Sunday, 19 May 2013
masthead+quote+image

Report this comment to a moderator

Please fill in the form below if you think a comment is unsuitable. Your comments will be sent to our moderator for review.

Report comment to moderator

Mandatory All fields must be completed.

Headline

Power generation is a 'risky' business

Comment

Presumably the question relates to the practice of generating electricity by arranging to have conductors influenced by a changing magnetic field as opposed to other means (e.g. shuffling protons) so PV solar & fuel cell usage on the increase would be likely to add to the non magnetic number in increasing quantities e.g. gulf solar However in the magnetic induction camp we have much geothermal, solar thermal, wave, tidal, micro hydro and wind power currently being built so this is likely to prop up the magnetic number simple really On the other hand at least some of the current magnetic "big feature" technologies tend to be based on either rare earth element dc magnets or (slightly more over the horizon) near room temperature superconductors and there may be a long term issue in that rare earth elements feature strongly in both of these and so are likely to be over exploited and get rarer and the resulting more expensive tech may not be invested in as heavily as predicted........????? But if hydrogen fuel cells in cars (trucks, trains etc) take off they could greatly boost the non magnetic number if the hydrogen comes from coal...........???? On the other hand if the hydrogen comes from splitting water (reversible cycle fuel cells) and the electricity for that comes from magnetic induction would that not add to the numbers on both sides............???? Possibly not a trick but still a tricky question Owww my head hurts - (I also appear to have at least 3 hands) I'm off to have a kip and figure out how to generate the electricity for my phone from the sound of my snoring - Perhaps piezo electric ribbons for the high frequencies and magnetic induction for the bass tones......................

Posted date

16 May 2012

Posted time

5:43 pm

Mandatory
Mandatory
Mandatory

Digital Edition

The Engineer May Digital Edition

Poll

Forward-looking flying car specialist Terrafugia has unveiled a new autopilot-equipped STOVL concept which it says could be on sale in 8-12 years. But will the science-fiction staple of the flying car ever take off?

Previous Poll

NASA chief Charles Bolden says that the agency is moving forwards with plans for a manned Mars mission, but there are significant ‘technology gaps’. Which of these is likely to be the most difficult to overcome?

Read and comment on the results here

Advanced search