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Raven Luni

Oct 15, 2011
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Greetings,

I decided not to call this 'free energy' since that would attract space hippies. Its just daft ideas about where you can scrounge electricity from your everyday environment. Some are better than others obviously but lets see how many we can think of nomatter how silly / pointless they are. Here are a few to start with:

- Solar cells (obvious one). These arent too bad actually. I've got some cheap ones that put out a maximum of 4V @ 100mA (although I havent quite achieved that so far).

- Wind power. Some people are putting small turbines in their gardens these days. My nephew used to work for a company that built them.

- Tap water turbine. They use energy to pump it to our homes, why not take some of that energy back out of it (and dont blame me if it catches on and there are unexpected drought warnings)

- The phone line. Possibly illegal and definitely risky. A sufficiently low impedance on your phone line will at best raise alrms and at worst cause damage but if youve got the skills and the cunning theres 50V up for grabs there.

- Radio waves. Not really worth the effort for the pathetic amount of energy youd get but still valid.

- Radioactive decay (as mentioned in another topic). I'm not touching this one with a barge pole but if you feel like dimly lighting an LED for a few years grab yourself a couple of tons of funky stuff :p

- Natural kinetic energy. Who says you need a bike and some excersise - simply strap a bunch of magnets and copper coils all over your body and say its the latest fashion accessory

- Piezo crystals. If you put enough of these in a high vibration area like a road or rail bridge (or even a fault line) you might get something useful. And it will keep on giving right till the end even in that controlled explosion when the bomb squad dispose of the suspicious device under the bridge (I heard a funny story of this happening to a £1500 bat detector which had been left to record)
 
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CocaCola

Apr 7, 2012
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Since a majority of 'modern world' power is used for heating and cooling...

Geothermal, I'm really surprised this isn't exploited more... In my area the ground temp rarely goes above 60F in the peek of summer, that is a lot of cooling power that could be exploited in the summer... And at 50F during the winter it's still a decent +20F heat source when outside temps are bellow 30F...

Also reflective solar, again something not exploited to the full potential in residential construction... Even poorly designed 'reflective solar' like green houses have a huge temp lift in the winter during daylight hours... I say poorly designed because they are far from exploiting the suns full potential as designed, due to fact that it's supposed to be a more controlled environment not a heat catcher/generator...

And last but not least a buried cable to your neighbors house...
 

Harald Kapp

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Google "energy harvesting" - don't blame me but others have thought about this before.

Harald
 

donkey

Feb 26, 2011
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there are so many different ways to make nergy, but the weirdest part is we still burn things to make heat which is used to turn a turbine to create electricity... to create heat....... that still perplexes me.
I have a good friend (who thinks himself a mad scientist... i don't think he is a scientist though) who came up with a few funny ideas but my favourite is storing heat in water using a magnifying glass (a nice 3 metre one).... its an energy alternative but it still seems a little out there.
salt water batteries are what I am looking at atm, dunno bout the possibilities or the average AH or size yet, but with so much saltwater I like the idea.
 

CocaCola

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i don't think he is a scientist though) who came up with a few funny ideas but my favourite is storing heat in water using a magnifying glass (a nice 3 metre one)....

Hardly a new idea, it's already being done full scale using mirrors to boil water and drive steam turbines...

The reason we turn most of the created 'energy' into electricity is because it's the most economical and efficient way to transfer the energy from point A to B... Especially as the distance increases... Just think of how hard it would be to pump that hot water into houses to heat them, imagine the loss and energy needed to just pump that hot water a mile or two down the road...
 

Raven Luni

Oct 15, 2011
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salt water batteries are what I am looking at atm, dunno bout the possibilities or the average AH or size yet, but with so much saltwater I like the idea.

Why not just stick a couple of giant electrodes in the sea :p
 

donkey

Feb 26, 2011
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lol at raven. its a great concept I say.

anyway as for cc's comment is the home owner can put said item into their house to create heat. the only issue I had was turning the dang thing off, and protecting the glass. its a great concept but as with all things it needs a few people smarter than my friend (who still checks 9volts on his tongue) to get it all sorted out.

