A GREEN Idea for America
metron9
Posts: 1,100
Since we have 5 million unemployed people why not make giant treadmills that
thousands of people can walk on, get some exercise and generate electricity.
What if we had·thousands of people walking on a giant treadmill, they
walk up the treadmill as their collective body weight transfers the energy
to the giant flywheel that turns a massive generator connected to the
electric grid.
When they reach the top they get in an elevator that generates more
electricity as their collective bodyweight drives another flywheel
generating more electricity as they decend back to the ground.
They then pick up their grocery stamps and a bus ticket as they leave the
facility so they can purchase food· and return the next day to fulfill their
part in the great GREEN revolution.
Could some artist out there paint me a picture of this?
I want to ask congress for funding and I think a picture
would be very nice. It would also be a very nice piece to display as a
contemporary view of the times we live in. Gees I wish I could paint or
draw.
Could someone do some estimates on the amount of power that could be generated as well?
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Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
Think outside the BOX!
Post Edited (metron9) : 2/20/2009 2:01:47 AM GMT
thousands of people can walk on, get some exercise and generate electricity.
What if we had·thousands of people walking on a giant treadmill, they
walk up the treadmill as their collective body weight transfers the energy
to the giant flywheel that turns a massive generator connected to the
electric grid.
When they reach the top they get in an elevator that generates more
electricity as their collective bodyweight drives another flywheel
generating more electricity as they decend back to the ground.
They then pick up their grocery stamps and a bus ticket as they leave the
facility so they can purchase food· and return the next day to fulfill their
part in the great GREEN revolution.
Could some artist out there paint me a picture of this?
I want to ask congress for funding and I think a picture
would be very nice. It would also be a very nice piece to display as a
contemporary view of the times we live in. Gees I wish I could paint or
draw.
Could someone do some estimates on the amount of power that could be generated as well?
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
Think outside the BOX!
Post Edited (metron9) : 2/20/2009 2:01:47 AM GMT
Comments
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Oh, really, really sorry about that; I can't help myself sometimes. 'Truth be known, my pet project is small generators in toilet paper dispensers.
-Phil
How many fifth graders does it take to generate 1hp?
Back in the 1800's(before electricity) there used to be tread mills that were large enough for one horse that ran various equipment via a flat belt or pto shaft.
-dan
Some countries are experimenting with generating power using passive systems that you drive/walk on.
I believe there are truck weigh-stations that are powered by cars driving by... and an entire bridge which has people-powered lights that generate energy by people crossing it.
I can't remember where I saw the links for this stuff but I'm sure you can google it.
You could turn all of those "closed" and abandoned retail outlet malls that are just taking up pavement into "Treadmill Sweat Shop Power Plants".... I still don't understand why a builder feels the need to clear out a boat load of trees to make way for a new shopping complex, when the old shopping complex down the street, or in some cases across the street, has vacancies left and right... makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
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Beau Schwabe
IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.
That sounds like theft... The goal should be to use some new source of energy, not force others to pay for your energy costs for you. So, this station get power from cars. The cars get power from gas. The station is powered by gas. Sounds like a method to get taxpayers to pay more than what they expect...
Anyway, let's look at the problem this way. What do we need? Electricity. Where does all our energy originate from? The sun. So, we should have space based arrays of high efficiency solar panels that generate hydrogen from water (or other sources), and we use that to power our needs on earth.
My two bits...
··Does anyone remember the Gerard Oneil High Frontier books? He was an advocate of orbital power sattelites and of bootstrapping these and other construction in space by using material from the Moon. I know nothing about the economics of this, but I wish we had begun that bootstrapping program back then (in the 1970's).
-phar
It's a different kind of Rube Goldberg device, and no less nutty than the other ones. A developer is paid to develop, and in this case, what brings the elevator back up to the top is a massive influx of public bailout money. The people who think this kind of thing is viable are the same kinds of people who were busy building perpetual motion machines 130 years ago.
I actually think the passive power generation concepts are good...
