Image: Christoph Niemann
What would happen if solar panels were free? What if it were possible to know everything about the world—not the Internet, but the living, physical world—in real time? What if doctors could forecast a disease years before it strikes? This is the promise of the World Changing Idea: a vision so simple yet so ambitious that its full impact is impossible to predict. Scientific American’s editorial and advisory boards have chosen projects in five general categories—Energy, Transportation, Environment, Electronics and Robotics, and Health and Medicine—that highlight the power of science and technology to improve the world. Some are in use now; others are emerging from the lab. But all of them show that innovation is the most promising elixir for what ails us. —The Editors
The No-Money-Down Solar Plan
A new wave of start-ups wants to install rooftop solar panels on your house. Upfront cost: nothing
By Christopher Mims
The biggest thing stopping the sun is money. Installing a rooftop array of solar panels large enough to produce all of the energy required by a building is the equivalent of prepaying its electricity bill for the next seven to 10 years—and that’s after federal and state incentives. A new innovation in financing, however, has opened up an additional possibility for homeowners who want to reduce their carbon footprint and lower their electric bills: get the panels for free, then pay for the power as you go.
The system works something like a home mortgage. Organizations and individuals looking for a steady return on their investment, typically banks or municipal bond holders, use a pool of cash to pay for the solar panels. Directly or indirectly, homeowners buy the electricity produced by their own rooftop at a rate that is less, per kilowatt-hour, than they would pay for electricity from the grid. Investors get a safe investment—the latest generation of solar-panel technology works dependably for years—and homeowners get a break on their monthly bills, not to mention the satisfaction of significantly reducing their carbon footprint. “This is a way to get solar without putting any money down and to start saving money from day one. That’s a first,” says SolarCity co-founder Peter Rive.
SolarCity is the largest installer of household solar panels to have adopted this strategy. Founded in 2006 by two brothers who are also Silicon Valley–based serial entrepreneurs, SolarCity leases its panels to homeowners but gives the electricity away for free. The net effect is a much reduced utility bill (customers still need utility-delivered power when the sun isn’t out) plus a monthly SolarCity bill. The total for both comes out to less than the old bill. SunRun in San Francisco offers consumers a similar package, except that the company sells customers the electricity instead of leasing them the panels.
Cities such as Berkeley and Boulder are pioneering their own version of solar-panel financing by loaning individuals the entire amount required to pay for solar panels and installation. The project is paid for by municipal bonds, and the homeowner pays back the loan over 20 years as a part of the property tax bill. The effect is the same whichever route a consumer takes: the new obligation, in the form of taxes, a lease or a long-term contract for electricity, ends up costing less than the existing utility bill.
“What we’re really seeing is a transition in how we think about buying energy goods and services,” says Daniel M. Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Kammen, who did the initial analysis on Berkeley’s financing model, believes that by turning to financing, consumers can overcome the inherent disadvantage renewables have when compared with existing energy sources: the infrastructure for power from the grid has already been paid for and, in many cases, has been subsidized for decades.
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31 Comments
Add CommentLong term readers of SA, such as yours truly, may recall an article back in March 1996 about buses in Curitiba ( Brazil ) which had most of the features of the bus scheme outlined on page31. It's a testament to the lobbying power of the rail and automobile industries that this eminently practical and efficient approach to urban transport has been so slow to be adopted. In UK the steepest railway gradient is less than 4%. Since we have also had them longer than anyone else, it is reasonable to deduce that gradients above 10% have been found to be too dangerous for railways without some additional system such as cables or racks for traction and braking. This in turn means that where a train relies on friction between the wheels and tracks for braking, they cannot brake, even in emergency, at better than one eighth g , particularly in the wet. Typical braking figures for road vehicles on pneumatic tyres are about five eighths g. Put another way, a train, or tram, takes five times the distance to stop in emergency from a given travelling speed. This greatly affects the safe distance ( known by some as headway ) between trains , or trams, on the same track. Passing places, lanes, and stations for buses then take up much less room,( and cost less ) than their rail equivalents. Thus headway between buses can be down to a few seconds, but trains and trams need minutes. So no matter how big you make your train, or tram train, a route served by buses can transport more passengers, provided you have the buses for the job. Since buses are also about a quarter of the price per seated passenger than trains, you would have thought for urban transport it was a no brainer. Am I missing something here? Hybrid technology would seem to be taylor made for buses, given their journey profile. High flying wind turbines has been around, as an idea , for a while now. Since saving weight is important on anything that flys, perhaps it is time to forget about copper, and think about aluminium. Although aluminium has less conductivity than copper, it is only about 1.7times, but it weighs less than a third. High voltage overhead lines already use it because it's strength to weight allows greater spans than is possible with copper. Aluminium is also a lot cheaper than copper. The windings and electromagnets in an airborn generator could be made of aluminium. I wonder if some commentator could tell me why the wind energy industry requires permanent magnets for their wind generators when they require a power source for safety and could use electromagnets.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn the full print version of this article it says that Ford is "waiting for market to prove itself" before they create an electric vehicle.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat explains a lot about how Detroit sunk!
