This is our first post from a contributor. CNStars17 sent this to us and asked if we would be interested in sharing this information with the public. We looked through it and were very impressed with not only his research but his content. Thank you CNStars, and we look forward to hearing more from you.

Have you heard the news out of Hawaii? Former NASA executive and physicist John Mankins captured solar energy from a mountain top in Maui and sent it wirelessly 92 miles to the main island of Hawaii. The team of researchers was only able to send around 20 watts, which is not even enough to power a fluorescent light bulb. Most of the power was lost in the transmission process.

Makins says that the project was limited by budget, and that with the proper equipment he could increase efficiency up to 64%.

Not impressed?

Did you know that 170 million gigawatts of solar energy hit the earth every second? That is more energy than the earth has used since the beginning of the industrial era. Now imagine being able to tap into that source on a large scale. With Mankins wireless energy transfer idea many satellites would be launched with high tech solar panels on them. Then the satellites would relay the energy to earth via harmless wireless energy transfer to receiving stations. Also, with the solar panels in space there is no loss in efficiency due to clouds or night. The energy would be available 24/7.

Mankins says he can get a demonstration system in orbit in around 6 years and have the full system up in around 15 years.

There are scientists in Japan that claim they could get the space-based solar power project started in less than 5 months with less than 1 million dollars. Their concept uses mirrors to focus as much solar power possible into the solar cells, and thus create 5 times more energy than conventional solar cells.

Take a stand

Make a difference

Consider Tomorrow

Economically, personal energy independence just makes sense.  Whether it be wind, solar, gasification, other renewable sources, or a mix of few of these, there are some serious adavantages.  And while it will be tough for an individual to become fully independent, our furture may count on getting as close to that mark as we can.

Let’s imagine that you didn’t have a monthly power bill, what would you do with the extra money?  As energy prices keep rising they steal more and more of our discretionary income, which is income that doesn’t see its way back into the market to help bolster the economy.  And what about the other energy cost we have…how free would you feel emotionally and econmically if you didn’t have to stop at a gas station for your everyday fuel needs?  Converting to a renewable home power system cuts out the middleman, and you produce the energy you need when you need it.  In addition, converting to an electric car lets you use that energy for all of your basic fuel needs.  Those changes make a big dent in the outflow of your hard earned money and give you more to spend on the other important and sometimes non-important expendatures.

Keeping more money in the checking account should get just about everyone excited, but there’s also another consideration: the energy crisis.  There are energy resources in this country that are getting old and need to be decommissioned.  These power plants are going to have to be replaced, and it gets hard to keep up with power requirements when U.S. power demand is growing, plants are closing, and our economy is dragging its feet.  Disastrous things happen when we start to have energy shortages.  We need leadership and personal initiative.  We could take responsibility in this crisis and calm the stress on the power infrastructure by making power locally in the home.  If we don’t look at this problem as it is and leave it to the same people that have been dealing with it for decades, we are in for a rough ride.

One of the great side effects of working toward personal energy independence is that we cut down on our use of carbon based fuels.  Athough the debate rages on about the environment, there is no doubt that fossil fuels will someday run out.  We need to prepare for that right now with renewables.  If indeed we are doing damage to our surroundings, then renewables offer a responsible way to power us into the future.

All of these great things and it seems like we’re crawling to implementation.  Unfortunately, many of the renewable technologies aren’t ready for primetime, and their infant state makes them expensive (we still think the econmics work in their favor).  On the bright side Americans have shown the will in past times to push through difficulties and do what is right for the good of the many.  Call us hopeful, but we believe it can be done.  It is just going to take an attitude that doens’t accept business as usual.  So, whether it’s wind, solar, or a hybrid, let’s do the hard stuff now so that we can survive the future.

What if every home could become a mini-powerplant? Instead of sucking power from some central repository, houses across the nation would create enough energy to support those inside and maybe a little extra for the grid. This is the ultimate idea of distributed generation–producing power at many small sites rather than a few big ones. Perhaps the most exciting recent development in making this sort of dream a reality is new science out of MIT. It is what many would call a hybrid system, and it is impressive because it combines solar and hydrogen technologies to produce energy even when the sun is not shining.

The system relies on solar panels to provide energy during the day when the sun is available, and it borrows a small amount of power from the panels to split water into its basic parts: hydrogen and oxygen. Then, at night when the sun has gone down and the panels are no longer producing power, it combines the stored hydrogen and oxygen over a fuel cell to create electricity. Power during the day or night. What is so great about this system? It is energy that is almost free. If a homeowner were to have an all electric car, she could recharge the batteries with energy produced right at home. No more trips to the gas station. In addtion the scientists working on the system say that they are designing it to be closed, meaning that you would put water into it once and it would hum away creating electricity for the duration of its lifetime. This is exciting stuff.

There are still hurdles to overcome, but technologies like this are just the kind of thing the world needs right now. Information about the scientists (Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan) and the technology can be found all over the internet as this has been a hot topic over the last few weeks. This Wikipedia page is a good start.

See a video interview with Daniel here.

Consider that there is hope and there will still be light tomorrow–if, that is, people continue to work toward a better future.