[p2p-research] Floating Hydro-Electric Barrel Generator

[Ryan Lanham]

Marco:

I am, so far, personally very suspicious of all local projects on power
because of pollution.  Stream ecologies can be easily ruined.  Active solar
(so far) spreads horrible chemicals I know will never be handled properly.
I've seen no proof they do not leach off of solar plants while they sit on
roofs, etc. now.  I worry that active solar may prove to be a titanic
ecological disaster.  I read the literature regularly in hopes that my fears
will be alleviated.  So far, they are not.  Carbon nanotube technologies
appear promising, but I understand they are a decade off, at least.

I also have grave doubts about personal manufacturing for similar
reasons...I doubt people will be able to do it without losing hands, eyes,
etc. on a regular basis.  It will be impossible to regulate and set training
standards.  There isn't a great history of personal responsibility with
items that are dangerous on our planet.  I don't know how we are going to
develop that now.  As a person who focuses in my "day job" on workforce
development, I find it totally implausible that the skills and capacities to
execute a distributed manufacturing economy are feasible.  It takes highly
specialized and rare skills to be a top programmer in the FOSS world, why
would we expect different of personal manufacturing or power?
Specialization has ruled the world for 300 years.  I don't see that stopping
soon.  And specialization, but its very nature, is not broad-based and
distributed.

One reason I am a fan of nuclear is that it generates large amounts of power
with relatively minor (though permanent) ecological implications for the
wattage generated.

The P2P implications of personal natural gas engines as are being tried out
in Germany are very interesting.  I can see that working.  The more I know
about (active) solar, the greater my doubts it is worth anything at all.
No one is a bigger fan of passive solar/OTEC-hydrogen-Ammonia cycles than
me.

So, as big a fan as I am of the commons and commoners, I don't see related
P2P solutions in money, manufacturing or power as very realistic
transformative ideals.  I've never seen P2P as transformative.  I see it as
a philosophy of life held by a relatively small elite that can benefit
larger groups.

Ryan

On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 1:43 AM, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 04, 2009 16:06:08 PM +0000, Ryan wrote:
> > Very cool, very simple personal energy generation.
> >
> > This is a floating waterwheel that can generate electricity when
> > suspended over a river or other flowing water regardless of the
> > depth and speed of flow.
>
> Just one note: when discussing this or any other "micro-hydro"
> solutions, don't forget the dangers discussed in the first two
> comments of
> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-05-ask-umbra-micro-hydro-power/
>
> (the "what happens with a storm flow" part looks particularly
> interesting from Italy right now, with TV stations giving more and
> more images of the Messina disaster flood...)
>
>     Marco
>
> General note: as Paul, I too would very much prefer a short, plain
> text abstract plus link to a big HTML bubble
>
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-- 
Ryan Lanham
rlanham1963 at gmail.com
Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
P.O. Box 633
Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
Cayman Islands
(345) 916-1712
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