http://arstechnica.com/science/news/...olar-power.ars

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/...ased-solar.ars

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Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis

Trippy, I'd settle for some solar pannels on me roof. wish I could afford it.

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"If you wanna win, CHEAT! If you lose, start a FIGHT!" - very wise man

Yeah, the problem with ground based solar is that it's

1. Land Intensive
2. Effected greatly by weather

But for small scale conservation efforts, it probably definitely helps. If I had my own house I'd probably be messing around with solar and wind power right now, and maybe even tidal power if I had enough land.

Though, I wonder if there would be any way to tap into the energy generated by convection in a standing pool of water. I wonder if that would be more efficient than solar... Of course you wouldn't be able to use the pool of water for much of anything else, but still...

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Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis

1. I got a lotta land

2. It never rains here...lol.....i'm in the best place in the country for solar. it's a cactus patch

Maybe when I can scrape up enough cash to build a house I can go solar........The problem is with initial set up. It's pretty expensive....i could actually be sellin back to the power company. too bad they won't pay what they charge.

As far as water goes, solar water heaters are pretty common here. Other than that I can't figure out how to profit off the pool.

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"If you wanna win, CHEAT! If you lose, start a FIGHT!" - very wise man

Well if you are familiar with water (from even just cooking) you should be able to get my gist. What I was thinking is that if you take a body of water and then find a way to make it so that the bottom heats faster than the top to get currents to start forming from the convection of heat (energy).

Then, perhaps hook up turbines in the pool to generators and see if they will spin sufficiently to generate power. Though, it'd probably be less efficient than straight solar, and possible more expensive.

I don't know for sure though, but it might be even possible to try it with something as simple as a large kettle of water to gauge efficiency, but I really don't think the efficiency is going to be there against Solar. Of course, I could be wrong, and it could be just as efficient, or more efficient.

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Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis

i'm a bit too stoned to contemplate that right now but ya I think it'd be expensive and not efficient. Now how do I plus rep you? wheres that button at? I just wanna do it cause you argue with the dumb people so I don't have too!

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"If you wanna win, CHEAT! If you lose, start a FIGHT!" - very wise man

Maybe I'm optimistic about my ability to get them to see what is wrong with the government.

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Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis

If you are considering solar panels etc. check out Sun Electronics, their prices are very competitive. They are in Miami Florida. There can be quite a bit of price variability for essentially the same components depending upon who you buy from. With a little research a person can install their own setup and save some money there too.

The solar hot water stuff works pretty well and often can be constructed cheaply if a person is handy. Batch hot water set ups work even in the northern USA for a good bit of the year, the rest of the year a wood fired set up can work.