By the time market proven itself you already lost as happened w/ the hybrid vehicles.
It looks like they still did not learn any lesson!
http://www.taxibus.org.uk/igt-system.html
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRead it carefully, so you don't make the lightrail mistake again.
Well, what about considering ideas that will help us create the kinds of institutions that real people in this real world most need. Such as: A NEW MODEL OF CITIZENSHIP that will fit the new realities of the world as we know it today, all the while taking advantage of the possibilities that some of these extraordinary technologies create for reconstructing our social and political environment. It is of utmost importance that these new possibilities be put to work in favor of sound social and economic solutions to humanity's mounting problems... As long as the same often obscure interests prevail, our efforts will be greatly wasted. Dismantling the nation-state is both necessary and possible, but nothing short of a miracle will put an end to our totally outmoded institutions and the war economy they promote and sustain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thispersonally Detroit began its tumble long before the advent of a need for an electric car and had much to do with poor leadership as it is suffering from as i write.....Detroit needs more than just a miracle vehicle
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisas a simple ancient country MD,ind, i am wonder-struck at the SciAm vision for the present'future.1.there was a movement 'back to nature'.it is suffice for us if doctors are allowed to diagnose and treat all the disease we know, than try to foresee. there is a verse that says that terrible diseases will be coming. 2. why solar panels free, when the Sun is free? 80% of people live under the useful sun's heat and light.they can easily adjust their living activities within that range of time and energy. in india can most easily finish all my food earning work between sunrise and sundown.and after that booze and drama and open air entertainment need little energy. 3. why create that much garbage, that amount of food junk, and get all the ills associated? 4. why huge cities when satellite townships can serve, and save such a lot of time and effort? 5. why so many kinds of medicines when simple cures can help 80% of the time?. 6. do i need 6 pairs of work clothes and 3 pairs of home dress? Do i need a vehicle for going 3 km average? and a lift for just 5 stories? Money energy and effort for growing food is diverted to Tobacco, Coffee, Tea, Creams,and a host of non-life supporting items.= I live in 400 sft of luxury space , when my house maid has 220sft for her family of 5.== if SciAm pauses to ponder, there are solutions right under/ thru our windows. we have and are making life and living styles more and more complicated and dependent on the powers that rule us covertly.= you all know the above thoughts of mine which are old by centuries ? But we have dubbed such as uncivilized !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks Scots Engineer - I was just about to go looking for the Curitiba article for the same reason. A key feature was that "unemployed" got paid doing city hall work in rapid transit bus vouchers instead of cash.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrains do better because they use far less energy/maintaining/mile, carry more passengers and fewer or no drivers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat said the flexibility and lower road bed costs of a bus or bus train in many cases be as good. Personally I build small, high speed EV's that get as good eff as trains with 40 yr old + tech. The problem with cars is using 2-4klbs of car to move 1 bu-- around. I use medium tech stronger than steel composite body/chassis with fork lift EV drive.
Alum is just not as eff in motors, etc so copper is the way to go. Neo magnets are more eff too but not by much in larger sizes. But there is no shortage of rare earth metals or lithium, just little market until recently so no one bothered to look for them. In the US we have plenty of them, just need to develop the deposits.
Ford is doing excellently on EV's with many EV's, PHEV's coming out over the next 2 yrs, at least 6 of them at reasonably low cost. Nissan's Leaf EV coming out next yr will cost the same as an ICE. Check out the 100mpg X-Prize contest to see transportation's future.
Solar CSP, CHP, biomass, windgens are simple, low cost machines that can compete now with fossil fuel despite the subsidies fossil fuels get. Even PV panels can now be bought retail for $2/wt at sunelec.com, $2.5k/kw with inverters and windgens with inverters for $1.5k/kw at magnets for less.