I believe there's a plate they drive over... when the plate is pressed down, by the cars/people walking, it generates power.
I had a stupid idea a while back: why not put a mini-turbine or two in your water line... when your using water it generates a small amount of power to maybe help out on the cost of your
water heater.
You could even put it on your "grey water" (Waste water not from the toilet) line. Of course, this wouldn't generate enough power to actually save much money so... like I said, a stupid idea.
Pharseid:
Ben Bova (An amazing sci-fi writer who is highly active in the science community) has sent a purposal to the new administration requesting funding for a solar satellite to collect energy and then
use microwaves to transmit the energy to earth.
The satellite he's purposing should be enough to power a small town and is intended as a proof-of-concept for large scale energy collection.
Of course, the government will never approve it.
Leon
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Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM
Suzuki SV1000S motorcycle
The problem with those are the cost of energy-production.
That is, the cost in calories.
We could be talking 2 - 3000 calories /8hour day for how many Watts of energy output?
The same problem arise with most of the socalled 'passive' systems that generate power from 'nearby' motion.
Turbines in the water lines...
No.
Before the tap: will cause problems with the pressure.
On the gray water: may also cause flow problems that results in water not emptying out of the tub/sink/whatever fast enough and leaking all over the floor.
Brown water... The same, but add the possibility of clogging... Messy...
Not much to gain, really.
If you want to feel less guilty about a hot shower, install a heat-reclamation system on the drains.
(These are easier to fit on a new build, though)
Swap out old incandescent bulbs, use thermostats and timers on heating, make it a habit of switching off the lights when you leave the room, don't waste power on heated outdoors pools, patio heaters and all that junk.
And most importantly of all, INSULATE WELL.
My apartment is 65 square meters, I use ONLY electric power(no gas, not for heating, not for cooking or anything else for that matter), I have lots of computer stuff powered...
My total power consumption for a year(Nov. 1. 2007 to Nov. 1. 2008) was 6000KWH.
And I didn't really start on the saving scheme until february.
(I aim for 5500KWH for this year)
It helps to have 6" of 'glass wool' insulation in the walls, and 12" in the ceiling.
And of course, good double glazing.
(If your house is more than 20years old, consider replacing the windows. Odds are that they've begun leaking and no longer insulates very well)
Estimates here in Norway says that you earn back the cost of adding an extra 4" of insulation in the ceiling in 2years if there's only 4" from before, 3 - 4years if there's 8" there.
(160square meter, single story home with a cold attic, built to code here in the 70s)
Other ways to save power is to toss out the panel heaters and install a heat-exchange pump. A basic air-to-air model probably won't cost much more than $1000 and some of those can even be installed by the home-owner himself. These will give you back (in heat) to 4 times the energy you put into them.
(Those with the right coolant will work down to -30degres Celsius, but may drop to less than 'double back what you put in' efficiency, then)
An air-to-water is a bit more expensive but can be used in larger homes with radiators. (They're bugger-all-impossible to install in pre-existing buildings without radiators)
A ground-tap is even more expensive, but may be able to heat several houses, so if you have good neighbours...
I considered buying one(air-to-air) myself, but... with so little power going to actual room-heating, I'd never break even...
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Don't visit my new website...
American's are a heavy lot. If you start having them run on treadmills, weight will be
reduced, health increased and fewer of them will die earlier. This will in fact increase
demand on the current energy supply. Nope, sorry, bad idea. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
{Wife and I are dieting, so I'm allowed this jest}
OBC
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I, too, are allowed to joke as my new year's resolution was to get rid of at leat 10Kg...
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Don't visit my new website...
(Laughter is the best medicine[noparse]:)[/noparse]
You have to remember that just because someone is collecting unemployment... it doesn't mean that they are unemployed... only that they are not paying taxes at the moment. So, the first thing that we need to do is to make sure that they are actually unemployed.
How about hooking a spring-generator around their chest? So that every time one of these folks takes a breath, they generate electricity. If they don't produce much electricity, then we know they aren't doing very much and then, maybe we need to think of them as unemployed.
