wind energy idea

This drivel describes an idea I had for wind energy. Traveling through the heartland of the United States, you will surely notice the massive wind turbines that are popping up along the interstates. These structures are so incredible, I find myself not paying as close attention to the road as I should. In looking at these enormous structures, I noticed that the design seems to prefer a long and narrow blade. I'm sure there are exhaustive studies on the most efficient way to gain energy from wind, and I'm sure these folks have settled on the best solution.

However, what if you instead started with a 20 foot high cement tunnel that tapers in like a funnel toward the center as the tunnel continues. Within this tunnel, you could set up a drum that has blades that get smaller as the tunnel tapers in more. Would this effectively increase the effective pressure on the blades, therefore generating more electricity? Furthermore, as the funnel becomes tighter, wouldn't you have a jet effect, increasing the amount of effective pressure on the blades? I just thought of this because it seems like so much wind is wasted by just running across wide open spaces. If we could concentrate it, and use it along the axis it is blowing instead on one plane where it is used and lost, it may be more efficient. I welcome your comments if I'm way of on the physics of things.

Crude image below. Ha, Enjoy!

Salt Water Burning?

I wanted to drop a drivel on an interesting story about John Kanzius, who figured out that salt water burns in the presence of radio waves. From what I gather, he was looking for a cure for cancer, and stumbled on this interesting finding.

First, the cancer cure idea. I am totally on board with using inert particles that can pass on heat or other forms of radiation that might kill cancer. I hope his idea works! It would be an incredible leap above non-specific pharmaceuticals that deliver huge blows to the whole system. I believe they are doing tests on it right now. In fact, I read about a company called nanopartz that can produce gold nanoparticles and rods of a consistent and specific size, which may really help figure out dosing and other variables. As it says on the website, the nice thing is that gold particles are viewed as a device by the FDA instead of a drug, which might be a less-arduous approval process.

Second, the salt water finding. This unlikely finding is a result of John experimenting to see if his radio frequency transmitter could desalinate sea water. Instead, it appears to weaken the hydrogen and oxygen bonds in H2O, and release Hydrogen gas. If you know how to get concentrated radio waves without using much electricity, fire up your salt water car!

Energetic "Research" on YouTube

Have you ever tried to watch videos on YouTube about inventions that claim to harness zero point energy? What about the motors built in garages that are not shown running in their completeness? For the most part, watching these prove to be a waste of time. I can get cracked out on alternative motors a few times a year, when I get the whacked out idea that I might be able to solve what others are missing. Alas, I have had no such luck. However, I will point out a few interesting sources that I think are worth a look (in the unlikely event that you haven't seen these). First, the Coral Castle by Ed Leedskalnin. How this guy pulled this off has just as much to do with that magnetic wheel in his room as his hard work, in my opinion.



One more thing, remember Billy Idol's song "Sweet 16?" That's about Ed and his lost love! Later!

Biotech innovation

This is a drivel to the biochemists out there!

Biochemists have figured out how to use cells and enzymes to synthesize and manufacture individual proteins, but have not been able to synthesize or break down cellulose on a large scale. This process goes to show how little we know about photosynthesis and the production of cellulose. I'm throwing out a guess that we're missing something in this field, and there is a lot more to photosynthesis than the biochemistry book has to offer. If we were able to synthesize cellulose on large scale, there would be an incalculable industry for these green building materials (assuming you could make the material hardy enough). Additionally, if we could figure out how to break cellulose down efficiently, we could make a fuel out of all that wasted plant material we are discarding. So, the challenge is this: efficiently go between cellulose and its building blocks (individual glucose molecules) to both enable synthetic building materials and fuel sources (the laws of thermodynamics may throw a wrench into that challenge).

As for the fuel sources, employing nature is going to be huge in this. Check out Solix in Fort Collins, Colorado. They have been working on employing algae to make biofuel. I believe they are on the right track and I wish them the best of luck!

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