Switching clothing to hemp along with biomass fuels from it can solve heating, clothing at very low costs vs cotton or synthetics or fossil fuels. Hemp, fly ash and concrete along with biofoams can make low cost but eff homes/buildings that need little energy to heat, cool.
Te solutions are already here just special interests like fossil fuel, car, chemical, financial companies don't like these because they cut their profits big time. Chevron even bought the NiMH patents so they could stop EV size batteries from being made to keep EV's from kicking their bu--s. But there are many other battery types now so they can no longer stop them.
With the rising of fossil fuel's costs though all that is coming to an end. The world changed for the better in 6-08 when oil peaked and the financial bubble/greed burst, causing a wide re-assessment of everything. The US can no longer afford the bull that has gone before.
Now people can even do their own energy, homes, transport, food if big business wants to keep ripping us off. Hopefully the sheeple will get the message as those who don't are going to be in a world of hurt, broke.
Hi jerryD - why do you think that rare earth minerals are called rare? There may be no supply difficulty with the present low rate of consumption, but if most road vehicles start requiring significant quantities, then price will shoot up. I don't dispute that copper is more efficient than aluminium, but it is also a lot heavier and more expensive, so 1.7 times more aluminium by volume gives the same electrical properties as copper , weighs about half and cost a quarter. Economic efficiency is as important as physical.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI cannot comment on the price of pv cells in the US, but here in Britain they are still very expensive (unfortunately)As for trains being more efficient than buses, that is a largely unfair comparison because trains do not have to cope with traffic as buses do and can coast to a halt ( a practice that is illegal for road vehicles in UK). Also trains run on specially engineered tracks with only gentle gradients. True that one driver can drive a long train, but he or she is often not the only crew member, and the high capital cost of the train in comparison with buses takes a long time to pay of. I doubt if trains require significantly less maintenance than buses, and the track maintenance per passemnger mile, or tonne mile for freight is likely to be higher than roads, due to the much lower traffic volumes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would like to share my interest as one of the principals of Royal Wind, we have designed an Ocean Temperature Regulatory System using our revolutionary turbines to power cold water pumps. Our system is designed to pump large amounts of cold water to the surface of the ocean to create cold water thermoclines. We believe that widespread use of our system worldwide would result in a much desired global temperature regulation and reduction. The health of our oceans and the increased carbon sequestration are linked to global sustainability. We feel that without intervention the oceans are in danger of collapse. The health of our oceans is crucial to the maintenance of oxygen levels in the atmosphere. If the oceans die, we will struggle to survive. It’s all connected: ocean health, carbon sequestration, and global temperatures. Here’s the plan:
To install our ocean-current powered cold water pumps in strategic locations worldwide, creating cold water thermoclines, increasing the sequestration of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Our system will also be used to build the polar icecap back to a more acceptable year-round base level which will also ensure the continued function of the thermohaline and of the North Atlantic drift. Our system will also be used to create cold water barriers to hurricanes. We can solve the Earth's problems with the right effort. We must if we plan to continue living on this Earth.
i am scared. people with <nasa intelligence> need to conglomerate clandestinely and figure out all of this mess that they say we are in. the delicate balance of civility and anarchy seems to get in the way of describing what is really going on... the earth has healed itself for billions of years: volcanoes,tsunamis, hurricanes,earthquakes. have we got in the way over the last 50 million years or so? we have controlled forest fires. they should have burned. yet our EXCUSE is we cut down many trees fire should have burned ELSEWHERE. that is not relativity. intervention and god should scare all of you as much as me. where are all the bees going? could we actually trigger ice age activity early? let god deal with that please. this is just a big ol ball of dust with a capability of stretching and warping in orbit on it's little axis. mankind cannot control. if you do intervene, dont let god know. but the catch is to tell the people (without god hearing) that everything is a o.k. and oh yeah,stop taking our blessed money. if you are a genius, go to work. we will be that one percent inspiration with our prayers out in this big world.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisplease see information on wave powered pumps at isecke.blogspot.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthey can do most of the above
Agriculture is worlds greatest transporter. Please look how to change it - using ancient farmers' knowhow.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee www.soilimprovement.eu
2nd idea: Plug-in hybrids: The author states that plug-ins do not use any fossil fuel at all. That is incorrect. In most cases, the source of the electricity serving the plugs is coal-fired power plants.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe author also does not give any reason why grid-based sources are preferential to plug-in sources. Considering that the fossil fuel burning power plants operate at a lower efficiency than the gas-burning automobiles, and that the grid based sources require more energy conversions-- which inherently mean losses (chemical-mechanical-electrical-mechanical for plug-ins versus chemical-mechanical for internal combustion engines), more energy is required to move a vehicle with a battery than with petroleum.
