I want everyone to know that I DO NOT Polute as much as I want to, I polute as much as I can afford to.

I want my Gemini Diesel to cruse at 250k/ph. I have never been able to get it past 146. Where do I install the dongle?

Just a couple of things for those who have become confused by the mis-information being given here. Lithium batteries are fully recyclable and per dollar unit as less than half the cost and pollution as lead acid because of longevity.

All our lighting is 12/24v LED for both houses and boat, combined we use less than 150W. It's true in the past they were pretty useless for general lighting, but the new ones are excellent and seem to last forever.

It's very simple to reduce your carbon and pollution footprint, if you have any form of caring thought for the future or economic sense. I understand that's irrelevant to most, it's political, corporate propaganda and denial which drives their lives. In the real world, the technology available to make life easy, cheap and healthily enjoyable, is available no matter where you are, it just depends on priorities.

We spent a few days over xmas helping a mate finish setting up his power system which runs on Stirling engine generation powered by heat stored in a black salt bin powered by a small solar steam furnace tracking the sun. He currently uses gel batteries for storage, but is building a lithium bank for the future.

This last weekend we went back to see how it was going and he has more power. He wants to run the system for a year without shutting it down, as the salt bank will go cold and it takes days to get to operating temps which range from 800- 1300deg when the salt goes to liquid. As he's an engineer and toolmaker, he builds these things with ease, but to have it build would cost at least $20000. I have no idea of the longevity of the salt bank, but the rest of the set up has very little that will break down.

They also get much of their water from the air as well with a simple setup and I hope to have one operating in the next few months when I can afford the parts.

Do your own studies and investigations, get your facts right instead of listening to propaganda and know nothings who only accept what their fed and programmed to believe.

Rave about global warming, climate change all you want, but they're irrelevant to the awakening giant of disaster which no one takes any notice of. The quickening collapse of biodiversity and the food chain, something which has gone beyond the point of no return and will hit without warning. leaving 95% of the population without food. Within the next couple of years it will hit the world really hard and is already well on the way with the demise of world bee and insect populations in food and cropping areas.

Alga, have you ever come across book, The Final Empire by William H. Kotke? You can read it free online here: FINAL EMPIRE TOC

It's also available in physical form from booksellers.

Good read - I think you'd find it interesting.

I agree that the collapse of biodiversity (along with the topsoil crisis, which goes hand-in-hand) is a bigger issue than the other fluff we hear about. Hardly any talk of it - as usual, it's the things in the background that often (always?) end up having the most impact. As William Kotke wrote in The Final Empire, "civilized society is unable to see its own problem because the organic life of the earth is below its threshold of consciousness."

lithium polymer batteries are even better since the amount of rare earth content is less, but the versatility is superior. In addition the latest R&D results on ultra-capacitors is really encouraging.

Goodness me! Is the sky really falling? I think like many you've become just a wee bit passionate about the 'impending doom'!

To gain some perspective, have you ever looked back upon the history of 'end of the world' theories? Eminent scientists, (mostly leftist anti-capitalist) but nevertheless an impressive consensus of the fashionable scientific pundits of late '60's and early 70's, (an era I'm hazy about), supported the Club of Rome's prediction that 1977 would be the year "the stork passed the plough!' Much hand wringing and high minded UN speeches, even Jimmy Carter started fretting, crying "Doomed! ah tells ya! Doomed!!" Widespread and irreversible famine was predicted from that time on until the world population dropped to under the 'sustainable limit' of 3 billion.

Well, the result was that 1978, became the year that the EEC was confronted with a massive surplus of food! The famed 'Milk, butter, egg lakes' , the situation was worsened by the former European Colonial powers had agreed to buy all food surpluss from former colonies. This made the cake even (sorry I couldn't resist) larger as all the former colonies also recorded bumper crops.

We are currently feeding more than 7 billion!

So, you may be a little more circumspect at the current crop of doomsday scientific prophets, that is unless you want an extra role in a eco-disaster movie?

My view? Well I'm so glad you're interested! (insert comment)

The planet has always faced environmental challenges. It is only how these challenges affect us, the human species, that need worry us. The advantage we have is that sometime ago we took charge of our own evolution. (discovery of fire..oh and beer). Technology is our destiny, how ever much the human hating, earth loving, neo-Thoreau romantics would like to fantasise about the moral virtues of Avatar!

Sadly, no 'intelligent earth mother', exists! (arboreal or otherwise).
No amorphous 'mother nature',! Just us humans and our fellow creatures. We possess amazing technology, but species-wide technology requires massive infrastructure and complex social mechanisms to organise and coordinate our efforts on a missive scale.

We can not avoid all the effects of climate change, but we can, and will adapt and mitigate a changing environment. As the age of oil/coal energy comes to a close and is replaced by electric energy generation, the world will actually become more agriculturally productive, not less.

Sunspots, Ice-Ages, Giant Comets, Nuclear War, Giant Purple Invaders from Distant Planets, may or may not occur. But my bet is on our quarrelsome human species innovation and adaptive abilities. (BBQ'd purple invader anyone?)

I love the concept of people making their own Biodiesel, creating black sand power generators, brewing your own beer, growing your own dop..well y'know what I mean.

But it's pointless if the Chinese build 821 new coal fired power plants in the PRC! 150 million new middle-class consumers in India, cheaper petrol in Venezuela, etc.. It is only by developing new and more competitive large scale 'clean' technology, that we can persuade those populous poorer nations to abandon fossil fuels.

The most obvious large scale changes are already occurring. The inevitable rise of the EV, and demise of the ICE, BP's courageous, and hopefully profitable, adoption of a Biodiesel derivative to replace Bunker oil.

It is by these means that the human species will progress.

By our own efforts and resilience.

Never have the prophetic words of Bob Dylan's 'The times are they are a-changing' been so profound.

End of Rant. (collection)

I agree, its not just the global warming issue, we can argue until we're blue in the face over that one, but give some thought to the finite resources of fossil fuels don't just burn em up because you can afford to. What about a bit of oil for the great grandkids to lubricate their electric cars with
This is great stuff! For years I have read about such possibilities but have yet to hear of it being done in a real situation. Can you give us more info or a link to a blog or something. I would even travel to Tassie to see this.

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Johnnojack
4WD Isuzu Jackaroo 3.1 54,000km on WVO 2 tank home built system 6 solenoids. Mk. 8 version.

Hi All.

Here's a titbit of useless information. The Queen is converting the Royal train to run on Biodiesel.

So now we can say we work under royal Direction.

Gene

This is not uncommon, I know some people on the NSW sth tablelands who have the same set up although I haven't seen it fully in action and there are people in Mackay and down near Lorne who are doing the same. Adelaide uni has a set of this nature I believe. I'm sure once the system has proved itself everyone will know if the vested interest don't stop them first, as they've done in the past to many forms of energy production which would take away their monopolisation of the planets resources.

One unknown quantity is the stability of the salt bank when in a liquid state at about 1300 deg, the same as inside a kiln. The heat has to be constantly used or vented otherwise it can build up pressure with disastrous results I expect. But this system is a small prototype giving 150W compared to one able to produce enough for a house or small town.

If you want to know more, just google, "stirling engine power generation", you may be amazed at what you'll find.