarships for people to lazy to make their own money. Do you know how much fucking green is spend on making things Green? Any clue? Billions of dollars are spent on dead end technology. How many starving children could you feed with how much dough it took to make those solar panels, huh?

[sacredgeometry]

Your dickhole of a country and mine have a invested interest in keeping it that way, considering the trillions spent on war in the last 7 yearsdont give me bollocks that green energy is not a worthy cause for investment.

Those trillions could have been spent feeding those people in 3rd world countries instead of blowing them to pieces for the last of the oil.

Think about what you say

Peace

Brian

[BlindDogFulton]

Oh, dissing countries are we? Well, well. Real intelligent, for a wanna-be intellectual.

"Green energy?" Ahaha! Do you know how many Ethiopians could have been fed with that money that is put into protecting against Global Warming or some other liberal-hippie bullshit? I pity you.

Oh and by the way-

*revs all-American 1971 Hemi Cuda to the redline, throws out the clutch and leaves a patch of molten rubber on precious Earth while getting less than 10 miles to the gallon*

Cheers.

[sacredgeometry]

maybe venture out of your culture-less country and realise that the west and its consumerism is destroying this planet, our planet... our fresh water supplies are rapidly becoming more polluted our lands becoming less fertile yet still the populations grow its not a matter of global warming. It's about not having an infrastructre to support the load of the planet ... we are relying on a system that will fail, it is unsustainable.

i'm sorry you are lacking the intelligence to realise that.

[Mawhrojhyutzai]

Greetings from BlindDogFulton.

My, my, my. The word "coward" does not even begin to describe you, my little European.

Couldn't take the heat? I guess you really did loose the argument. Don't fuck with people with side accounts.

Now, /you're/ blocked. On both accounts.

Cheers.

[mmysama]

Just one minor correction, the war cost 400 billion, a large amount but still pretty shy of a trillion.

[sacredgeometry]

correaction the post 9/11 war expendature is over 800 billion.... not to far off what i said

[sacredgeometry]

oh and yes i was making a dig but if you realise its not your country that's the problem its uneducated people like you, the capitalists that care more about what is economically viable and the governments that do not impose stricter rules on production letting people trade in emissions and dump thier waste. I am british and am as guilty in this as you are.

Btw you car is stone age made by chimps. In europe and asia we would have trouble getting so little power out of an engine that size.

:P

[Mawhrojhyutzai]

Search "George Carlin Save the Planet" and watch that video. He kills all your arguments, and he doesn't have a posting limit.

[sacredgeometry]

the comedian?

[sacredgeometry]

heat? no i just don't like moronic children that say things without thinking. Blocked? ... wait isn't that what i intended when i blocked you? oh well at least you saved me the trouble.

what good is a planet that cant support life? .. when i say life i mean me, you and everyone else. Behaving like a child revving your shit tin of a car to prove a point only serves you in two ways, you loose money and use up more of this limited resource.

Well done you douche

coward please, i don't hit kids.

[mmysama]

Theres an old saying I heard somewhere, "Wining an internet argument is like winning a medal at the special Olympics, even tho you win, you're still a retard."

[mmysama]

People care about what is economically viable and only impose sensible restrictions because they want to actually help the planet and the human condition. It is called being sensible and realistic. You remind me of how a lot of environmentalists are like watermelons. Green on the outside, red on the inside.

[sacredgeometry]

haha well put i know from having discussions with my father who is a great buisness mind that economics are the restricting factor in realising anything in the democratic/capitalistic world. I AM NOT AN ENVIRONMENTALIST! I am a me.

There is something called long term investment. Real investment doesn't only take into account money it takes into account the standard of life of the people of this world. It takes into account the full life and birth and death cycle of your products.

[sacredgeometry]

my brother is heading this new sort of business he is one of the companies working with the london Olympic Games to create a fully sustained and recyclable event. It is hard and stressful especially as most of the time it is not the most obvious economic solution... The skill come into finding a way to make it the cheaper solution. Some ways of this are using materials that can be resold regain capital which would otherwise be lost... there are lots of way.

Nice to talk with a real person

[c9ari]

This is very cool. You see many very cool Sterling Engines out there. But the Sterling Engine is like a working dog. They are fun to see, but funner to see them working and doing a job!

[joi76]

Sterling engines have nothing to do with Sterling dishes...

