alt.energy.renewable

bill wrote:

> Once again, it's a plan that sounds good, and hell, maybe it has its
> uses, but it isn't even a beginning of a start of a consideration of
> how this problem may ultimately be solved. How many of your units
> have you sold (please answer in gigawatts)? Simply put, NO, we do not
> have a solution to this problem, not at all.

This is a simple red herring.

If you have no complete solution ("magic bullet") that can be
implemented in a meaningful time frame - and if you reject
composite solutions that _can_, then you've just declared
intellectual bankruptcy.

I'm willing to consider a composite solution, and provided an
actual example of a structure kept comfortably warm using energy
from the sun. It's real - and the owner has said he's willing to
show it off to anyone interested.

Like many other business owners, I've developed contingency plans
for a number of possible situations. One of those was an attempt
to answer the question: "If some unthinkable disaster took place,
how long would it take me to provide panels for every
single-family residence in Iowa?" I made a number of assumptions
dealing with availability of materials, workforce, transport, etc
and determined that it'd take just over a year to produce that
quantity.

The retail price tag would be less than that of funding US
military operations in Iraq for a single month. Not cheap, but
definitely feasible.

Now Iowa isn't a "big population" state and the contingency plan
doesn't do anything for large apartment complexes or high rise
buildings in major metro areas (of which Iowa doesn't have many).
That plan could be replicated elsewhere without undue
complication for a comparable cost.

The scalable solar-powered fluidyne engine development project is
underway and our large engine is running. It's not yet performing
as well as we intend - but we'll get there. The effort could go
faster if we could spend more than two or three man-hours/week
and $50/month on the project but, fortunately, no one involved
has any great need for instant gratification.

In pump configuration, that engine will move a bit over 1000
gallons/hour - enough for a village water supply or typical
agricultural irrigation application. By scaling the engine up,
it'll be suitable for pumped hydroelectric operations.

Not all of us are so ready to declare defeat.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/