What farmers forgot about farming could solve an increasing number of enviromentals problems created by modern methods.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPatents acquired are obsolete - the methods and technologies are not.
Go to www.soilimprovement.eu and se for yourself.
Regards
Hans M? Rasmussen
m.sc.
Denmark
Regards
It's great that solar is more affordable then ever. As many here have suggested, it's always best to shop around and compare quotes. Plus there are differences in solar panel manufacturers, mounting and other equipment. It might not require as much research and planning as redoing a kitchen, but you should at least know what is going to be on your roof for the next 25 years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think solar is great. I am saving to buy a home, but my neighbor did solar panels and he cut his electric bill to $0. They look really cool on the roof too. He went to http://freecleansolar.com to get started.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have a question about solar.I can understand that on a sunny day we can use it.But does it work on a cloudy day and night time? I went to a website <a href="http://FreeCleanSolar.com"> FreeCleanSolar.com </a> to get some info.The website guys talked about using battery system or grid. The Website gave me quite a good info about Solar manufacturers, price comparisons, leasing , tax credits and other solar info.Is it advisable to put my home on solar power???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe have a plan that will lower the cost for individual training.�
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTraining is needed to understand how my system works and construct a duplicate of my�system.
�
We will agree to license up to fifty construction Associates�
this year. ��
Each Associate will put $1,500 in an account to be used to�
finish this project.�
Each Associate will sign a mutually binding non disclosure�
agreement that covers any training information given or�
recieved in the intensive training course.�
Each associate will be allowed to send two persons each�
year for the next two years starting with the date of�
associate purchase, to our training course to be taught here�
at 447 sw old lake city terrace for the price of $500 each per�
week of training.�
Anyone wanting to come to this course, who does not wish to purchas AN ASSOCIATE Agreement may purchase an attendance certificate (provided there are�
openings,) for the price of $5,000 and a Must sign a non disclosure�agreement (two weeks prior to attendance).�
Associates and only Associates will be allowed to send two�
individuals to a training course each week for $500 each person per week.�
The price for the training course will not include housing food or�transportation, any such arrangements must must be made�prior to arrival for the course.
I believe the fairest way to spread the information that I have put together to create my simple system is to hold scheduled classes here at my farm and actually show each person how to build the system and teach each person how to put it together and what is needed to run the system properly, and how to run the system.
since the system may well be the beginning of a new understanding of how to best grow animals at less cost and therefore has so many desperatly needed applications to feed people and begin to rescue the various species of aquatically produced animals caught or raised to feed people.
the fact that i spent millions of dollars and spent 100's of thousands of hours doing the things necessary to create this system, and enjoying every minute of it does not mean that everyone who can use this information needs to do everything i have done and spend a similar amount of time working with the fish.
i believe that a simple demonstration on my farm will bring many people to a level of understanding needed to further advance my system to be able to provide unending supplies of all kinds of aquatic life forms.�
many of these life forms can be grown under ideal conditions in controlled envirouments and help to feed billions of people on our planet in spite of the deteriating conditions in our oceans.
�what to do next to make sure everyone who needs the information has the opportunity to learn how to create working models of the system.
my proposal is that i offer to take a total of 50 associates under my wing, so to speak, and ask each associate to put up $1,000 which should get our prototype up and running by august.
