The main tank, brimful with ideas. Enjoy them, discuss them, take them. - Of course, this is also the #1 place for new submissions!
By Mary E. Lloyd
#56
This one's especially for California - I have had this idea for years: As the waste water approaches the treatment plant, have it hit by a ring of laser beams. This will create steam which will turn the turbines to make the electricity. What remains will be germ free but good for topsoil, making soccer fields etc...

Reward: Provide a garbage disposal system for Berat, Albania.
By Arlo Vanderfrog
#262
Hmm... and then after the steam has turned the turbines, it would condense again; this water could in turn be hit by more laser beams, creating steam which turns turbines before condensing into laser-beam-hittable water... (repeat chorus, fade).

Only one problem: wouldn't an endless supply of energy reduce the incentive to conserve energy?
By anony*mouse
#263
Is this a joke? Or have you figured out a way of creating lasers without energy? :-)
Unfortunately the best thermal-to-electricity efficiency you can hope for is somewheare about 60 % making it a very polluting way of dealing with sewerage.
By anony*mouse
#264
Power is already generated with the methane that sewergae plants produce!
By anony*mouse
#265
Sever thousand of these cheap (and non-polluting) power producers exist in developing countries as well as at large sewerage plants(and farms) in the West.
By Dave
#1237
Instead of lasers, better to use the limited methane available from the waste water. Augment this with a type of solar and/or geothermal furnace. It's a great idea to find ways to clean the enviroment while producing energy. This also reduces the need for other dirtier energy sources.
By Michael
#1238
So these lasers heat sewage into steam and the steam turns turbines?. Why not just run the sewage through turbine generators and then use the sewage for something else?
You know how they cut down trees for timber and then plant saplings? you could drain of the water and compress whats left into fertilizer, maybe mix it with that potting soil you buy at the store.....
the trees grow faster..... you cut them down sooner.... more timber per year....... which means more paper AND more timber, and prices go down on both.
By Rishi
#13522
Mary E. Lloyd wrote:This one's especially for California - I have had this idea for years: As the waste water approaches the treatment plant, have it hit by a ring of laser beams. This will create steam which will turn the turbines to make the electricity. What remains will be germ free but good for topsoil, making soccer fields etc...

Reward: Provide a garbage disposal system for Berat, Albania.
100 KW of electricity put into a laser system produces a laser output of maximum 30 kw. Even assuming all of this gets to convert water into steam, the output at the generator connected to the steam turbine will be about 10 kW.

All that has been achived at the end of an elaborate, very expensive exercise is to convert 100 KW of electricity to 10 KW.
#20296
Couldn't you hold the watse in a tank of some sort and allow it to ferment producing methane that would be used to power turbines and the rest of the waste could be feed to special bacteria that would comsume the watse nutrients and produce another useable nutrient that could be sold to 3rd world countries to fight malnutriont and hunger. Now you have power with no energy being inputed and your fighting world hunger while produceing new economic jobs.
#21555
It is very easy as well as hard to generate electricity from waste water.There are many instruments to generate electicity from waste water.For generating electricity it is necessary to establish a plant.It is very cheap way of generating electricity from waste water.
OFFSHORE
Finger Wheel Fidget Toy

A three inch wheel with rubber grip on the outside[…]

Makeover of backyard

Nothing to share but I definitely want to see the […]

Sticking Games

No fantasy but real sports. Professional level foo[…]

This must be very useful information. Thank you ve[…]