Posted by Michael A. Terrell on June 10, 2009, 7:15 am
Joel Koltner wrote:
>
> > But then there is the automatic watch whichh is wound up by a little
> > pendulum inside the watch. Just moving your hands about keeps it
> > wound up. Or did. I haven't seen one for years
>
> The difference is that you need some tens of watts to power a laptop (e.g.,
> netbooks need up to ~30W, "regular" laptops need up to ~65W, and "high
> end"/gaming laptops might need ~90W or even more), whereas a match can be
> powered from milliwatts -- or even microwatts.
>
> If it's done efficienctly, having a human directly generate 30W (by, e.g.,
> peddling a generator) is not a huge burden (although it's certainly
> noticeable), but it's still huge compared to how much "incidental" or "waste"
> energy that we're currently harvesting from humans.
>
> (Also note that you specifically want to harvest what is otherwise wasted
> energy from humans: Feeding humans more specifically with the intent of
> producing electrically is not particularly efficient at all. I've read
> somewhere that rice is a good, inexpensive food to use if you insist on this
> approach, though. And granted, there are many people out there with many
> megajoules of excess energy in the form of fat that we could spare to harvest,
> too...)
Liposuction all the fat from lawyers & politicians heads and we could
solve the world's energy problems for at least a generation. ;-)
--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
Posted by ghio on June 10, 2009, 2:21 pm
wrote:
> Joel Koltner wrote:
> > > But then there is the automatic watch whichh is wound up by a little
> > > pendulum inside the watch. Just moving your hands about keeps it
> > > wound up. Or did. I haven't seen one for years
> > The difference is that you need some tens of watts to power a laptop (e.g.,
> > netbooks need up to ~30W, "regular" laptops need up to ~65W, and "high
> > end"/gaming laptops might need ~90W or even more), whereas a match can be
> > powered from milliwatts -- or even microwatts.
> > If it's done efficienctly, having a human directly generate 30W (by, e.g.,
> > peddling a generator) is not a huge burden (although it's certainly
> > noticeable), but it's still huge compared to how much "incidental" or "waste"
> > energy that we're currently harvesting from humans.
> > (Also note that you specifically want to harvest what is otherwise wasted
> > energy from humans: Feeding humans more specifically with the intent of
> > producing electrically is not particularly efficient at all. I've read
> > somewhere that rice is a good, inexpensive food to use if you insist on this
> > approach, though. And granted, there are many people out there with many
> > megajoules of excess energy in the form of fat that we could spare to harvest,
> > too...)
> Liposuction all the fat from lawyers & politicians heads and we could
> solve the world's energy problems for at least a generation. ;-)
> --
> You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
Yeah, but if you set up triangular blocks of land and at one point you
put a McDonalds, the second point a biofuel outlet and the third point
the liposuction clinic you could fuel the world for ever.
Posted by Michael A. Terrell on June 10, 2009, 6:01 pm
ghio wrote:
>
> wrote:
> > Joel Koltner wrote:
> >
> > > > But then there is the automatic watch whichh is wound up by a little
> > > > pendulum inside the watch. Just moving your hands about keeps it
> > > > wound up. Or did. I haven't seen one for years
> >
> > > The difference is that you need some tens of watts to power a laptop (e.g.,
> > > netbooks need up to ~30W, "regular" laptops need up to ~65W, and "high
> > > end"/gaming laptops might need ~90W or even more), whereas a match can be
> > > powered from milliwatts -- or even microwatts.
> >
> > > If it's done efficienctly, having a human directly generate 30W (by, e.g.,
> > > peddling a generator) is not a huge burden (although it's certainly
> > > noticeable), but it's still huge compared to how much "incidental" or
"waste"
> > > energy that we're currently harvesting from humans.
> >
> > > (Also note that you specifically want to harvest what is otherwise wasted
> > > energy from humans: Feeding humans more specifically with the intent of
> > > producing electrically is not particularly efficient at all. I've read
> > > somewhere that rice is a good, inexpensive food to use if you insist on
this
> > > approach, though. And granted, there are many people out there with many
> > > megajoules of excess energy in the form of fat that we could spare to
harvest,
> > > too...)