[laserguidedbrick]

Actually there is a Sterling Engine mounted in front of each dish which is what the sunlight is being focused on..

[0vrqq]

I am going to put this plain and simple for everyone. What is the purpose of fossil fuels? why do we use them? For cheap energy. What are the downsides? Lets say you have a coal plant next to river as well as one in denver city. ok well the fish will die unless you put precautions up such as filters those filters cost way to much. who cares about the fish? you do because that is food. now for denver. It is a city where pollution is trapped during the summer. thus a big haze and oh somebody died.

[novazee]

wouldn't this take too much space?

[slackbr]

No, a hidroeletrica takes more space per Kw. Stirlings engines are the almost perfect solution to areas close to the equator line. Here where I live is perfect possible each home have a individual stirling engine ...

[bigjules1234567890]

theres A LOT of space in the desert here in the US

in a place like europe yeah space woould be a problem but here nahh

[jamesjharvey]

i like the tags for this... ! Great idea that has been going for years. Just need the oil companies to realise this is the way forward and invest in further research. Which they probably will.

[twinkietrail]

well, severely decreased energy

[twinkietrail]

If we could power America with this, why don't we? that would mean free energy for everybody.

[shmuel33]

When these are sold for private use, then you can kiss fossil fuels goodbye. I do not see why these cannot fit into a yard or a shared open space that can power ten houses or more at a time. They do not need to be exclusively used in large projects.

[andresayz4545]

it would really depend on where you live but you have a very good point if you have 10 homes split the cost of one of these it would cost each homeowner about 2,500 dollars for each household, for free energy.......forever lol i would call that a damn fine investment but thats just my oppinion :-)

[l00zekk]

The planet does not need to be saved. The planet will still be here when we are gone

[kornigator]

This seems like a valid reason to keep using fossil fuel and killing everything that breaths.

[typeclash]

Yes, unless we want to make the world a place where we can live.

[MikeMotes]

as we die, plants grow. Increased CO2 and temperatures are only more optimal for plants.

[rainbowsalads]

@l00zekk just leave a poisoned mess for future species, after our millions upon millions of years of struggle , all we have learnt , all our great potential lost. why? because people cant be bothered to change our power systems. yeah, who cares, it wont happen in our lifetime.

[Pecherin72]

It will only be interesting when it can do more than 100kW output with the current dimensions and a 30 feet reflector.

[MikeMotes]

I believe the incoming radiation from the sun averages about 1 kw per square meter. The area of a dish with a 30 foot diameter is 66 square meters, so to get over 66 kw, I believe it would need to be made by God. It's great, if there really getting 25kw, but I'd be happy with 15 kw on average over a year.

[ilkjdsflkfj]

So what happens on a cloudy day, i understand the ones that focus the light on tower or something they can stay hot for quite awhile, and keep producing energy, but with out the sun these ones wont work.

[andresayz4545]

you could very easily put these in a system where they would be generating electricity and charging battery systems at the same time to make up for cloudy day but honestly in the environments they put these things into to achieve maximun efficiency (such as the Mojave) you really don't have much of a problem with the sunlight being readily available

[MarkFromHawaii]

Solar One project in the Mojave Desert with SCE?

[PAINSCOURT]

It's not up to congress, but ourselves to get the word out.now I have been advocating for this technology for some time now even on the radio as I was Politely cut off or a loss of connection that happened.Sept 16 of 06 was when I spoke to Jon C. Mankins former head of NASA R&D about the project against his solar sails in space on COAST TO COAST and also as a call in on the Matt Drudge show on Oscar night which I did record.The plan is as simple as sharing YouTube videos.PAIN

[FilmPA]

Where do I get one?

[sixpoint24]

WTF?!? America only has an energy problem because the people in the congress and senate are doing nothing to help America help itself

[solararity]

its great to see that someone is doing somenthing about it, great stuff. we have all the free clean energy lets use it

[quaheedus]

Free..how do you figure it is free?

[YawnXen]

I contacted the company. Their technology is not for sale. They only deal with utility companies. The technology uses hydrogen gas expansion to run the Stirling engine and produce electricity. They rate their units as producing 25kWh per day, but they could make as much as 60kWh per day. The 25kWh number is an underpromise. Each unit is 30 feet in diameter.

