Reply To: The Harmful Economics of Biofuels

[mitakeet]

Hello Zap!

I understand the whole thing about alphas (I worked with radiation extensively back in college), just not how to capture the energy from the things. I can sort of visualize the coil you are talking about, but if you know any detailed drawings that would be very helpful. I have read about the ‘venetian blind’ bit, but just words (Googling finds way too much noise to be useful), no schematics or anything. Your explanation that the idea really isn’t mainstream does help me understand my lack of success in finding information. I have been reading up on the alpha battery concept, the use of semiconductors to capture the energy (largely unsuccessful because the energy of the alpha destroys the crystal structure of the semiconductor) as well as the idea of turning the alpha’s energy into photons (rather than electrons) and then capturing the energy via photovoltaics. I guess having read so may blithe assertions that the alpha’s energy could be captured at 90+% efficiency I assumed that was based on people having actually done it economically as opposed to theoretically.

Thanks for your info!