> >
> > Liposuction all the fat from lawyers & politicians heads and we could
> > solve the world's energy problems for at least a generation. ;-)
>
> Yeah, but if you set up triangular blocks of land and at one point you
> put a McDonalds, the second point a biofuel outlet and the third point
> the liposuction clinic you could fuel the world for ever.
Its your idea, so run with it.
--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
Posted by ghio on June 11, 2009, 3:32 am
wrote:
> ghio wrote:
> > wrote:
> > > Joel Koltner wrote:
> > > > > But then there is the automatic watch whichh is wound up by a little
> > > > > pendulum inside the watch. Just moving your hands about keeps it
> > > > > wound up. Or did. I haven't seen one for years
> > > > The difference is that you need some tens of watts to power a laptop (e.g.,
> > > > netbooks need up to ~30W, "regular" laptops need up to ~65W, and "high
> > > > end"/gaming laptops might need ~90W or even more), whereas a match can be
> > > > powered from milliwatts -- or even microwatts.
> > > > If it's done efficienctly, having a human directly generate 30W (by, e.g.,
> > > > peddling a generator) is not a huge burden (although it's certainly
> > > > noticeable), but it's still huge compared to how much "incidental" or "waste"
> > > > energy that we're currently harvesting from humans.
> > > > (Also note that you specifically want to harvest what is otherwise wasted
> > > > energy from humans: Feeding humans more specifically with the intent of
> > > > producing electrically is not particularly efficient at all. I've read
> > > > somewhere that rice is a good, inexpensive food to use if you insist on this
> > > > approach, though. And granted, there are many people out there with many
> > > > megajoules of excess energy in the form of fat that we could spare to harvest,
> > > > too...)
> > > Liposuction all the fat from lawyers & politicians heads and we could
> > > solve the world's energy problems for at least a generation. ;-)
> > Yeah, but if you set up triangular blocks of land and at one point you
> > put a McDonalds, the second point a biofuel outlet and the third point
> > the liposuction clinic you could fuel the world for ever.
> Its your idea, so run with it.
> --
> You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
I think that McDonalds and shell have it all tied up.
Posted by Michael A. Terrell on June 11, 2009, 10:29 am
ghio wrote:
>
> Michael A. Terrell wrote:
> >
> > ghio wrote:
> >
> > > Yeah, but if you set up triangular blocks of land and at one point you
> > > put a McDonalds, the second point a biofuel outlet and the third point
> > > the liposuction clinic you could fuel the world for ever.
> >
> > Its your idea, so run with it.
>
> I think that McDonalds and shell have it all tied up.
A lot of restaurants and gas stations closed down when gasoline hit
$+ per gallon, so get busy,
--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
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> > But then there is the automatic watch whichh is wound up by a little
> > pendulum inside the watch. Just moving your hands about keeps it
> > wound up. Or did. I haven't seen one for years
>
> The difference is that you need some tens of watts to power a laptop (e.g.,
> netbooks need up to ~30W, "regular" laptops need up to ~65W, and "high
> end"/gaming laptops might need ~90W or even more), whereas a match can be
> powered from milliwatts -- or even microwatts.
>
> If it's done efficienctly, having a human directly generate 30W (by, e.g.,
> peddling a generator) is not a huge burden (although it's certainly
> noticeable), but it's still huge compared to how much "incidental" or "waste"
> energy that we're currently harvesting from humans.
>
> (Also note that you specifically want to harvest what is otherwise wasted
> energy from humans: Feeding humans more specifically with the intent of
> producing electrically is not particularly efficient at all. I've read
> somewhere that rice is a good, inexpensive food to use if you insist on this
> approach, though. And granted, there are many people out there with many
> megajoules of excess energy in the form of fat that we could spare to harvest,
> too...)