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As the smoke cleared, [email protected] <[email protected]> mounted the barricade and roared out: > >Isn't there research on (tough!) materials which absorb hi-energy/ > >hi-intensity photons from across the relevant spektrum, directly into > >their electron structures..? > > ...yes. Icosahedral borides have a "self-healing" property that makes > them potentially usable in a sort of "solar cell" which derives it's > power from ionizing radiation rather than sunlight (see e.g. > http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6841456.html). Ah yes, the amazing Boron... > This would be an interesting approach, but I'm not sure how efficient > it could be made. I'm a firm believer in the human ability to find a way to accomplish feats like developing (boron) compounds which can be tuned to any energy level. > Of course, if it were part of a home power unit, then that might not be > much of an issue, because any waste heat could be used for central > heating &/or hot water supply &/or air-con (thermal refrigeration > cycle). I would think part of any future energy generation design would involve catching whatever waste heat was left over for tasks as mundane as central heating, etc. But in my mind I have the idea that even the longest wavelength energy can be more efficiently captured than that. I really don't believe that 100% efficiency -- or effectively so -- is really an insurmountable issue for science at some future point in time. - -- grok. - -- Build the North America-wide General Strike. TODO el poder a los consejos y las comunas. TOUT le pouvoir aux conseils et communes. ALL power to the councils and communes. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAkn/iRQACgkQXo3EtEYbt3G9bACeOgX7bw0yomhaC6HiRE1uxnqu tycAoLAothHA86a2ZXo2/IbpXLJ8hfOc =8jEn -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
