Would JC contradict me ?

[bluesgtr44]

Thanks for that Ralph. We are a country renowned for our foggy days (experiencing one right now!) where there is no wind. I think its desperation that makes wind farms seem like a solution. There is only nuclear power that offers any kind of real alternative and no one wants it here.

We used to be self-sufficient in energy once but not any more. We need the gravity wheel to work and silverfox has stated it exactly right, and imagine the employment benefits word wide at this difficult time.

JC

I do disagree with you and Silverfox...I think when we see the reality of this, it's not going to be, in and of itself, the cure for all of our energy needs. I don't think that a "small" one would be able to fully power a home on it's own if we are to continue our usage as we do now. Now, my hope is that this principle can be expanded in some ways....I also have my doubts about that aspect.


Steve

[John Collins]

Why a "small" one Steve. I picture a large chunky structure, perhaps partly sunk into the ground. Nothing fancy, just big, crude and brutish and able to pump enough electricity into a home to satisfy all requirements. I don't subscribe to the general feeling that the wheel will be too weak for real benefit. It all depends on its height, the size of the weights, how many of them there are, how many mechanisms, whether there are serial wheels mounted on one axle, or just one very wide wheel with very wide weights, how slow and powerful it is or how fast you make it. If Bessler said he could make them fast or slow then so can we. Too many variables to write it off yet.

JC

[graham]

Don't forget that this thing runs 24/7 regardless of demand, so "off peak" storage would be a useful option . Feeding back into the grid would be even better for developed parts of the world.

Trouble is we don't yet the key element, "A working wheel" !!
Big sigh.

Graham

[erick]

+1 with the idea of sinking it into the ground. Let's say that a wheel is invented that revolves at a few hundred RPM. If it comes off its supports while it's sunk into the ground the potential for it damaging anything around it goes way down.

Here's an interesting thing to think about: If a gravity motor capable of generating electricity were invented it would very likely be used to desalinate water for all of the developing and drought ridden countries. No? What effect would this massive conversion of salt water to fresh water have on the oceans of the world and the environment at large?

[broli]

John perhaps when you are digging the hole to sink it in you will find a plutonium mine to use as weights. Don't dig too deep though or you'll come across sanity, god forbid if that happens.

[rlortie]

Graham wrote;

Don't forget that this thing runs 24/7 regardless of demand, so "off peak" storage would be a useful option . Feeding back into the grid would be even better for developed parts of the world.

This is already being accomplished at Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State. Excess power during low usage is used to pump water back up into the reservoir where it can be utilized during peak demand hours.

Of course a gravity wheel would eventually lead to environmentalists demanding that the dams be removed.

Ralph

[jim_mich]

What effect would this massive conversion of salt water to fresh water have on the oceans of the world and the environment at large?

The volume of the Earth's oceans is between 1.31 billion km^3 and 1.5 billion km^3 of seawater.

Water usage in 2005 in the USA was about 410,000 million gallons per day.

The population of the USA (2008) is about 304,059,724

The population of the world (2008) is about 6,692,030,277

Using these statistics the USA uses about 1348.4 gallons per day per person. Of course much of this water gets recycled and much of it is for industry and farming.

If we assume each person in the world were to use the same amount then the world water usage would be about 9,023,662 million gallons. This equals 34.158 km^3 of water.

This means that human usage of the Earth's water amounts to somewhere between 1/38000000 and 1/44000000 of the Earth's oceans. Even if the the whole Earth population were to supply all of their water by means of desalination the effect on the Earth's oceans would be like a tiny drop in a very large bucket, or about one part of water usage per 41 million parts of ocean.

(disclaimer: I calculated once and did not double check the numbers)

[erick]

Good to know. I've always wondered about that. Thanks for your time Jim!

Along these same lines though: Much is made of the impact that a gravity motor would have on humanities "carbon footprint". What I think is more interesting is what effect it would have on drought and the malnourished. For example: the biggest issue facing the Haitian relief effort is the issue of the availability of fresh water. A device such as what we all seek would do much to alleviate a problem such as this. Think about how this would affect the countries of Africa.

While it may not negatively affect the World's oceans what would happen were every dessert in the world converted into fertile farmland via irrigation?

[nicbordeaux]

Bigger marketshare for Monsanto, nothing would change except everybody would be rich and have three cars. A nightmare.

[jim_mich]

While it may not negatively affect the World's oceans what would happen were every dessert in the world converted into fertile farmland via irrigation?

The climate would change, probably for the better.

[bluesgtr44]

Why a "small" one Steve. I picture a large chunky structure, perhaps partly sunk into the ground. Nothing fancy, just big, crude and brutish and able to pump enough electricity into a home to satisfy all requirements. I don't subscribe to the general feeling that the wheel will be too weak for real benefit. It all depends on its height, the size of the weights, how many of them there are, how many mechanisms, whether there are serial wheels mounted on one axle, or just one very wide wheel with very wide weights, how slow and powerful it is or how fast you make it. If Bessler said he could make them fast or slow then so can we. Too many variables to write it off yet.

JC

Hey John....still waiting for the book! ;-)....no hurry. lol

I was addressing a statement by Silverfox...

Just another, if slightly more important, household appliance that they'd own just like a fridge or a water heater and that no home should ever be without.

I just thought if would be a good bit bigger than that to provide for one of todays households. I am coming at this from the demand perspective of even a single household. There is a tremendous demand anymore and it seems to constantly increase with technological advancements that also...consume power. Where Bessler mentions that he could put many of these on a same axle would seem to be the way to go in a massive distribution type of situation, say providing for 6-8 homes. This could be centrally located, underground even, with individual generators for each home.

Definitely in agreement that we can't make any true distinctions on the practicability of this yet, but just from the understanding we already have as to what is needed to maintain a load, I would think that even a wheel the size of the Kassel would not be able to maintain a household by itself if the demand is not reduced. at least in my neck of the woods.

I don't think speed adjustment is going affect the load on the device....a generator is still a generator.


Steve