interesting Al. very very interesting. i did not know those particular aspects of the manufacturing of solar pannels or windfarm blades.

SPS technology "showstopper": Money!

Where are you going to get this money? You need people to invest in it. Period. Plain and simple , you have the money you can do anything. Not saying the technology is bad or won't work but everything is ran with money. You need to set up buisness plans, financial forecast, alot of boring numbers I guess you guys wouldn't want to do, in order to get people to invest in it. Once again asshole like me can do this for you. Or you can wait for the government or some institution to develope it. It'll take time but be patient. Nothing is made and done just like that, or if it is, it's probally going to the scrap pile.

Problem with wind energy: Start up cost, maitenance cost, blocking migratory patterns of birds, and noise pollution. A typical wind turbine even of the most efficent design can not match a coal or gas powered plant either in "foot print" or power generated. The turbine blades would have to be huge (equivalent to a foot ball field in area)to even get any return in investments. A wind farm is a good idea but once again more turbines would have to be built to get any money back. This is the main reason we stay with our current energy technology, the technology is understood and the investment is usually returned in the first year of operation. The developement of wind energy must be subsidized at first in order for companies to take the first step towards making wind farms. After this hopefully industry will decide it is worth the cost and develope it. On a interesting note do any of you know how those turbine blades are fabricated? Not very enviromentally safe thats how! In order to withstand the fluxations of spinning at fast speed, and since the blades are long and slender (creating some very interesting engineering challenges) they must be made of alloyed metals, or epoxy glass which to say the least are not enviromentally friendly to make. You just can't take a chunk of metal and start to pound it into the shape you want! You have to either forge the blades or form the epoxies. Neither of which are safe to produce. So you are at a paradox, no known manufacturing technology we posses at this moment can produce a product with out some by product.

This is the case with developing solar panels. The by products of producing solar panels are harmful silicone derivatives or gallium arsenide. If you produce a whole bunch of solar panels, what are you going to do with these by products? The problem is not that companies don't want to change the ways they do things but the consequences of using a gas plant is known. With solar panels you need more "foot print" then a traditional power plant. How many people need to be displaced?

It is nice and all to have these motives to make this world a better place but we need to have the follow through to see where our choices will lead us. We can't use the ends to justify the means. We can't just jump onto a energy source and not see what the consequences could be. Granted it probally consumes less resources to produce wind turbines or solar panels but you still need a energy source to power this production (If you have never been in a manufacturing facility before then you don't really know how much energy is required to make something. How much energy do you think is required to melt metal down into a liquid form to form it into bars (for wind turbine supports, unless you can think of some other suitable substitute.)? or tubing (for pipes, once again unless you can think of another way to transport water)? ). So therefore you have to use fossil fuels at first to produce these technologies. Then after the new energy sources are up and running and providing enough energy then you can get rid of using fossil fuels. You need to do everything by kaizen as the japanes would say it. Little by little, day by day you can make a difference. Not all at once we couldn't support it. But slowly we can wean ourselves off using fossil fuels.

Well this is why the world will always need guys similar to me. We're the asshole industrialist turning your dreams into reality. We know what it takes to produce these technologies. So dream all you want but always consider the price you must pay to make your dreams reality... Sometimes the price isn't cheap.

Hey daggers: is it okay for you guys if practices get moved to Wednesdays instead of Thursdays? As in starting tomorrow?

haha, oh that weezl.

cadence gets gamegeared (from his blog)

" i'm opening for busdriver tonight at the back room. it's a favor to my dj, weez-l. i'm not getting paid but i'll probably get crunk as shit and i'll get to meet busdriver, which will be neat. he's a dope rapper. i can't see myself doing a lot more with this dj though, he's starting to take advantage and i'm finding that he always tries to sell me something whenever i talk to him. do you have friends who only want to talk to you if it benefits them in some way? "

The latest in korean fashion = fucking up "Canada"

man, fuck greenpeace; if they can build a fusion reactor that would be HUGE!!! I read an article just last night that said to date, all simulations of the fusion processes of a star have been unsuccessful in the lab. What a breakthrough it would be if this works!

I also noticed how japan was pissed they didn't win the bid for constructing this, and yet they were appeased by being given 20% of the positions for only 10% of the cost. And then also they have plans for that solar satellite system. Is it just me, or does japan have some secret agenda for becoming the global powerhouse for novel energy sources? If they do, and they're successful... well, let's just say japan's currently laughable economy will quickly become something to reckon with.

i know birthday marathon doesn't start till tomorrow, but tomorrow is a travel day and may not be on the web. so i say this now. happy birthday everyone.

live action Transformers movie? .....Spielberg...?