Mixed Systems

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=120 BGCOLOR="#FFCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0bd3f781egdyul.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#009900" FACE="Arial" ><B>Solar Meta-systems</B></FONT> <B> </B><B>|    </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Solar Metasystems"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> back to <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Solar Hydrogen Systems"><U><B>Solar Hydrogen Systems</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0bed46f2egerbq.png"> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Solar Systems"><U>Solar Systems</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hydrogen Systems"><U>Hydrogen Systems</U></A></div> <div> <B>Mixed Systems</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Alternative Systems"><U>Alternative Systems</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=360 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> Integrated Solar-Hydrogen Platforms</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Humankind, if it is to survive itself, is destined to live under a glass and plastic dome.</div> <bR> <div> An integrated solar-hydrogen platform is based upon systematic elaboration of the primary hydrological cycle of the earth that is powered by the sun's daily energy. The two most abundant resources of the planet compose this cycle, sun-light and water, and the interactions of these two resources combine in the production of electricity, heat energy for heating and process operations, and the production of hydrogen and oxygen which can then be further utilized as a form of high energy fuel for driving transportation vehicles, energy storage and high energy electrical production. Water in various forms and phases mediates and articulates this complex cycle at every step and provides the feedback control to the entire system that can assure relatively high efficiencies in one that is streamlined and well developed. This basic system forms the foundation for the earthbound energy meta-system, and provides a very wide range of design configuration and inclusion of alternative energy sources and technologies in its possible articulation.</div> <bR> <div> If large scale human and biological colonies are to be built in outer space as an extension of earthbound systems, then these also must be based upon the same resources, utilization of solar energy and large quantities of water. The transportation of water to outer space in large quantities remains at this time cost-prohibitive, though water may be gained as a by-product of the exhaust of hydrogen-oxygen burning in space vehicles or other space systems. It follows therefore that the technology developed on earth for an integrated solar-hydrogen platform will find direct extension and demonstration in space-based systems, and the pioneering of space-based systems will in turn feedback to the development of earthbound solar-hydrogen technologies.</div> <bR> <div> The utilization of water within this energy system integrates this system with semi-closed artificial phyto-tronic or biotronic systems that may be based upon water and sunlight as well. From this simple fact, we see that development of a human-made solar-hydrogen platform is entirely consonant with natural biological systems, and many of the technologies useful for solar-hydrogen energy production and related processes are also directly or indirectly applicable to the artificial cultures of plant and animal production, and vice versa, technologies gained from the development of greenhouse and hydroponic systems may in turn be applied to the development of solar-hydrogen energy systems.</div> <bR> <div> Ideally, these types of systems would be considered mostly closed. The only inputs into these systems would be solar energy and any alternative or auxiliary energy sources. The only outputs from this systems would be heat energy lost, minimized by means of insulation and feedback heat-recuperation systems, and the lost of concentrated mineral compounds that build up as the result of contaminated exhaust or biological metabolic waste products, which can also be minimized by effective recycling. Water and hydrogen-oxygen would be kept almost completely contained within the system, as would be those other elements that are important for the maintenance of biological life forms. The initial volume of water enclosed within the system from its beginning, would determine the size and potential  energy and carrying capacity of such a system. In general, the fewer the lost outputs from the system, the greater the operational or achieved efficiency of the system. The greater the achievable efficiencies from such a self-contained system, the fewer the total amount of solar input needed to drive the system at a give rate per unit capacity of productive output.</div> <bR> <div> The whole earth represents a grand solar-hydrogen energy meta-system that is semi-enclosed in such a manner. Sunlight fuels 99 percent of the living processes that occur in the biosphere. Hydrogen energy transactions occur mostly at the microscopic level of cellular metabolism, mediated by complex organic compounds, in the form of ion exchange and the energy derivative from this exchange. Free hydrogen gas will rapidly escape the earth's atmosphere, being too light to be trapped as are heavier gases. Most of the earth's hydrogen has fortunately been trapped in the form of water, which is the single most abundant compound on the surface of the earth. The earth's gigantic reservoir of water, however it was originally formed, remains really a vast potential energy reserve that is very thermodynamically and chemically stable. Very little escapes the earth's gravitational pull--most elements of this global system are recycled and retained  within the framework of the earth's atmosphere, biosphere and upper geo-sphere. The only serious loses from the system are heat radiation and lost sunlight that is reflected from the earth and constituting the earth's albedo.</div> <div> It follows that even simple "closed" solar-hydrogen systems that we may artificially construct would in essence be miniature replicas of the total earth system. As such, these systems by their design are inherently synchronous and non-destructive in relation to the larger earth system from which they are derived and to which they are related.</div> <bR> <div> The effectiveness and efficiency of such a system depends therefore on the following main factors:</div> <bR> <div> 1. The ability to capture the largest amounts of sunlight possible at the highest rates and the highest efficiencies of heat retention and utilization.