[fireofenergy]

25kw is the capacity. Times that by the number of hours per day for kWhours per day. They must be able to generate at least 100 kwh on an average sunny day. I would think that the solar power tower concept is better since they will be made to store heat in molten salt for (almost) 'round the clock generation. Any mirror scheme reduces global heat, a statement that no other source can claim! This is because all energy turns into heat while mirrors reflect some of already "there" heat to space!

[Hamking1]

No, it reflects the heat into the solar collector at the center of the unit. Global warming is a scam to introduce more taxes and more control for the government. Don't believe Al Gore; He's not a scientist. see the: petitionproject

[0vrqq]

and thats why Nikola tesla said not to use fossil fuels. Hum sounds to me like a scientist proving you incorrect.

[Caiallard]

Tesla?  Really? He was a madman.

[typeclash]

Perhaps he was but he was also a genius.

[laserguidedbrick]

And Edison was a thief.

[teflon]

This doesn't appear to be like any stirling engine I have seen. I would have liked a better explanation than the one given. This seems similar to another project I read, where the sun would be focused by many mirror units onto a single point, which would store the heat in underground molten sodium tanks for off-peak usage.

[dcwarnow]

you spelled Stirling incorrectly - the way you have it is sterling as in sterling silver

[Hazzard0]

damn treehuggers

[Bleezz]

I love seeing advances in renewable technologies (who doesn't like something for nothing?). but it still has a lot of issues. with 20000 units, you could produce 500MW and supply 200,000 homes with electricity, unfortunately thats still just spit in the bucket for a big city with high rise office buildings and industrial production. and an average coal or nuclear plant produces about 1000MW, double what this will do... for much less... and will be unaffected by weather... its not a solution yet

[mysty0]

each one produces 2.5kw and a house can use that in a day... so your looking at 1 per house

ok i used to be all for solar but that one helluva lotta those things

[Sol170385]

Its 25kw so 1 per 10 houses.

[mysty0]

ah i hate when i make mistakes lol...

i watched it again and heard where he said that.

[Sol170385]

Hehe, i know the feeling

[leitermann]

It's funny that everything on Earth is already solar powered. Almost all life is solar powered through photosynthesis, or once or twice removed from that, & all fossil fuels are made of former life, really all the energy on this planet (not to mention the planet itself) came from the sun back in the day. Fossil fuels are really all quite inefficient, what with all the waiting for millions of years. It's quicker just letting energy come straight to us, free shipping in 10mins or less guaranteed!

[pkscolax]

Not to mention we don't have to pay the sun anything for it. Sure sounds better than ~$4/gallon.

[neoartifact]

THIS is what the fossil fuel companies fear. Earth has many (and will have more) desserts which are vast and always open to the sun. Our use of that open land can bring new economies to the Earth.

[ssfrench]

If one of those dishes can power 10 homes, I can have a much smaller scale model in my back yard. I can probably even store excess energy for use at night. Imagine if we all made our own power? That would be sweet!

[angelcruzpr]

This IS a great alternative to: Coal, Corn, Nuclear, Petroleoum, and even the futuristik Fision.

The Corn use for Ethanol is a total waste of food. Agae is a better alternative for that.

[magnusea]

Both fission and fusion power is okay! (New fission power more 10 to 100 times as efficient than the old one, and no nuclear waste problem.)

This is like wind power. Lots of energy comsuming mechanics and maintenance, and you have to store the produced energy for dark nights and winters. How?

[Dwarfy666]

Man you´re so stupid you need a helmet!

[IAlechZI]

actually parts of the fusion reactor core need to be replaced continuously because of neutron collisions. These waste parts a highly radioactive....

[BanjoNaps]

what has changed? technology? It is an 200 year old engine and mirrors. We have been lied to and that is all. If we hadn't lost the lenses used in old light houses we would be in even better shape.

[ReisendeEuropa]

200 years eh? let's see the age of a few things that modern life would be very different without.. steam turbine 1900yr, gunpowder 2000yr, rocketry 600yr, electricity 250yr.. think about these things when you use a computer, gps, take a flight, or even turn on a lamp. these generators put out no emissions, only electricity. technology is the application of knowledge and this is the application of the knowledge of the stirling engine and solar power

[BanjoNaps]

its still not impressive. We should have been doing this 30 years ago if not more. Its just to late now.

