@oneil: The issue I have is not the cost, but keeping them long enough that they pay for themselves.

twilight-arc

@ErgonomicUncle: Its more the fact that the frequency that is generated is something like terahertz/gigahertz range, and that effective transformers to turn it into DC can't be manufactured the same way at this size at all.

Basically, you end up with too high a frequency AC power, or you can't even rectify it to DC with current processes.

Log1c

I wonder if you could use Aluminum instead. It collects heat rather well. You might not get 80%, but ~60% at lower manufacture/purchase price might help.

Lodlaiden_

Though if the brand Monster comes anywhere near this i'm out.

ErgonomicUncle

@EE:
Hey, at least its using gold for some utilitarian purpose instead of an object of pointless obsession.

ErgonomicUncle

@EE: On this scale, I'm sure it doesn't take toooo much - but once mass produced I see where you're going..

oneil

Oh, because gold is such a cheap commodity.

EE

What about DC? Couldn't you charge a battery with that? There was also those chaps from MIT making thermoelectric materials (heat into electricity) that sounded promising as well. These two technologies should be introduced and hastily married.

ErgonomicUncle

MIT just announced a way, using dyes, to distribute the light falling on the panel to it's edges, boosting the capture up to 20% more. Could this two make an appointment for say.... tomorrow for lunch? yes? thanks.

[technology.newscientist.com]

MarlboroTestMonkey7

@banned4life:

Consider if here in the states the government decided to use it as an electric power support. If these run off of light and heat, wouldn't miles of black asphalt make for a good place to imbed these power antennae? If the technology existed to bridge the gaps, these could be linked right into the existing power lines and bingo - our entire interstate system just doubled as our power grid.

But yes as usual the consumer has to pay for such things, which of course is harder for one person to afford.

ErgonomicUncle

Until we can buy it this is just DOD vaporware.

Extremetech had a good write up of one of their guys soalr isntall. if you live in a sunny region with high energy costs it can pay for itself in about ten years. So. You can pay the utility, or you can pay for your solar power. Either way you pay. I;d prefer the latter if we got enough sun here to justify it.

banned4life

@Log1c:

Would you have to use tiny transformers or could you hook them all up to one normal size one? Excuse my rusty electric engineer knowledge, but couldn't you use them all hooked up to the one outlet?

ErgonomicUncle

@Ryan H:

right, that's one of the problems with current designs, they might boast 30% efficiency when they're brand new, but that figure only goes down from there with time.

nutbastard

Actually, the newsest solar panel technology can go from 36-48% efficientcy

Stacky Botrus

@EE:
Actually, in the big scheme of things, gold is a cheap commodity. In a case like this where you have a thin layer of gold over other materials the manufacturing cost of getting the gold into the proper shape and form will dwarf the cost of the gold itself.

Besides, it's non corrosive and largely non reactive. You could expect these to be good for along time.

Ryan H

@Segador:
That makes no sense.

You are basically saying, "Here's something that will drive us out of business. Let's buy it, but instead of marketing it and cornering the energy market, we'll shove it in a closet and stay in our competitive market."

If something like this has the potential to take a bite out of oil, even oil companies would want in on it. It would make more sense for them to profit from it than spend money just to bury it.

Murph1908

I don't know what kind of AC signal they are trying to harvest energy from in this thing. If it's just the same thing as noise power in the infrared spectrum you're not going to be able to extract much useful energy regardless of how hot the device is. To make it useful you would need to tune the "antenna array" and by definition that will make a much smaller portion of the spectrum available. I've got a black shoe that also absorbs a lot of infrared energy in the Sun but I'm pretty sure that it will not ever power anything even so small as a wrist watch.

GiltProto

These technologies tend to "dissapear" after they're bought by oil companies.

Segador

@Mark Wilson: I hate to break this to you, but Adrian Covert is probably going to come gunning for you for re-reporting the story Adrian posted back in February.
[gizmodo.com]

jkr's bold comment

@ErgonomicUncle: I believe its more the fact that the frequencies are so high (x10^9) that current transformer methods just don't work.

Log1c

O_O
The future is anime! Gundam 00 >.>

MastaFalse

@ErgonomicUncle: As someone who deplores the use of precious metals and gemstones for frivolous use (and will probably have to buy something along those lines for someone special) I agree with you wholeheartedly.
A colleague of mine once told me that eventually we'd be smart enough to manufacture these materials on an atomic level. I just was hoping he meant sometime in my lifetime.

qbrad

@Murph1908: Not exactly... I understand where Segador is coming from. If the oil companies were indeed this sinister, then they may buy the tech to be used at a later date. Gain all the profits they can from raping the earth for petrol, and then at the last minute "introduce" newer, greener technology ahead of some other oil company, or solar panel company, etc. in order to keep their profit margins as high as they have been for the last 90 years.
But that would all take some sort of major conspiracy, and we all know those NEVER happen.
P.S. When is mythbusters going to re-enact the Alfred P Murrah building bombing with news commentary from the time, or 9/11?

qbrad

@ErgonomicUncle: I actually had a similar idea regarding the asphalt. Why not combine this with the MIT invention, while putting a tube of water under the roads to soak up maximum energy? I mean black asphalt makes up most of the roads in the States, making it prime for all three of these inventions.

rimshot515

Having had one of the lead engineers speak to my thermodynamics class this spring (our professor was one of the leads on multi component surfaces for this project) I was informed that because of a new stamping method the team developed the price for these would be on the order of cheap carpet, or a couple dollars per square foot. The bigger issue is stepping the AC current down from the gigahertz it comes in at.

rlpy26