India plasma research centre promises sun-like energy

eandt.theiet.org...
Researchers at the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat say they have successfully confined the fourth state of matter in a Steady State Super Conducting Tokamak (SST-1), a development similar to making sun-like energy in a controlled environment.

With power requirements to go up 10-15 fold in the next few years we badly need new ways of generating power in a manner which is safe for the environment. Coal, Gas and other sources of generating power just won't do anymore. Though i wonder if such a plant will be affordable to build for every country.

a reply to: maddy21

Neat!

Of course, that's just the containment part of the problem.
They're still generating that plasma with microwaves- so for now, they're using up huge amounts of electricity to generate huge amounts of heat.
They're claiming a 100x ROI on electricity- neat concept, but I'd like to see the math. Converting heat into electricity just isn't that efficient...

Although at least then we'd have enough electricity to start pumping sea water up into space to vent some of the excess heat from our planet!

a reply to: maddy21

With power requirements to go up 10-15 fold in the next few years we badly need new ways of generating power

Is this significant increase in power needs coming from the increasing number of developing countries, or from increased stress/demand on outdated power sources?

I'm just curious as to where this drastic change in power needs is coming from.

Nice thread OP, thanks for sharing this info with ATS.

originally posted by: maddy21

eandt.theiet.org...
Researchers at the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat say they have successfully confined the fourth state of matter in a Steady State Super Conducting Tokamak (SST-1), a development similar to making sun-like energy in a controlled environment.

With power requirements to go up 10-15 fold in the next few years we badly need new ways of generating power in a manner which is safe for the environment. Coal, Gas and other sources of generating power just won't do anymore. Though i wonder if such a plant will be affordable to build for every country.

I don't know, but that sounds incredibly energy consuming.

I have a different idea, go with me on this one ok....

Imagine, India, over populated..
Imagine, India, very hot....

Imagine putting large groups of people together in simple structure and all they do is sit...
Imagine the rising heat because of all the people
Imagine harnessing the heat
Imagine transforming the heat into steam
Imagine the steam generating electricity

Keep them fed and hydrated, but make it their jobs. Just pay them to sit all day.

Have you ever been in church, or class, or an auditorium, or any room that gets very hot because of all the people? I say harness all that body heat.

India seems to have people they could use as a resource without plundering them. Just pay a bunch to sit in a room and then harness the body heat.

That's my offering of alternative energy solutions. I don't know the mathematics of how it would work.

a reply to: WarminIndy

Only way to concentrate that heat enough to cause a phase change in water would be by using phase change heat pumps.

You'd never reclaim the electricity used to concentrate that heat.

Now, if we had these people doing manual labor all day, manually running a turbine...

originally posted by: lordcomac
a reply to: WarminIndy

Only way to concentrate that heat enough to cause a phase change in water would be by using phase change heat pumps.

You'd never reclaim the electricity used to concentrate that heat.

Now, if we had these people doing manual labor all day, manually running a turbine...

Might work, but it really seems a waste of all that sweat and body heat.

There has to be some way of harvesting it. I mean, sweat already is the by-product of energy consumption in the body.

Could they perhaps obtain plasma from sweat?

a reply to: WarminIndy

In the HVAC world they say each person radiates the equivalent of a 60 Watt light bulb. So there is power in numbrs

originally posted by: datasdream
a reply to: WarminIndy

In the HVAC world they say each person radiates the equivalent of a 60 Watt light bulb. So there is power in numbrs

See. I knew it.

So learn to harvest that resource. Pay them for it though, because it would be exploitation if they weren't paid.