http://www.geglobalresearch.com/blog/advancing-wind-technology-one-massive-blade-at-a-time http://www.smart-blade.com/ http://smart-blade.com/research/flexible-flap.html http://smart-blade.com/downloads/publications.html
Put in a nutshell, to get the "free" energy of natural sources, such as the sun, you have to spend more than getting it from oil.
That's when one doesn't have the brains and/or immediate interest to see beyond the naked now, i.e. no strategic thinking power...
New fabric generates electricity from sunlight and wind The combination of rising populations, climate change, and depleted natural resources has emphasized the need for sustainable technology. This technology isn't limited to big devices like photovoltaic panels and wind turbines; recently, a team of researchers has developed a textile capable of harnessing energy from both sunlight and wind. The team developed a fabrication strategy that merged two different lightweight, low-cost polymer fibers to create energy-producing textiles. The first component of the textile is a microcable solar cell, able to gather power from ambient sunlight. The second is a nanogenerator capable of converting mechanical energy into electricity... more
What are they going to do with all the gigantic (li-ion?) automotive batteries in the future after everybody starts using all electro cars? Maybe we can bomb NK with them like samsung 7 phones? The govt banned all incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. so we all use must CFL bulbs, which happen poison our landfills, and are much worse than burning extra coal/gas to make up for the cost We need to get the Govt out of our personal lives
@Joe C: Pretty sad...isn't it. Lead everywhere, causing mental retardation. Mercury causing insanity. "Better living through modern chemistry."
It is bad, indeed, no running away from it... However, no one said any gov was perfect. Quite the opposite, if you have brains - lots of power means there has to be a lot of scrutiny. Not only the Legislature or Courts etc. etc - but "us",the general publich sphere, not to mention the more exclusive, scientific public sphere!!! In democracy one must use one's brains, organise and be a corrective. If one isn't doing it - one has a lot to answer for!!! And ESPECIALLY if one rather stupidly thinks that if one lets the market does all the thinking for one - all will be much better than if the gov, crucified by the public etc. all the time, puts down the markers of safety etc. Seriously, people: get over the mythology of "free markets", "unfettered markets" - you are almost 100 years behind the times, as to what happens when markets are unregulated... Jeez, after all the recent machinations alone one should have known MUCH better!!! It is sad that a former anti-stalinist campaigner from the East must teach you the ABC of democracy... Honestly!
This is probably a suitable place to expose a widespread myth about electric cars. Electric cars are not good for the environment, they're worse than gasoline operated cars. What electric cars do, they displace the pollution from the cities to the country side, where the power stations are situated. But the combined pollution of power stations, plus losses in transportation of electricity, plus inefficiency of car batteries, plus additional pollution for producing the electric cars, plus their losses, comfortably exceeds that of conventional cars.
They also require oil for petrochemicals, mining, manufacturing, and overseas shipping. The same applies to many other things that are manufactured.
Aych, Katzo, why don't you read the whole thread, it is not long yet... I mean, you should remember that Germany went to a large extent - the whole country - to renewable energy sources! Yes, they are moving away from the fossil fuels and - call me silly but - that IS a GOOD thing, in all this, NOT to be dismissed out of hand, before thinking at all!!! Sure, there has to be a lot of research done and many components of the system must - and they will - be improved (one can't stop technology improving, so these things will come, as we have seen many new technologies being worked on, when it comes to batteries etc.) BUT all that fossil fuel s**te coming out of exhaust pipes is what - irrelevant? JEZZUSSSS!!! Are you addicted to it or what?!? Honestly... if ever there was a case of "not seeing the wood for the trees", here it is!!!
Yeah, right: morbidly enough, some idiots have done a lot of research re. shipping, flying etc. based on renewables... Go figure, the idiots... So, you geniuses "think" that a bit of oil for lubrication of electric motors means that we should not bother, do you? Indeed, why bother living at all, by that masterful logic... Mama mia!!!
Here's an example for solar cells: http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2015/04/solar-devices-industrial-infrastructure.html
"Running out" refers to availability of oil underground rather than supply. The rest of the sentence explains why. Finally, the rest of the article supports what I mentioned earlier.
The rest of the world will tell you there is no such thing as "infinite" in a finite world such as Earth!
As implied in the article, the reason why we will not run out of oil is because most of the oil available underground will not accessible because the energy returns are too low. In relation to limits to growth, the implication is that peak oil (which is part of those limits) doesn't refer to running out of oil. Rather, production reaches a peak and will start dropping because most of the oil will be too expensive to extract. Thus, we will run out of oil in terms of production. In terms of reserves, we won't.
Shoot: if only world was black/white... Look at the present state of affairs: low prices of crude but they are still going for fracking etc. which might be rather ecologically, energy-wise and expense-wise a poor, poor choice! However, if the costs are 'socialised', they go away laughing, all the way to the bank! Similar with "nuclear energy", which is not at all as cheap, as they said when they were plugging it and planning it etc. The costs of decommissioning the n-plants, the storage of spent fuel, the risks etc. etc. make this energy source extremely costly and a BAD choice but... They lied, kept it under the carpet, behind the closed doors and kept telling people jolly stories about it. Because they wanted the weapon! Now, you are falling for the same s**te because those a-holes are calculating short-term only and only by themselves alone, as the measure of all things... If we dare think at all - we ran out of oil a long, long time ago! But even today many live in Feudalism, so...
Why do you think the prices are low? Hint: Fracking. We have more oil reserves now than Saudi Arabia!