I like the idea of using the ambient radio waves and sounds to create electricity. in reality its a small amount but having said that a lot of small amounts equals to 1 big amount.
also telluric current is yet another possibility as is tidal generators, microwave plants (always loved this idea, so stupidly complex) as well as others. the big issue is getting people working on them to a point where we can say this is green energy and cost effective.
 

JMW

Jan 30, 2012
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Since a majority of 'modern world' power is used for heating and cooling...

Geothermal, I'm really surprised this isn't exploited more... In my area the ground temp rarely goes above 60F in the peek of summer, that is a lot of cooling power that could be exploited in the summer... And at 50F during the winter it's still a decent +20F heat source when outside temps are bellow 30F...

My understanding is the corrosion caused by the really toxic substances found in geo wells, decomposes the supply lines. Regardless of whether or not fresh or groundwater is used.
 

CocaCola

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My understanding is the corrosion caused by the really toxic substances found in geo wells, decomposes the supply lines. Regardless of whether or not fresh or groundwater is used.

Doesn't need to be 'well' the ground aka soil/clay itself can be used... Consider a deep cave, as soon as you get past the exposed entrance, winter or summer they regulate the heat real well inside... Same with basements in houses, it's amazing how much easier they are to regulate vs the surface floors... And last but not least, partially buried houses, using the soil and turf as an insulator on three sides and the top...

Also the new wave in burial pipe is PEX (polyethylene) it's for the most part impervious to most corrosive substances... It doesn't conduct heat as well as metal but it has other obvious advantages...
 

KrisBlueNZ

Sadly passed away in 2015
Nov 28, 2011
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FYI an interesting video covering two Linear Technology devices for energy harvesting from thermoelectric and solar cell sources:
 

poor mystic

Apr 8, 2011
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:)
...for a while I wanted a long, small diameter tunnel through granite to heat water and generate electricity, but then I realised that our needs will always rise to meet availabilty, and now I think we'd be better off just using less energy.
I also mention that while I'm among those most likely to be called a space hippy, I am not also loony.
<3
 
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(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
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Hi there Mark. Good to hear from you again.

I'm waiting for paint-on solar panels at maybe $100 for a 2 litre tin :)
 

poor mystic

Apr 8, 2011
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There's quite a lot of current available at the top of a mountain, if you could get at it safely. The current arises due to the fact that the Earth attains a negative charge during solar evaporation of water. The charge migrates to the nearest high point and leaks off into the atmosphere, allowing raindrops to coalesce and letting it rain.
A possible means of getting at this source of power might be a network of spikes connected to one of the gold plates of a distilled water dielectric capacitor. The other plate of the capacitor would be connected to earth. A DC supply would be drawn from across the capacitor. Somehow, voltage would be regulated, which is where the idea loses all credibility.

I refuse all responsibility for the consequences to anybody in the event of someone trying this!
 
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donkey

Feb 26, 2011
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hey mystic haven't seen you for a while. any way to keep on topic with this thread you wanna make an earth battery? tully might be the best place or Atherton as the soil needs moisture and you know as well as I how wet those areas are. Brisbane is ok place to try it but not having much luck atm with the thing working. I am tryinga fewspots around the yard lol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_battery
 

poor mystic

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:)
yes well, sometimes my little jokes go too far...
I don't know this "Earth Battery" concept, but what I have described amounts to getting power from lightning, and I won't be trying it myself since I don't wish to reinvent the light bulb, using myself as the filament.
Sorry!
:D
 

donkey

Feb 26, 2011
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lol I thought your idea was for lightning originally. but the earth battery was a technic used to boost signal on the old telegraph system. I am very dubious this will create huge quantities of voltage but yet it is another for of alternate energy that is out there.
 
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