Talk:Main Page

As this wiki gets organized, discussion of its structure is here.

Some draft text
Participants of the Renewable Energy Design Wikia can collaborate on the detailed engineering design of new or improved methods of capturing energy from renewable sources. This wiki is not intended to produce a codification of existing knowledge. It is a collaborative worksite for solving the global warming peak oil energy crisis problem.

This wiki will host renewable energy design projects of any type, but all readers and collaborators should try to make sure the calculations are correct to find errors in concept and design of any project, not just their own.

User:Archimerged started it in particular to discuss his ideas for producing high pressure compressed air from a low $$\delta T$$ heat source and sink, but he hopes other projects will also use this site, and that their readers will cooperate on all projects they have ideas about or see flaws in.

Current design projects:
 * Deep Ocean Helical air compressor
 * Mercury / Oil Helical oil pump
 * Crossbar switch air compressor
 * Countercurrent heat exchangers

Information pages:
 * CAD software

Possible links from other wikicity pages
Hi, just a very brief note about a couple of other wikicity pages which might be of interest later on, (for example to maybe include links to this wiki)
 * sca21:Sister Cities, sca21:project:WikiNode
 * Society Gardens

Philralph 12:18, 14 Jan 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to go ahead and state the organizational principles on the main page.
Nothing is happening here, so obviously I just have to go set things up... Archimerged 17:34, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Appropedia - how can we work together?
I've started the Development and Sustainability Wikia. The idea is for something to complement, not to compete with, Wikipedia (see About the Development and Sustainability Wikia). My main focus is international development, but I'm also interested in sustainability issues, and there is a lot of overlap.

It seems to me that Renewable Energy would work better as a subsection of Development and Sustainability (or perhaps something with a different name, but also a broad topic). That would encourage more synergy (collaboration, linking) between the different topics. That's my suggestion, anyway - I realize this might be seen as an attempted "takeover" but I hope it's taken as a constructive suggestion. Cheers --Singkong2005 04:53, 10 May 2006 (UTC)


 * The Development and Sustainability Wikia has merged with Appropedia, which now appears to be by far the most active wiki site for appropriate technology, sustainability and international development.


 * I'm keen to see collaboration between these wikis as much as possible, and want to make sure we link to each other and transwiki where appropriate.


 * However, I like the idea of a broad wiki, and I'm not sure exactly what to make of this one. I'd be inclined to merge - is that a fair call? --Singkong2005 08:47, 4 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I think this topic has enough of a community to maintain its own wiki even though it is quite specific. The problem is that the community hasn't found this wiki yet. Do you know how we could promote it to people who might want to write about renewable energy? If you'd like to start a broader wiki on Wikia, please let me know. Angela talk 22:55, 5 January 2007 (UTC)


 * It may have enough of a community to maintain its own wiki, but as suggested above there are advantages - synergy, collaboration, better interlinking, more chance of discovery by its natural community (?) - if topics part of a broader wiki. Some of the general topics here - global warming, peak oil, for example, also included in Sustainable Community Action which aims to be fairly broad. Philralph 09:00, 9 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Angela, I did start the Development and Sustainability Wikia but it never attracted much attention, and I ended up merging it with the more active Appropedia.


 * It feels a bit inappropriate of me to be suggesting, on a Wikia page, that the wiki should merge with a non-Wikia wiki... but I do think it makes sense. And I figure that I'm just expressing my opinion - not trying to force anything.


 * Re promoting the wiki to renewable energy people - I think there's a big overlap between renewable energy people and appropriate technology people, so the broader wiki definitely makes sense there, especially as Appropedia is already actively reaching out to such people.


 * Re a new, broader wiki on Wikia, I'm also under the impression that Wikia does not support the creation of wikis that duplicate existing wikis - and Appropedia is definitely an active wiki on the broader topic (especially now that WikiGreen has merged into Appropedia). Cheers, Singkong2005 21:33, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Re producing high-pressure compressed compressed air
Hanh Archimerged. And anyone else who may come by.

I am interested in low-tech solar heating. I do everything with an eye to the KISS theory of operations - Keep It Stupidly Simple. The less complex a thing, the easier it is to debug & modify as needed. Also the less likely we are to get lost in it, whatever it is.

You want to generate hi-P compressed air. It can be done with Fresnel lens mirrors focussed on a tube of water. The water becomes steam - reaches temps in the 400F - 500F range. While this is 'wet air', it will also be hi-pressure & compressible.

It's not that hard to remove the water from the air if you want to, & use the air to do whatever you're after.

I got some ideas from the Oct. 15, 2007 issue of Business Week; article called "Solar's Day in the Sun". I don't get excited about their use of computers to regulate the tracking devices (too high-tech/complex), but there's always more than 1 way to skin a beast.. I am working on a mechanical tracking mechanism that uses some of the sun-heated water to move the mechanism.

Anyway, I hope this helps you close in on your solution.DogMocassins 17:59, 11 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi. Thanks for the input.  I thought I would receive e-mail notification of changes to the Wikia, but I guess not.  Anyway, I've not been working on this recently, and I basically think now that most of the projects I wrote about here don't really work, in the sense that constructing them could easily take more energy than they produce within their operational lifetime.  I never really got around to doing that sort of calculation...


 * I think computers are not too complex for operating mirror-pointing devices. Anything mechanical will be unreliable out in the desert with the wind and sand...  The most promising technology I've seen recently is using many mirrors to reflect light to a central tower, where energy is stored in molten salt for use generating electrical power when it is needed.  The larger the storage tank, the lower the ratio of surface to volume, and the larger fraction of the stored energy which is relatively immune to loss.


 * I also like the idea of capturing CO2 from the air near the place where it is to be stored, rather than at the site of generation. I think this will solve the climate change problem if we just go ahead and do it.  Lots of energy is needed there, but it could all come from a fast-breeder nuclear plant which solves the waste storage problem by destroying all of the short-lived highly radioactive waste on site, uses all of the plutonium it produces, and stores the long-lived waste on site, which is in a remote uninhabited place.  The low concentration CO2 is captured from ambient air using a chemical process.  The capture agent is regenerated by heating, releasing the CO2 into the input pipe of the storage system.  The nuclear plant doesn't require a generator, because we don't need electricity to regenerate the capture agent, just heat.


 * Archimerged 20:15, 28 April 2008 (UTC)