Quote:
Originally Posted by martyh
the problem i see with solar is a it's not that efficient and b it's no good in places like britain .We would still be held over a barrel by countries that it does work in
Earl of Bronze has got the right idea ,massive investment in nuclear fusion ,this would give us self sufficiency
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Not quite mate. Solar power is efficient, in fact it can be extremely efficient. Its merely the photo-voltaic cells which convert blue light into electric voltage, which are inefficient. Usually only a few percent. Stirling engines have been used successfully for solar power, and they are the most efficient engines ever devised by man (65+% efficiency).
On the subject of nuclear fusion, I worked as a fusion engineer/scientist for 5 years on the largest experiment fusion reactor and project in the world. No kidding.
Fusion power is nowhere in sight, probably 70 years before a working powerstation can be realised. The technical difficulties are insurmountable, and is just a money pit for the taxpayer, which is why I now design chemical plants for a living
I would really like to see fusion nuclear power, as the abundance of deuterium would supply us with all the power we needed for centuries, potentially. However, the technology just isn't here. The temperatures we were seeing in our prototype toroidal field torus reactor were in the region of in excess of 100 million deg C. Nothing on earth will withstand it (the reactor could only run for a few seconds at a time), and high energy neutrons constantly permeate the structural components, wearing them down and causing dangerous imbrittlement. Man cannot harness gravity, therefore cannot defend against neutral (neutron) high energy particles. The neutrons keep going until they hit something, and if they hit the right atom at the right angle, the atom will become an unstable isotope, creating serious difficulties for disposal, as it then becomes radioactive waste.
This is what's killing fusion.
If interested, we can discuss in much greater detail - in fact to ad nauseum if you wish.
---------- Post added at 22:15 ---------- Previous post was at 22:10 ----------
Here's a link to a stirling engine solar power array:
http://www.power-technology.com/projects/victorville/
Worth a read, but there is much more to read, a quick Google with bring up enough to keep you busy for a while.