Cheap solar energy via steam ?
Question:
sand everywhere = cheap glass
glass = giant lenses
giant lenses = magnify sunlight = free heat
heat apllied to salt water drawn from the ocean = steam
steam = mechanical energy + DISTILLED WATER
mechanical energy = ELECTRICITY
DISTILLED WATER + ELECTRICITY + vast areas of empty land = AGRICULTURE , riches and happiness and civilisation .
What do you think ?
Answer:
I don't know how much access to sand determines the actual cost of glass. I think it has more to do with the production end and the amount of energy needed to make it.
And many countries with sand deserts next to an ocean have oil reserves to the point that they are in no rush to find a way to not use them.
But, yes. Theoretically this could work.
Converting water to steam via solar energy is actually much more efficient than converting sunlight to electrical energy & storing that energy in a battery system... only to convert it back from DC to AC when it is needed.
One loses some effeciency when driving an alternator from a steam device (turbine or engine) but that is far better than the 7 to 8% one gets from a solar system... that is even under the best conditions from currently available solar cells (they are energized by only 10% of the solar spectrum.) Storing steam in insulated tanks is a far better solution than storing electricity in batteries in my opinion.
Some recent developments in solar cells are promising as they make use of nearly 90% of the sun's spectrum... but they are still too expensive for common use.
you might want to check this out
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/...
it's already happening
Yes it is already happening but not following your plan. I live close to the largest solar tower power station in the world. Silent, no emissions and we get the electricity we need.
http://www.solucar.es/
And, by the way, if you operate a steam boiler you will always need to add anti-corrosion chemicals to your water/steam system so you will not get distilled water as a by-product.
Being done with arrays of mirrors focused on boilers. Works in desert areas, but not yet cost effective in most areas. Like wind and other alternatives initial cost is very expensive, and when using steam to drive turbine generators, they are only about 30% efficient. Oil must get much higher in cost to justify unless people are willing to pay more for electricity.
The price to build all of this will have to be recovered and this will be done via the price.
Wow. An 'Industrial Ecology' steam of thought :-)
Impressive thinking - except for the last two lines - my guess is that at best only small parts of the land in these parts of the world (we have some here in Oz) would be suitable for "Agriculture" - that landscape is usually more suited to small self-sufficient settlements .
Any references ?
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