talkmagic.co.uk

A great TED talk that first covers the economy but after that's dealt with the lecture goes onto where science is at....fascinating

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/juan ... ience.html

Now you can see why I do robotics! There are some wicked developments on the horizon. Now, if we can just get from fossil fuels to solar...

I have my money on nuclear fusion, hydrogen powercells and monkeys on bikes power

greedoniz wrote:I have my money on nuclear fusion, hydrogen powercells and monkeys on bikes power

Vote monkey government!

According to the documentary "A Crude Awakening" nuclear material will run out shortly. It's solar or nothing It's stark and authoritative in stating the facts. We've only been using oil for only 200 years but our use is increasing year on year. We used up exactly half the global oil reserves by ...wait for it... December 1970 (that's called peak production). Since then, no new oil has been found (North Sea Oil was discovered in the late 1960s). Oil was only made in two short bursts in the prehistoric era. We are, as a planet, addicted to this dwindling resource for all the things we make out of it, and not just fuel. Saudi is running out. Russia is running out. Lots of other places are running out. However, Iraq still has good oil reserves. We need Iraq to be "friendly", even if they are only so at the barrel of a gun.

Any road up, that "Big Dog" by Boston Dynamics looks brilliant, if a little creepy. We can all ride around on them instead of using cars!

Tomo, you might have your finger on this pulse: are we any closer to nuclear fusion? It's a while since my physics teacher explained it all to me, but am I right in thinking: we can technically "do" nuclear fusion, we just can't find a way to do it safely or store the energy it gives off?

I'm not Tomo but I did see an episode of Horizon which was all about Nuclear fusion.
There are several facilities currently trying to be the first to pull this off.

From what I gather the idea is use electromagnets to contain the plasma emitted from nuclear fusion and at the moment it is possible to do so but the power emitted matches the power it takes to contain it.

Most of the experts predicted between 20 and 50 years before the first commercial fusion reactor goes online.

Farlsborough wrote:Tomo, you might have your finger on this pulse: are we any closer to nuclear fusion? It's a while since my physics teacher explained it all to me, but am I right in thinking: we can technically "do" nuclear fusion, we just can't find a way to do it safely or store the energy it gives off?

Well, you need a small power station to generate the energy needed for sustained fusion events. The reactors that have been built are just experimental proof of concept machines. The main problem is that plasma is highly unpredictable stuff, so fusion is a non-starter for the foreseeable future. Interestingly, Horizon reported a couple of years ago that part of the sudden interest in the Moon by countries with no interest in landing men there is because of the high grade pumice stone it contains. It's thought to be just the stuff to line fusion reactors and help control the plasma long enough to be useful. Whether fusion will become reality before oil runs out is doubtful. With solar power, you only have to focus the sun to boil water to drive a turbine hall (or convert sunlight directly using photovoltaic cells) and you have lots of leccy. It's thought that the deserts of the southern US could provide all the US's electric power. If I remember correctly, sub-Saharan Africa could provide the sum total of the world's electrical power.

Perhaps the real problem we face is that fuel is only a tiny use we have for oil.

....and dont forget monkeys on bikes

greedoniz wrote:....and dont forget monkeys on bikes

Aye. It's the future!

Tomo wrote:Perhaps the real problem we face is that fuel is only a tiny use we have for oil.

Well, yes, that and the fact that, in the UK, you would be using your solar power stations as often as the sun roofs on your cars ...... hihihi

Sorry, that was a discussion for grown-ups, me go home.

Go Areva, go!