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Comment: Re:Not at all efficient (Score 1) 80

by MiniMike (#43685187) Attached to: Plug Into a Plant: a New Approach To Clean Energy Harvesting

From TFA:

Plants are the undisputed champions of solar power. After billions of years of evolution, most of them operate at nearly 100 percent quantum efficiency, meaning that for every photon of sunlight a plant captures, it produces an equal number of electrons. Converting even a fraction of this into electricity would improve upon the efficiency seen with solar panels, which generally operate at efficiency levels between 12 and 17 percent.

Maybe the previously stated efficiencies for plants were calculated when extracting sugars? This process tries to capture the electrons before sugar is made. Obviously the 'quantum efficiency' isn't what they'll harvest, but I would think they could get a reasonably large percentage.

While the overall efficiency of this system is yet to be determined, it probably has a much lower embedded energy (i.e. the energy that went into producing it) than PV. This system seems to use a carbon-nanotube backing, no silicon in it.

Also, how many PV panels reproduce? (Answer: none that I'd want.)

Comment: Re:if there really is anything to this (Score 1) 118

by MiniMike (#43644981) Attached to: The Body's "Fountain of Youth" Could Lie In the Brain

Can you imagine what it would do to the planet if suddenly everyone lived, for example, 25% longer?

Hopefully, after realizing that they would be here for that much longer, people would take better care of it.

(scroll down when you're done laughing)

Yeah, it sounds like we'd be screwed. But this doesn't account for people who die from accidents, non age-related diseases, or other causes. This would initially only benefit those who take care of their health, and are lucky. By the time the other leading causes of mortality are eradicated, we'll probably have enough other tech that this won't be a problem (for our great-grandchildren).

Comment: Re:that's how a 15 years old teenager (Score 2) 342

by MiniMike (#43580951) Attached to: Lawyer Loses It In Letter To Patent Office

The lack of personal details about the child aren't important here to anyone but a creepy stalker.

I think we need more details on this stalker. For example, do they have a Slashdot user name which reveals nothing about them while complaining others don't post irrelevant personal details that do nothing to support the conversation?

Comment: Re:What if light travels REAL SLOW (Score 4, Funny) 129

by MiniMike (#43538223) Attached to: LHCb Experiment Observes New Matter-Antimatter Difference

James Dyson is going to be even more pissed. Freeman Dyson probably will be too. Why is the AC trying to piss off all sorts of Dysons?

He's probably hoping all the Dysons come to see him at the same time and angrily surround him.

He will then claim that he has the only Dyson sphere made out of real Dysons.

Comment: Re:Not a replacement yet (Score 2) 340

Holy shit that's a lot of technical problems.

Welcome to every new technology, ever.

If the tank isn't kept ultra-cold (i.e. it's hot outside) it explodes.

Pressure relief valve. It's mentioned in the link. The article is discussing liquid Hydrogen, which is not being discussed for use in cars.

As you burn hydrogen, pressure drops, the hydrogen in the tank cools the metal ridiculously.

1. How fast do you think the Hydrogen is being released? Under normal conditions, normal thermal transfer should keep the tank warm.
2. If it's a problem, waste heat will be used to warm the tank.

And what's with this mass/volume of storage? That's good if you need transport, but not necessarily efficient to produce--gasoline could be 20 times as efficient and it would be 100% useless in space versus 2% efficient hydrogen. How do they compare?

Not sure what you mean by this- why would a fuel that was 20 times more efficient than Hydrogen be useless in space?

Comment: Re:Not a replacement yet (Score 1) 340

Solar panels are improving, but you need to look at the total energy balance. Don't forget about the embedded energy used in making a solar panel, and that you can easily have 100-1000x the surface area growing vegetation than you would have covered by solar panels. They're complementary technologies, each with their own market. No one technology will replace fossil fuels, but this tech will give Hydrogen a bigger place in the energy market.

What's so funny?

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