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[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

I would like to know any of your ideas on an actual clean energy source or sources
Logical ways to collect this clean energy
ways to implement this clean source of energy in everyday situations

For example:
My uncle has his entire house powered by solar panels and then some so he gets $20 a month from the power company.

Also does anyone have a similar situation that is actually happening?

[kaijyuu]

Giant mirrors in outer space beaming additional sunlight to the Earth's surface.

[i2amroy]

Really the big problem in modern clean energy isn't gathering/harnessing it, but is rather making it reliable. Most renewable energy sources are inherently unreliable, (solar requires it to be sunny, wind energy requires wind, and so on). However if you've got a demand for power (say at a hospital) that demand doesn't go away just because the sun stop shining, or at night, or if the wind dies. Unless we can come up with better methods of gathering and storing renewable clean energy to be able to provide it when it's needed (and to ensure for reliable energy even if you go longer periods without wind/sun) then it's a fairly useless source.

[10ebbor10]

Well, define Clean and also Energy.

For clean, do you mean low carbon emission, low environmental damage, low death/MW ratio, low pollutant emission, something that looks beautifull in the environement.

For Energy, do you want something that produce electricity, something that produces energy, or something that produces energy reliably.

[mainiac]

Giant mirrors in outer space beaming additional sunlight to the Earth's surface.

It would be more efficient to put solar panels in space and then convert the energy to microwaves before sending it to earth.  The loss in transmission and needed safety margin would be much lower because the atmospheric interference wouldn't affect microwaves very much.  It also greatly improves the reliability of the power supply and means that you don't need excess capacity to avoid wasting energy.  Plus it simplifies the infrastructure because a microwave receiving station is far simpler then a solar array so if you have a solar system in space you can build the infrastructure for a huge demand in days or even hours after, say, a natural disaster.  Downside is that although the solar array is less net weight then a mirror array (because you need to capture about 20% as much illumination), it's more complicated meaning more maintenance done in orbit.

[Moghjubar]

Typically, you get far more use out of making efficient use out of what you have rather than just going straight for clean energy.  Of course, if you are going to make clean energy work you probably have to make everything efficient anyway so....

Anyway, only thing related I'm actually doing is water management: collecting air conditioner water runoff for use later & shorter showers so less energy expenditure heating em up (plus of course slowly making house more insulated).

Have looked into solar panels and stuff.  I think the yrs to repay is something like 10-15 yrs now?  Slowly but steadily becoming more affordable.

[i2amroy]

Have looked into solar panels and stuff.  I think the yrs to repay is something like 10-15 yrs now?  Slowly but steadily becoming more affordable.

I'm pretty sure that they've gotten them down to the 5-7 year period where I'm at (AZ, so pretty much the sunniest place in the US). Really I'm expecting to see some big booms once we get it down to the 2-4 year range, since at that point it would even be worth it for people who are just renting stuff.

[10ebbor10]

Both solutions are ridicously expensive, and not going to be realized in the next 50 years. On a side note, such a microwave capturing installation would be more than 10 km* in size. Not something you can build in a few hours.

*Smaller is possible, but then you have to change wavelengths, resulting in increased absorption and power blockage by meteorologically events. (Which defeats the entire solar power on a sunny day idea).

Anyway, next post will contain a comparative analysis of most mundane power sources.

[GlyphGryph]

Pretty sure nothing about putting things in space is clean.

[Graknorke]

Since I live in a country where you can't get far from water, I am hugely biased towards tidal, wave, wind, and hydroelectric power.
They are all wonderful and amazing and we should exploit them violently.

[10ebbor10]

Since I live in a country where you can't get far from water, I am hugely biased towards tidal, wave, wind, and hydroelectric power.
They are all wonderful and amazing and we should exploit them violently.

Hardly clean with all the environemental damage they do, destroying entire ecosystems and such.

Unrelated: You should read this

[Graknorke]

Since I live in a country where you can't get far from water, I am hugely biased towards tidal, wave, wind, and hydroelectric power.
They are all wonderful and amazing and we should exploit them violently.

Hardly clean with all the environemental damage they do, destroying entire ecosystems and such.

Unrelated: You should read this

I'm getting the impression here that your conclusion will be more or less "We're fucked and should give up".

[Sergarr]

Since I live in a country where you can't get far from water, I am hugely biased towards tidal, wave, wind, and hydroelectric power.
They are all wonderful and amazing and we should exploit them violently.

Hardly clean with all the environemental damage they do, destroying entire ecosystems and such.

Unrelated: You should read this

I'm getting the impression here that your conclusion will be more or less "We're fucked and should give up".

So hostile. Very anger. Wow.

[Graknorke]

Since I live in a country where you can't get far from water, I am hugely biased towards tidal, wave, wind, and hydroelectric power.
They are all wonderful and amazing and we should exploit them violently.

Hardly clean with all the environemental damage they do, destroying entire ecosystems and such.

Unrelated: You should read this

I'm getting the impression here that your conclusion will be more or less "We're fucked and should give up".

So hostile. Very anger. Wow.

You have funny definitions of hostility and anger.

[10ebbor10]

More that there's no perfect solution, but yeah.