This blog provides a forum for students, instructors and others to share information and ideas about the Spring Thesis Program at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City.
Hi Jerry, Very interesting videos. The thing that I have noticed with energy schemes is that they sound good until you start looking at the implications of making very large installations, which are necessary to produce the amount of energy that we need. If you look at some very clean technologies that seem at first like they have no down side, they suddenly seem less benign when you start looking at their environmental impact as the scale increases. For example, wind power seems harmless because it does not cause release of CO2, has no thermal impact or any waste products. However, when you start to look at the size and number of turbines that are needed, it becomes a significant imposition. Consider the controversy over Cape Wind , a project that calls for erecting many 400 foot tall towers in the water between Cape Cod and Nantucket. People who believe they are environmentalists are strongly against that project because of the impact on their views. Similarly, many people are against hydroelectric power, even though it is arguably clean and endlessly renewable.
I think that it is essential, when discussing alternative energy, to be very honest about the amount of energy needed to make a difference. For example, to get the US off its dependence on foreign oil)and then consider whether people will tolerate the inevitable imposition that appears to come with energy schemes that are sufficiently large. If, on the other hand, you are simply looking to create a battery eliminator, that is, a device that powers one or more small devices for personal use, that's a different problem, and may be much more manageable. By the way, have you looked into new technologies for charging small device without having to connect them to a power supply? Take a look.
In the videos you posted, there was one project that looks like it was intended to be used to power individual street lights (the israeli piezoelectric generators embedded in the roadway) and another one that converts kinetic energy of a person moving normally to electricity using a garment made of a special cloth. so, I assume that you are mostly interested in developing a small, wearable product based on similar technologies that would be used to produce power for personal use rather than a larger apparatus more appropriate for generating and storing electricity.
I'm very curious now to see where this takes you. Let me know how I can be of help. steven
1 comment:
Hi Jerry,
Very interesting videos. The thing that I have noticed with energy schemes is that they sound good until you start looking at the implications of making very large installations, which are necessary to produce the amount of energy that we need. If you look at some very clean technologies that seem at first like they have no down side, they suddenly seem less benign when you start looking at their environmental impact as the scale increases. For example, wind power seems harmless because it does not cause release of CO2, has no thermal impact or any waste products. However, when you start to look at the size and number of turbines that are needed, it becomes a significant imposition. Consider the controversy over
Cape Wind , a project that calls for erecting many 400 foot tall towers in the water between Cape Cod and Nantucket. People who believe they are environmentalists are strongly against that project because of the impact on their views. Similarly, many people are against hydroelectric power, even though it is arguably clean and endlessly renewable.
I think that it is essential, when discussing alternative energy, to be very honest about the amount of energy needed to make a difference. For example, to get the US off its dependence on foreign oil)and then consider whether people will tolerate the inevitable imposition that appears to come with energy schemes that are sufficiently large. If, on the other hand, you are simply looking to create a battery eliminator, that is, a device that powers one or more small devices for personal use, that's a different problem, and may be much more manageable. By the way, have you looked into new technologies for charging small device without having to connect them to a power supply?
Take a look.
In the videos you posted, there was one project that looks like it was intended to be used to power individual street lights (the israeli piezoelectric generators embedded in the roadway) and another one that converts kinetic energy of a person moving normally to electricity using a garment made of a special cloth. so, I assume that you are mostly interested in developing a small, wearable product based on similar technologies that would be used to produce power for personal use rather than a larger apparatus more appropriate for generating and storing electricity.
I'm very curious now to see where this takes you. Let me know how I can be of help.
steven
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