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| Science & Technology | |
| Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough | |
| 2019-11-20 | |
| [CNN] A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. Essentially, Heliogen created a solar oven — one capable of reaching temperatures that are roughly a quarter of what you'd find on the surface of the sun. The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial processes. In other words, carbon-free sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon-emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution. Heliogen, which is also backed by billionaire Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, believes the patented technology will be able to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industry. Cement, for example, accounts for 7% of global CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. Unlike traditional solar power, which uses rooftop panels to capture the energy from the sun, Heliogen is improving on what's known as concentrated solar power. This technology, which uses mirrors to reflect the sun to a single point, is not new. Concentrated solar has been used in the past to produce electricity and, in some limited fashion, to create heat for industry. It's even used in Oman to provide the power needed to drill for oil. The problem is that in the past concentrated solar couldn't get temperatures hot enough to make cement and steel.
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| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #11 Yes. And his Kildar series. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2019-11-20 15:52 |
| #10 #7 Tried his trilogy in Correia's Monster Hunter Universe? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-11-20 15:27 |
| #9 Getting up to temperature is one thing, producing enough continuous heat to melt a ton of iron is quite another. I suspect this process only works between the hours of 10 and 3 on a sunny day, and not at all at night. Was reading the other day about Liberty ship production during WWII, something that was critical to the war effort. Imagine the reaction you'd get saying "Sorry, boss. We got to shut down production. Sun went behind a cloud." |
| Posted by: SteveS 2019-11-20 13:31 |
| #8 Aldenata became a franchise. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-11-20 11:48 |
| #7 Concur w/ #5. I just re-read the 'Troy Rising" series, again. I hope there is a fourth book. Also went back through all the Aldenata series, which also needs another volume. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2019-11-20 10:50 |
| #6 So that's one major cause of global warming? Ban mirrored solar collectors! |
| Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2019-11-20 10:19 |
| #5 John Ringo is ecstatic. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-11-20 09:27 |
| #4 ...or this one? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-11-20 09:17 |
| #3 This technology, which uses mirrors to reflect the sun to a single point, is not new. Much more useful say on the moon where you could use it to process metals Or slagging Orbital Debris |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2019-11-20 09:15 |
| #2 How much power? |
| Posted by: gorb 2019-11-20 08:50 |
| #1 Much more useful say on the moon where you could use it to process metals Heat metal to gas Ionise Accelerate it some direction Use moons gravity to pull elements down to concentrate based on atomic weight Basically a mining version of a mass spec. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-11-20 07:32 |