Comments on: New Solar Dish from MIT Powerful Enough to Melt Solid Steel

By: Stacie

Stacie — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:54:21 +0000

Didn’t I see this on Mythbusters? Why are we supposed to be impressed…is it the application they are proud of?

By: Edward

Edward — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:30:31 +0000

Yes I’m completely serious. Nuclear power is THE safest and cleanest, and the second cheapest, power source we have.

Actually the waste technically stays radioactive forever. The waste problem has been solved a long time ago. Anyone who tells you otherwise simply doesn’t know what they are talking about. I can explain in more detail if you want, but the information is out there if you steer clear of the patent liars like greenpeace & co.

I think you are refering to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_thermal_power_stations. There are two kinds of concentrated solar, one that uses the heat like a traditional carnot engine, and the other that uses semiconductors (PV) to produce electricity. They are both uneconomical fantasies. Expensive, unreliable, require huge amounts of land. Wind and Solar only make sense when there is a lack of grid electricity infrastructure. I mean, the difference is galactic: solar ~200 Watts/m^2 (and even then only half the time), nuclear fission is 90,000,000,000,000 Joules per kilogram.

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:44:25 +0000

Nuclear power !! Are you serious ? Aren’t you aware the waste is radioactive for 10,000 years!!! If you can’t see that solar is the way forward you’ve obviously had your head someplace where the sun don’t shine !!!
The concentration they are talking about can also be used to heat an oil substance, which retains its heat over a longer period of time. There are also developments that don’t use a fluid as a medium, with the sunlight directly charging a battery…the answer is on the horizon, would be here by now if it wasn’t for the idiot Ronald Reagan killing off the impetus for development so many yrs ago.

By: Edward

Edward — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:15:52 +0000

eh. I looked at this area of technology. there are all sorts of problems related to heat dissipation and the like with the semiconductors that they are using at the focal power. concentrated solar, which by the way is quite a well established technology unlike what you say, is still ultimately bound by the low density characteristic of sun light (~200 watts/meter^2), and the unreliability of the source. Places which use this technology for grid power have huge government subsidies to make them competitive, and still have to run coal plants anyway to make up for the shortfall when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. it also takes a large amount of time and energy to crank up a coal plant, so they effectively have to run them the whole time anyway.

wind and solar energy are a waste of time and resources for grid power. Nuclear power is the way forward and has been for decades now. I think its tragic that misguided environmentalists have been successful in delaying the construction of new nuclear power stations in america.

By: Garfield

Garfield — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:23:48 +0000

Wow! The MIT team are up to quite a number of things at the moment. I hadn’t heard of this though. Solar PV has long suffered from being inefficient. Maybe thats all about to change.