sorgatz%sdcsvax@ttidca.tti.com ( Avatar) (03/04/90)
In article <Feb.27.18.11.09.1990.28650@athos.rutgers.edu> isr@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Michael S. Schechter - ISR group account) writes: + +I'm curious to see if people out there can think of effective energy +storage methods involving nanotechnology? +or possibly direct light powering of any of the above, getting rid +of the Light->electricity->Storage->electricity cycle, giving us +direct Light->Storage->Kinetic Energy?? + +[Primarily in the cost arena, since the highest efficiency cells now + are not economical. However, with nanotech, high-efficiency conversion + may be remarkably simple: there's a good chance that you could just + build arrays of tuned dipole rectennas at optical frequencies! + Best storage methods will probably involve creating and storing + HEDM ("high energy-density matter") forms, using nanotech to store + them stably. Single-H, anyone? + --JoSH] Better yet, why not brainstorm up a nano/biotech goodie that operates like a hybrid between green plant (solarcell) and reverse fuelcell ?? Use nanotech and bioengineering in tandem to do the job, thusly; sunlight->(nanotech converter) --> methanol + small waste heat fraction ^ ^ air & SMOG--------| | | water-------------| * this perhaps from vapor in the air? After all, the current method for producing methyl alcohol involves the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide..something we have plenty of! The use of methanol as a portable-energy supply is much better in terms of the total pollution factors than, say, lead-acid storage batteries. This is due to the acid-vapor that lead-acid cells outgas during the use/charge cycles. Very low pollution numbers compared to gasoline & diesel fuels. {Speculative Engineering mode ON!} The common chlorophyll might be augmented by means nanotech to do such a job..some assemblers to rearrange the starch outputs into methyl-alcohol and the fractional waste heat of their labors...Hmmmmm. sunlight (Hybrid Technology Converter Ver 1.0) / / --------------- / \ water / \ <--lens + =================== air =================== inputs =================== <--modified chlorophyll layers w/air passages >>>> =================== >>>> =================== =================== \\\\\\\\\////////// <--starch digestion & fermentation layers \\\\\\\\\////////// (perhaps a form of bioengineered yeast?) \\\\\\\\\////////// \\\\\\\\\////////// ................... ................... ................... <--true nanotech layers, assemblers rearrange ................... total alcohols fraction into desired product: methanol, isopropanol, Jack Black ;-) \ / \ filtering / \ / ----> unreacted water (recycle into top) | final output | ~~~~~> Waste heat from assemblers, alcohols make ------------------ great coolant! Well....something to think about...all rights public-domain...your lawyer can find some loophole or other anyway so have fun! :-) -- -Avatar-> (aka: Erik K. Sorgatz) KB6LUY +-------------------------+ Citicorp(+)TTI *----------> panic trap; type = N+1 * 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 +-------------------------+ {csun,philabs,psivax,pyramid,quad1,rdlvax,retix}!ttidca!sorgatz ** [My guess is, the booze part isn't so much of a joke, and you'll see it happen; but nowhere near the volume you'd need for fuel. Enough CO (a poisonous gas) in the air to be an irritant is one thing, enough to make into fuel is another. But mix that waste heat with the product (better make it ethanol!) and you'd have a hot toddy plant. Remember that Isaac Asimov, in Pebble in the Sky, published 40 years ago, had his people drinking drinks precisely mixed "by molecular count"! --JoSH]
cphoenix@csli.stanford.edu (Chris Phoenix) (03/06/90)
In article <Mar.3.19.58.42.1990.6561@athos.rutgers.edu> sorgatz%sdcsvax@ttidca.tti.com ( Avatar) writes: > After all, the current method for producing methyl alcohol involves the >hydrogenation of carbon monoxide..something we have plenty of! The use of >methanol as a portable-energy supply is much better in terms of the total >pollution factors than, say, lead-acid storage batteries. This is due to >the acid-vapor that lead-acid cells outgas during the use/charge cycles. >Very low pollution numbers compared to gasoline & diesel fuels. This may seem like a useless nit to pick, but I suspect a lot of technology-dreamers are limiting themselves the same way. Acid-vapor outgassing? With a sealed diamond-shell battery?? With a nanotech fuel cell to recombine the H2 and O2? Or maybe even nanotech- built electrodes that don't outgas? As long as we're assuming nanotech, let's assume that we can build things without worrying about environmental costs--because it's so easy to contain and clean up! -- Chris Phoenix | "I've spent the last nine years structuring my cphoenix@csli.Stanford.EDU | life so that this couldn't happen." ...And I only kiss your shadow, I cannot see your hand, you're a stranger now unto me, lost in the dangling conversation, and the superficial sighs...