Making America Greener... on the legs (or chests) of the unemployed seems rather fanciful... I mean... what does an unemployed stoner do when he takes a hit? He holds his breath, thereby decreasing his contribution to the energy grid under my plan... and contributing to lactic acidosis under your plan.
There is a better way. But for this, we need science.
Fact: Carbon dioxide is an essential food stuff for plants....for photosynthesis.
Fact: People who don't want more CO2 just don't care about their plants.
Fact: If we want a greener planet, then we need to produce more CO2. With more C02, we will have more plants, and the plants will be bigger, and the Earth will be greener. And cooler, because there will be more shade.
Plan: The easiest way to produce more CO2 is to drive our cars faster and farther. Shutting down mass transit systems in places like Chicago seems like the easiest way to make this happen.
Imagine the boost in employment and GNP, if we simply replace all of those stinky buses with nice, clean taxicabs and 20 lane highways.
Scientific Conclusion... To Make America Greener, we need really fast cars, really good roads, and lots of big trees.
Rich
My future son-in-law... who is in a work release program--- has to go all the way to the community college to get on a treadmill.
And he has to pay for it[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Metron9
So... we require them to use a treatmill... for health care reasons... charge them for the treadmill... and then generate electricity with the treadmill?
It's beginning to make sense to me now. But still... a constrictive chest machine would produce electricity all the time... whereas the treadmill would only produce electricity when there was actually someone using it.
Rich
Post Edited (rjo_) : 2/20/2009 7:07:45 PM GMT
Use a Peltier device covered body suit to harness body heat and turn it into electricity...
Give it away to newly married couples... I'm sure they'll generate plenty of heat... especially at night [noparse];)[/noparse]
How many people have central AC and a pool? why not use pool water to cool the condenser coils instead of blowing air across them. You'd use less electricity, and have a warmer pool!
Here's an opposite idea for the winter (for areas that have cold winters) relocate the coils on the refrigerator outdoors.
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Brian
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They way to go "green", in my book, is research and engineering. Turning off a light is great, but not nearly as "green" as working in a lab, trying to increase the energy conversion efficiency of a semiconductor in a solar panel...
Sorry, guys. I got to see Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at a seminar at my University and I got all inspired. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
A-men.
My undergraduate education was paid for by my dad's work at a company that built automated controls to improve energy
efficiency, way back in the 60's. This stuff works, and it's profitable. Trust me. It put food in my mouth and clothes on my back
while it saved a LOT of energy. There's no "either-or" thing going on here.
Post Edited (sylvie369) : 2/21/2009 2:23:08 AM GMT
Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
Think outside the BOX!
It would seem to me though as I walk through the mega mall and look at the Giant AXE ride where it has a platform that 50 people can ne strapped into seats. I look at the huge motor on that thing and wonder how much power it takes to run that baby.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/50/128194893_e41b354d3c.jpg?v=0&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/flatiron32/128194893/&usg=__vGbqQwyLx3BqUXNq0eZsu_E9X18=&h=500&w=375&sz=194&hl=en&start=13&um=1&tbnid=LOYdqHa0vPX6HM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=98&prev=/images?q=the+AXE+ride&um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADBF
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Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
Think outside the BOX!
As a brain excercise perhaps we could calculate a 1000 person generator, say 100,000 lbs of bodyweight. If you made an escillator to pull that many people up 20 feet how much power would you have to have? Perhaps the speed you do it has something to do with the total power? I don't know, I only managed to go through 9 the grade really 6th grade and from then on I pretty much was a slacker.
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Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
Think outside the BOX!
Post Edited (metron9) : 2/21/2009 1:28:01 AM GMT
This whole thing is an exercise to show how much frikin power we really use just to go to work and get back home.
The rat race as the old Disney ride the carousel of progress would say. I love that show.
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Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
Think outside the BOX!
Post Edited (metron9) : 2/21/2009 1:36:53 AM GMT