</div> <bR> <div> 2. The ability to process and circulate water throughout several phases within an enclosed system in such a manner as to achieve: a. the greatest transference and recuperation of heat energy; b. the highest efficiency and rate of electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen and oxygen; c. the most effective and efficient means of metabolizing and recycling water through bio-tronic systems with maximum concentration and recycling of residual compounds and metabolic waste-products.</div> <bR> <div> 3. The ability to produce, store, transport and efficiently utilize hydrogen and oxygen from a given water reservoir in large quantities as a consequence of its production from sunlight and related alternative energy sources, and to return the exhaust water produced as the product of the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen efficiently back to the original water reservoir, with as much retention of heat from the system as possible.</div> <bR> <div> Within these three levels, there are many different possible configurations of subsystems, the most efficient solution of which in any one area would need to be worked out by trial and error, experimentation and testing. Various systems of distillation and condensation of water, transport and cooling, reheating of water, auxiliary power generation, etc. can be conceived within a framework that articulates with bio-tronic systems at many levels.</div> <bR> <div> The requirement for maximally closed energy meta-systems on earth is not as strict as it would be for space-based systems, as all earthbound systems would be de facto and by de-fault subsystems of the natural global energy meta-system this is itself mostly closed. It is possible to open earthbound systems at more points of articulation and linkage, and to introduce more inputs of water and other forms of energy into the system, than would be possible in space-based systems. It would not be necessary, for instance, for automobiles powered by some kind of hydrogen system, to completely reclaim the products of its exhaust as steam or water, which could instead be allowed to escape back into the atmosphere to eventually join the natural hydrologic cycle.</div> <bR> <div> In space, for a long-termed self-contained system, especially one that is remotely inaccessible from earth, all water would have to be recovered as a consequence of the catabolism of hydrogen and oxygen. This results in a configuration of hydrogen burning engines placed forward in vehicles, permitting the possibility for the self-containment and recapture of the energy and exhaust water that is produced by the engines. Thrust of the ship would therefore be aft and could not achieve the high rates of acceleration that a rocket engine can achieve over a short time. Acceleration would be slow, continuous and gradual, counting on the fact that in space there is little gravitational resistance, and what resistance does exist, can be used to advantage in planning flight trajectories over long distances. The ship would essentially be dragged along behind the engine in such a manner as to depend upon the heat exhaust and water exhausted from the primary engine.</div> <div> Such an engine would also depend upon the capability of capturing and harnessing solar energy in an efficient manner, in large enough quantities--a problem that becomes increasingly acute the more remote a space-ship travels from the sun or any other solar system. Auxiliary fuel sources, most likely nuclear, can be utilized to produce the required hydrogen over long periods and great distances removed from sunlight. Auxiliary means of delivering light energy, possibly by large laser devices powered by the sun, might provide an alternative means for providing a continuous amount of point-line energy to a vehicle for conversion in its power-generating processes.</div> <bR> <div> We have more degrees of freedom and flexibility therefore in our earthbound systems than in our space-based systems, and hence there is a greater inherent range of potential applicability of earth bound systems than for space-based ones.</div> <bR> <div> There is very good reason for arguing for the rapid deployment and development of integrated earthbound systems that are as closed as possible, but that meet a basic trade-off in openness in retaining flexibility to be adapted to the broad range of contexts the earth presents to us. The main reasons for desiring the implementation of such an energy meta-system is to curtail and limit the effect that current human systems that are non-solar based are having upon the biosphere and the basic geophysical patterns of the earth at this time. Human systems, enclosed even partially but substantially within integrated energy meta-systems, would be far less destructive and exploitative of the earth's natural resources and natural patterning that they have been historically and increasingly become at an exponential rate of growth. It is possible to design and implement such integrated meta-systems not only in otherwise uninhabitable and unarable regions of the continents, in deserts, the poles, in mountains, but also on the ocean, under the ocean, in the earth, and it is even possible to conceive of  permanent earthbound systems in the atmosphere that fly continuously at high altitude in geo-synchronous orbit with the sun. Through such energy meta-systems, we are capable of extending the habitable regions for human civilization as well as for biological systems, in a manner that is as minimally destructive as possible with the earth's larger biosphere.</div> <bR> <div> The start-up costs, though in the initial phases prohibitive, would fall dramatically as the energy meta-system becomes further developed and integrated. The long-term dividends accruing from the development of the meta-system would far outweigh the net costs.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <p align="center"> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> s="na";c="na";j="na";f=""+escape(document.referrer) </script> <script language="javascript1.2" type="text/javascript"> s=screen.width;v=navigator.appName if (v != "Netscape") {c=screen.colorDepth} else {c=screen.pixelDepth} j=navigator.javaEnabled() </script> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> function pr(n) {document.write(n,"\n");} NS2Ch=0 if (navigator.appName == "Netscape" && navigator.appVersion.charAt(0) == "2") {NS2Ch=1} if (NS2Ch == 0) { r="&size="+s+"&colors="+c+"&referer="+f+"&java="+j+"" pr("<A HREF=\"http://www.TheCounter.com\" TARGET=\"_top\"><IMG"+ " BORDER=0 SRC=\"http://c1.thecounter.com/id=515383"+r+"\"><\/A>")} </script> <NOSCRIPT> <a HREF="http://www.TheCounter.com" TARGET="_top"><img SRC="http://c1.thecounter.com/id=515383" ALT="TC" BORDER="0" width="88" height="31"></a> </NOSCRIPT>   </div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>