[ExI] Lack of interest

[Kevin H]

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 2:31 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:

> Solar power is not just proven technology. Kurzweil claims it is on an
> exponential path heading for a solar singularity within 20 years.
> <http://www.livescience.com/environment/080219-kurzweil-solar.html>
> Quote:
> Now futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil is part of distinguished panel
> of engineers that says solar power will scale up to produce all the
> energy needs of Earth's people in 20 years.
> There is 10,000 times more sunlight than we need to meet 100 percent
> of our energy needs, he says, and the technology needed for collecting
> and storing it is about to emerge as the field of solar energy is
> going to advance exponentially in accordance with Kurzweil's Law of
> Accelerating Returns.


That's awesome if it occurs.  But just like the original Moore's Law, you
never know when they'll hit technical or physical limitations.


> And Google is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in wind and
> solar power for it's server farms.
> <http://www.livescience.com/environment/071128-ap-green-google.html>


Thanks for linking to this.  My appreciation for Google never stops
increasing.  One gigawatt is a lot of power, though the article wasn't too
specific.  Is Google planning on generating *all* of it's power needs plus
excess to sell to others?


> And then there's this guy in California building multi-rotor miniature
> windmills that can power your house (while the wind blows).
> <http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-05/ten-times-turbine>
> Quote:
> Today's largest wind farms are the size of small towns, made up of
> turbines 30 stories tall with blades the size of 747 wings. Those
> behemoths produce a great deal of power, but manufacturing,
> transporting, and installing them is both expensive and difficult, and
> back orders are common as the industry grows by more than 40 percent a
> year. The solution, says inventor Doug Selsam, is to think smaller:
> Capture more power with less material by putting 2, 10, someday dozens
> of smaller rotors on the same shaft linked to the same generator.


Yeah, I've already seen this.  But it's one of those articles that make me
wonder, most of it is hype.  It's an article about a prototype so it's sort
of wait and see.

Alternative energy is just starting. You ain't seen nuthin' yet!


I hope so.  But I think one thing to consider is that the population is also
increasing exponentially, and so are living standards and the amount of
energy used per capita.

Kevin
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