Free energy?

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There are many alternatives to burning fossil fuel, and many are less damaging to our environment. Wind, sun, wave and thermal energy are some examples of sources that are available to us through technology.

What stops us from going all out on safe, free and clean energy for everyone? Do we lack the means to make it happen? It looks like we have the knowledge, and alot of the technology is already available.
Is it true that economic interests and a desire to keep power where it is are the real bars against the end of energycrisis?

So, is free energy a real possibility?
By that I mean accessible energy in such abundance that there can be no shortage and thus it comes with no price.

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@Cyracuz,

The manufactoring and technology involved in all that free energy are not only free, they are very expensive relative to the return in energy.

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@Cyracuz,

Cost is what is slowing things down. It's just like flat screen TV's, the cost has to drop below the alternatives before it will take off. If U.S. Military spending were included in combustion costs then the equation might change, but things aren't being presented in that way yet.

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@rosborne979,

Cost or the lack of the prospect of earning insane amounts of golds on it?

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@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

There are many alternatives to burning fossil fuel, and many are less damaging to our environment. Wind, sun, wave and thermal energy are some examples of sources that are available to us through technology. [...]

So, is free energy a real possibility?

No. Although wind, sun, waves, and geothermal heat are free, the technology to make electrical power from them is not. It isn't even clear that these alternative energy sources are less damaging to the environment once they produce enough energy to replace conventional power plants.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

If U.S. Military spending were included in combustion costs then the equation might change...

Could expand on this?
Thanks

1 Reply

@H2O MAN,

H2O MAN wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:

If U.S. Military spending were included in combustion costs then the equation might change...

Could expand on this?
Thanks

A lot of the US military budget is devoted to ensuring the continued flow of oil ("combustion technology"). Most of the problems in the middle east are rooted in Oil. So part of the cost we incur for the bulk of our energy resources comes from military costs.

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@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

Cost or the lack of the prospect of earning insane amounts of golds on it?

Cost.

Economics drive everything. Insane amounts of gold can be gained from other technologies as well, but the equation has to change first.

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Pity we cant harness all the gas & hot air available on A2K, we could power a few cities on that.

he he

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@rosborne979,

Yes, the equation has to change.

I keep hearing stories about how the oil companies buy up any patent on technology that can potentially have a negative impact on their accumulation of power and wealth, just so there will be no alternative to the energy they control.
Is this true?

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@Cyracuz,

Oh yeah. We all know how they bought up that carburator in the '50s that would get a couple of hundred miles per gallon out of the monster boats we used for cars back then.

1 Reply

@roger,

How can such a thing be acceptable?

1 Reply

@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

I keep hearing stories about how the oil companies buy up any patent on technology that can potentially have a negative impact on their accumulation of power and wealth, just so there will be no alternative to the energy they control.
Is this true?

Oh yeah, and how many of those inventors mysteriously disappeared too? Seriously, do you believe in the tooth fairy, Cyracuz? Just a little common sense could help you realize those stories were bogus. After all, if there is a dollar to be made, somebody would be making it. If any of those carburators actually worked, somebody would have paid millions for them and they would have built them. Or they would have built their own cars to work so miraculously, and they would have become rich overnight.

I have known a couple of guys that actually believed that stuff, but lets just say they were a little naive when it comes to business, and human nature.

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@Cyracuz,

Cyracuz wrote:

I keep hearing stories about how the oil companies buy up any patent on technology that can potentially have a negative impact on their accumulation of power and wealth, just so there will be no alternative to the energy they control.
Is this true?

I don't know. It makes a juicy rumor though.

0 Replies

@okie,

okie

If I got out of bed tomorrow and invented a way to provide everyone with free energy for all their enegry needs, do you think that the people who stand to lose billions of dollars and enormous inlfuence over the world would stand idly by and let it happen? Common sense tells me they wouldn't.

Do you believe in the tooth fairy?

1 Reply

@Cyracuz,

Do you have no ethics? You don't have to sell the rights to your invention, I hope you know? Whatever the oil company would offer would be peanuts compared to what you could make in the long run. And think of your fame that would go down in the history books.

1 Reply

@okie,

But do you think that someone who were about to lose the entire foundation of their immense wealth, and to lose the influence they have over entire nations, would just accept it when I refused to sell my invention and go lie down?

I think you are the one who is being naive...

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@Cyracuz,

For anyone interested in this subject, Stan Ovshinsky, is a name worth looking up....he had some interesting things to say in the film "Who Killed the Electric Car" about some of his battery patents, that were of great interest to the auto makers.

Do I believe there are miracle 400 mpg carburetor designs locked away in one of the big 3's, or the energy giants vaults.....no.

Do I believe they supress inovation daily.....yes.

1 Reply

@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

No. Although wind, sun, waves, and geothermal heat are free, the technology to make electrical power from them is not. It isn't even clear that these alternative energy sources are less damaging to the environment once they produce enough energy to replace conventional power plants.

There are natural occurant geothermal "wells" that is extremely cheap to get energy from, it's when it's manmade and we have to drill and such it becomes expensive.

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Anti-matter!

1 Reply

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