Mystery invention to save the environment?

www.engadget.com...

Just read this on Engadget not too long ago. Supposedly it's some new material or something that the creators are vaguely describing as a "new science" and refer to it as a "super material".

Does anybody know any more? Sounds promising but hey... take it with an enormous dose of sodium chloride if you ask me.

On a lighter note, Al Gore will be there.

Edit: Another link: environment.independent.co.uk...

Sounds to me like they are charging quite a bit just to attend the unveiling dinner... which raises plenty of legitimacy red flags. (read: bullsh!t)

[edit on 11/30/2007 by Bryan Thornsberry]

I read about this on digg. It sounds interesting but until I see what it is and what they are claiming it can do I'll remain skeptical.

Could it be a room temperature super conductor? That may be classed as 'a new super material'.

Sounds to me like that microfine carbon nanotube solar collectors that someone was talking about the other day.

Nanotube solar power

Of course this is being developed by GTRI, and not the person in the article - though I can't really find a name, more like a British consortium.

Maybe these guys have already discovered how to mass-produce something similar? A tube of material rolled up like a poster, that can be adhered to anything, but easily removed. I might come with a regular A/C outlet already attached that you can plug in when you get enough of them connected up (plug and play?) so you can get house current power?

Last I heard those nanotube sheets were lower power than standard.

Good catch. Should be interesting.

Would be cool to have them for something like camping. Take four of them and lay them out on your tent and picnic table. They'd not only be durable, and waterproof, you could plug in the coffee pot and the portable TV. Rainy day=tarp, sunny day=power up. If they could get a 24-hour storage layer put in there too, then you could go every other day sunny, and or store the 'charged' one and as long as you had a sunny day every three days you could get enough power to run your PC and modem, etc.

But I digress...

Just happened to think...what we really have never been able to invent is a storage battery with a long life. Say it's a rechargeable battery that will deliver 250 Watts for 6 months, but without the toxic problems of fuel cells. That would be pretty cool. If it had Goa'uld symbols on it, I might be wary.

[edit on 30-11-2007 by Badge01]

Mystery Invention to Save the Environment...



This is not related to the product in the OP, but it Is about a Invention
which has a potential to help save the environment


by Mircowaving a tire in a vacuum, the inventor of the process
produces + 1gal diesel fuel, combustable gas, carbon black, and seperates the steel wires in those belted tires, which helps make worn out tires a multi dacades blight on the environment....

and one 14" tire is reduced to these energy components and salvagable
recyclables for less that .70 cents of energy per tire.


this is actually intended as a 'FYI'


the source is; www.thedailygreen.com...

and that article has an insert on the page to the better & expanded
original report from "The Philadelphia Inquirer" of 3 Dec 2007
about the inventor, Frank Pringle and his lifetime exploits,


then be sure to scan the "Comments" section at page bottom
~and read where a John Dobozy of Austrailia, came up with a similar
system back in 2004, there are 2 links in the comment reply.~

which brings up the issue of Why these apparently useful and enviromentally advantageous inventions and processes remain
undeveloped and in the hazy world of being a "mystery invention"


thanks,

________________________________________________________
and i apologize if it appears this post detracts from the Authors' OP,
i think it actually expands / broadens the thread

I read something the other day. They were talking about using the sun to create our fuel for cars etc. The technique works by using solar energy to chemically energise carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide that can be used to make hydrogen or serve as a building block to synthesize a liquid combustable fuel such as methanol or even gasoline and diesel.

reply to post by OnTheFence


You mean this one?
Team to chemically transform carbon dioxide into carbon-neutral liquid fuels

Still a prototype and it won't yet be in the market for the next 15-20 years. But I'm keeping my eyes on this one. Shows promise, though. Sounds like a mechanical version of my preferred organic method -- algae biofuels.

Edit: fixed BBcode

[edit on 8-12-2007 by Beachcoma]

so this ws like a week ago.. anything come ov it> did al gore show upand say he invented it? ^_-

but seriously.. any recent news?


-G