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Solar is also significantly more expensive, which is why we don't see more of it today. One of the hidden benefits of higher gas prices is that they make things like solar, nuclear, wind, water power look more and more attractive.

Ohhh maaan,
You totally got me thinking with that "Hoist a wind turbine in the air on a balloon" thing.
It would be tooooo coool if someone actually did this, you could cover the exterior in solar panels too to add to the power gain. It would be so useful for people who wanna live off the grid but can't thanks to the constraints mentioned. I totally believe this is possible and could even be VERY effective with some major brain time!

kNuX_V1 wrote:Ohhh maaan,
You totally got me thinking with that "Hoist a wind turbine in the air on a balloon" thing.
It would be tooooo coool if someone actually did this, you could cover the exterior in solar panels too to add to the power gain. It would be so useful for people who wanna live off the grid but can't thanks to the constraints mentioned. I totally believe this is possible and could even be VERY effective with some major brain time!

Wiki is great. This one looks similar to the one I saw on the TV show a long time ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_wind_turbine

It also mentions about a type of power that basically "catches" wind to make it go up. It's attached to a rope that turns a generator as it goes up. Then when it's up it changes shape some how and is pulled down with less energy than it produced by going up. That's also a REALLY cool idea. I mean have you ever flown a kite on a windy day? Those things have some wicked pull!

Hmmm, now it's got me thinking. What about a square kite with an extra string in the middle of it. Let the kite get pulled up, then pull the string in the middle to deform the kit and make it fold up. Then it'll fall and you can start over. Maybe attach a small balloon to it so it doesn't freefall, but comes down slowly enough for you to reel it in?

I love the idea of wind and hydro-electric power. Both are about as good as it gets.

Something that always has interested me is piezoelectricity (basically electricity from vibrations). I think the army tried putting piezo cells in soldiers boots to gather energy from walking, but it's too uncomfortable and awkward. But there is some research in attaching them under floors or to machines that vibrate a lot.

Another thing is regenerative breaking via magnets. This only really works for high speed vehicles and is mostly on trains and roller coasters, but they have been applied to smaller things like cars motorcycles too.

I was looking online at buses and noticed one that had been converted to use vegetable oil. If your engine is diesel, that might be an option.

sjvsworldtour wrote:I was looking online at buses and noticed one that had been converted to use vegetable oil. If your engine is diesel, that might be an option.

Yeah I've seen a few conversions. I believe all you have to change is the fuel lines as veggie oil would eat through normal lines.

They also ran an old benz diesel off of veggie oil with no modifications (and no drop in MPGs) on Top Gear I believe. (Maybe it was mythbusters?)

Yea, getting used vegetable oil from restaurants would be really cool if it would be free. You would just need to filter it. You don't want a chicken McNuggett going through your carburetor.

I think it was this thread that talked about solar panels that followed the light? This guy seems to have done it really cheap, you could easily replace the troughs with solar panels.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGATj41I ... re=related

Also thanks Corrado for the wiki link, its crazy to think there isn't more stuff like this flying about, kinda a shame but I guess with things like private planes and that, its a bit dangerous. Always good to have a design like that handy though, just in case!

I like the idea of a solar water heater too. Your water heater eats up a crap load of power whether you are using the water or not. Converting the solar energy straight to heat makes more sense that collecting it as electricity and then converting that to heat. Remove the middle-man and get rid of some waste.