This forum's quality really goes down the drain..... no one mentioned COLD FUSION? Yes, that is the technology your friend at DARPA talked about. There's also another source "zero-point energy", tapped from vacuum. the fascinating thing is WHY only maybe 1% of the population really want free energy. The rest is so brainwashed, so depressed, so angry, so lazy... that they just passively accept the current absurd status quo. and don't tell me it's the poor education! There is TONS of information on the internet for FREE! free energy will lead to a totally new era for humanity in just few years. the banking and insurance industry will be gone without the money flow from oil and power grid companies AND 50% cheaper goods and services all over the economy due to no cost of fuel and energy. After the shock with free energy, perhaps the masses will finally realize that they have been fooled and manipulated by the similar scam- big pharma, another huge industry which provides absolutely no benefits to health, on the contrary - it kills. Further we will have profound changes in our psychology. There will be no more economy-related stress: - no mortgage, debts to repay, - no electricity bills to pay, no tanking at the stations - food will be for free (using hydroponic growing), - hemp could be grown on a giant scale AGAIN (what a terrible hypocricy is this with the current law...) - which will provide massive amounts of fiber for clothing, paper production - it will be pointless for women to sell themselves as prostitutes, finally they will have sex purely for the sake of pleasure and I can't wait to see the faces of people who do not currently "believe" in "conspiracy theories" when all of these dark secrets will be exposed to the sunlight. To quote Mr. Arthur Schopenhauer All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
This is what our mental health care will be like with Obamacare Regarding energy.. I lived near Edwards Air Force Base.. one day I'm driving home, it's still daylight out pretty much. All of a sudden I see a flash of light that lights up the whole sky, even though it was already lit... so I'm bracing for the blast wave thinking that they have really screwed up over there.... nothing, not a sound.. nothing at all.. so whatever they had going there produced a tremendous amount of light and no blast.. I've heard wild stories about that place off and on for decades and some were from people that had worked there... We have solar capability in the form of Stirling Engines and parabolic mirrors that could produce cheap electricity for the whole western hemisphere very easily. Three deserts come together at Needles California, Eastern, Mojave, and Sonoran... they are huge, folks, with spots where temperature reaches 140 degrees.. a few square miles of desert can supply all the energy for the entire US.... is anybody doing that? Hell no. Bush spent billions on Hydrogen research, any results from that yet? BO Pelosi and BS Inc. are throwing money at Wind power... any results from that yet? Any expected grand results? Hell no...
The Pentagon is well aware of Peak Oil, and the potential for future energy shocks. It has recently studied existing methods of converting coal to jet fuel - and even saltwater biomass. That's nothing new. But you have to remember that the military does not need a commercially viable alternative source of energy - it is the military, after all. It's job is not to create a surplus, but to protect the US and it's interests. The goal of the military in using coal to liquids or saltwater biomass (mangroves, algae...) is to have an additional independently procured source of energy. Will their findings benefit the rest of the economy? In my view, no. There is this concept - Energy returned on Energy invested - (EROEI). Most energy conversion processes are very expensive. If it takes you the same amount or even more energy to create a source of energy - you have gained nothing. An example: Ethanol. You grow corn, you use petro and natural gas based fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. You harvest the corn, you transport it. You boil it, ferment it, and extract ethanol - a source of energy. Guess what? To create that one gallon of ethanol equivalent of gasoline, you just used up another equivalent gallon of gasoline, sometimes a little more! But if you're the military, it doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you did not rely on a foreign source of energy. But if you want to make that process available to everyone, so that they can drive to work - well, you have a problem. You will be using up one source of energy to create another, and in the long run, deplete your initial seed source of energy. To go off topic - the Oil sands of Alberta are another example. Some say there is a Saudi Arabia in Canada, which sounds great. But that is really a mining operation. They have to dig up the sands, heat them, extract the oil, use more energy than normal to refine it because it is heavy oil - not the good stuff from Saudi Arabia. Each of those steps will require either Natural Gas, Gasoline or coal (electricity), or Diesel. What's the net effect? It's not as good as conventional oil that is high grade and easily pumped from the ground. There is no silver bullet. And don't forget the law of Thermodynamics. But to address the alien thing: I have no solid opinion on that. Yes, there have been many observances of UFOs - whether alien or not, who nows. And many credible people have attested to such. If, for argument's sake, Area 51 or whatever is true - than I would be find it difficult to believe that such craft would run on hydrocarbons. Cold Fusion or some type of magnetic energy would make the most sense. Who knows.
There is no truth to that statement. There is no truth to that statement. There is truth to that statement. However, solar, wind, tidal, cellulosic ethanol, algae biofuel, nuclear energy, new battery technology will all work to supplement fossil fuels in the future. They will require more than just a few square miles of desert, but it can be done. Forget about cold fusion for now. It looks like that will take longer than hot fusion, which has already taken about 50 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine Doesn't sounds like a few square miles will provide anywhere near the electricity required for the entire US.
A String goes into a bar, Barkeep says "We don't serve your kind in here, get out!". String goes outside, ties a knot at his top, ruffles his strands and goes back in the bar. Barkeep says "Aren't you a String?" String says "I"m a frayed knot!"