[ReisendeEuropa]

30 years ago no one cared or those who did were considered tree hugging hippies.. now it is everyone's concern. however, we can't just blame modern technology. we can look at over 400 years of using coal or wood in large quanities, not to mention burning large areas of grassland and forests to clear for agricultural use. also, we must look at paved areas. these not only absorb heat in the day but retain it and radiate it back at night. there are over 98,000 sq/km of paved area just in the us.

[ReisendeEuropa]

if you walk across a street barefoot in the summertime, just think of how much heat there is contanied in that small area under your feet, then think of the amount of heat that is retained by all the pavement in the world. one simple idea would be to stop using asphalt based pavement and go back to using the lighter colored concrete that absorbs less heat. technology is changing all the time but sometimes the older ideas are actually better than the new.

[mastior]

In Px. Az. you can't walk across the street bare foot, with out serious burns.

[mastior]

Maybe not, Earth is predicted to be around for another 4 to 5 billion years. Imagine the revenue ? hahaha tax's too. And the Grind Continues

[TasteOfSteel]

sex and boobs are in tabs LOL

[ShinsengumiTaicho1]

Can we just buy a scaled down version of these that puts some of the energy into a battery for night time and then never pay an energy bill again? Pretty please?

[Frogmjf]

yes they already sell them.. look up sterling energy co.

[ShinsengumiTaicho1]

I'm sorry, I can't find a link to the scaled down version on their website.  Would you message me a link? That would be awesome. Thank you.

[Frogmjf]

you looking for a model version of it? or one you can use for your house?... Models of them are available at gyroscopes(dot)com and work with only a 4 degree temperature difference...

[mastior]

It's Stirling

[kardrak]

Along with Fusion power this is the best alternative.

[HAL11000]

Solar power is fusion energy.

[aflacduky]

much better than solar cell i think but man at the upkeep i hope there motors were better than the one i built "im sure they are "LOL

[dawnrodgers]

please listen to my song and video

[soylentgreenb]

I don't think so. That's just peak shaving. Good solar thermal has enough heat storage to last through the night and smooth out the output.

[ChooseVegitation]

I think we should all try and save the world

[aflacduky]

i agree

[jbphot0]

Sterling engines are like car engines, too many moving parts, too much service required a 100 MW project would be a maintenance nightmare. Although the thermal storage is good for peak shaving.

Stick to concentrating photovoltaics!

[Proneural]

I don't think so.. sterling engines are relatively simple.

[mrmcgee210]

wht do you keep spreading these lies about stirling engines.

[LTF85199]

Photovoltaics or solar panels are 1/3 as effecient as solar sterling engines (including the friction losses due to moving parts you mentioned)

[jbphot0]

ah, now were getting somewhere. Yes a sterling engine on a concentrating dish can get to around 30% total sun to electricity. PV on that same dish can get to around 20% using III-V cells. However you have to keep working all day to make energy, and the SES dishes don't yet do that. Today CPV wins. Hopefully SES will get their act together.

[HOPPERFZR]

not true they are way less complex that a gasoline engine

[JTMarlin8]

Solar power is good, but the best source of power is human power, people pedaling bicycle generators.

[jojo808]

the sun grows the food you would eat to pedal the bike to power that generator. At each step there is a measure of Power Loss. But think of a 'spin class' that generated power to run fans to cool you down, or even recharge an electric bicycle battery for the trip home! The trick is finding the most efficient application for human power ,generating power while doing our everyday chores.

[JTMarlin8]

I was joking, humans are worthless when it comes to real power. A pro cyclist can only generate about 400-500 watts.

[jojo808]

Aww.. my friend ,you did some research.:). Still human power is power. Like any other source it can be harnessed with the proper applications.

[JTMarlin8]

You don't get it, do you? A PRO cyclist, e.g. a TDF racer generates a sustained power output of 400-500 watts on a hill climb. An average person generates maybe 1/4 of that ON A BIKE. On foot, everyone generates much less power, and "everyday activies", even less. 1KW-hr costs between 10 and 30 cents depending on where you live and how much power you use monthly. Nobody except super eco-mentalist freaks are going to harness human power for electricity.

[2Shye]

Just find a way to extract the fat from humans and burn it like fuel LOL..

killing 2 birds with one stone..

hahaha

[noudge]

If in time this system is viable and consequently the the earth is run out of fossil fuel, it isn't bad for the arabs though. Their place was suitable for this kind of technolgy. Then, why some arabs still try to invest on killing the west.?

[Bagpipe13]

about blooming time.

[HAL11000]

Great!