��
once the prototype is producing 200 pounds a week in 5,000 cubic feet kept well oxygenated at 12 to 14 parts per million by our u-tube combined with a generator that can deliver 50 pounds a day as dissolved oxygen to the pennyfish stocked in the pond, we will have proved that 10,000 pounds can be grown in a similarly equipped pond and system of whatever size. � since aone acre pond has 46,540 square feet times 5 foot in depth which id
this will demonstrate that 1,000,000 pounds can be grown in a one acre pond at a stocking density of one pound per cubic foot. �
this is the first benchmark of stocking densitys and densitys which may be reach �up to seven pounds per cubic foot with good safety. �see my video video which demonstrates densities of seven pounds per cubic fooy in our demonstration 20 yeards ago. �
the potential of being able to support the growth of pennyfish stocked at 7 pound per cubic foot is totally mind boggling. �this will mean we can increase our production of tilapia up to seven million pounds per acre and do it at a reasonable cost. �it may also suggest the ability to raise grouper, red snapper, oysters abalone and other aquatic animals by controllin oxygen level in our cultivation.
what i need to do to begin this demonstration is to assemble the machinery and instruments required and do all of this on my property.
i have already done part of this by having a pond dug of the right dimensions and a liner was donated as i said �this prototype still has a number of improvements to be made to demonstrate how the system works.
and with the help of dennis and ron and the generosity of federal express got a liner made in oregon deliver to my farm in high springs florida and have gotten it put in my previously dug pond�put in the previously dug pond which is 20 feet by 40�(dug by mr. william royster -on credit) �will assist in providing �the hands on experience to those who wish to come to my farm to learn. �
the cost to date (owed or paid) is digging the pond ($1,200), liner including delivery ($2,500) breeders provided by me and labor to produce pennyfish ($2,500,) operating cost $3,000 per month.
so, to summarize. �getting the pond dug and the liner designed manufactured and delivered free by federal express is a giant step towards creating a suitable prototype. �next we will need a u-tube built to my specifications��($2,500), an oxygen generator that can provide at least 50 pounds a day to be dissolved in water by the u-tube ($2,500). suitable oxygen meters and control computer �built to my standards ($5,000). � plumbing delivery system with the ability to control the oxygen being delivered $2,500 to the u-tube a cage system built on site delivery reusable ($6,000). �the currently estimated for finishing the proto-type to the point of being able to schedule classes (estimated time is six months) is $40,000. to $50,000, but considering the enormous amount i have already spent doing four previous pilot projects and uncovering a whole new dimension in aquatic production, it is only a drop in the bucket to create a whole new dimension in aquaculture.
our current investment of money spent so far is around five million to date for all cost over the last twenty years and includes over 300,000 hours of caring for tilapia during which i learned a great deal..�
all of this was done (differently , but not much.) in my growing facility in palmetto florida about 20 years ago. �the video is shown in this e-mail.
mike sipes simple one acre intensive system or �Ssipe's simple system� �
nov 28, 2009 ... mike sipes simple one acre intensive system the essence of this communication is to explain why the use of oxygen improves the growing of ...
www.aquaculturetalk.com�[found on google, bing]
aquaculture talk " mike sipe�
yearly production of tilapia in ponds ranging from 1 acre to 1/30th of an acre. mike sipes simple one acre intensive system or "sipe's simple system" ...
We have a plan that will lower the cost for individual training.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTraining is needed to understand how my system works and construct a duplicate of my system.
We will agree to license up to fifty construction Associates
this year.
Each Associate will put $1,500 in an account to be used to
finish this project.
Each Associate will sign a mutually binding non disclosure
agreement that covers any training information given or
received in the intensive training course.
Each associate will be allowed to send two persons each
year for the next two years starting with the date of
associate purchase, to our training course to be taught here at 447 sw old lake city terrace for the price of $500 each PERSON per week of training. CALL 386 454 2016 or 386 454 0227. Web site: cherrysnapper.com
Anyone wanting to come to this course, who does not wish to purchase AN ASSOCIATE Agreement may purchase an attendance certificate (provided there are
openings,) for the price of $5,000 and they Must sign a non disclosure agreement (two weeks prior to attendance).
Associates and only Associates will be allowed to send two individuals to a training course each week for $500 each person per week.
The price for the training course will not include housing food or transportation, any such arrangements must must be made prior to arrival for the course.
I believe the fairest way to spread the information that I have put together to create my simple system is to hold scheduled classes here at my farm and actually show each person how to build the system and teach each person how to put it together and what is needed to run the system properly, and how to run the system.
Since the system may well be the beginning of a new understanding of how to best grow AQUATIC ANIMALS at LOWER cost and therefore has so many desperately needed applications to feed people and begin to rescue the various species of aquatically produced animals caught or raised to feed people.
The fact that i spent millions of dollars and spent 100's of thousands of hours doing the things necessary to create this system, and enjoying every minute of it does not mean that everyone who can use this information needs to do everything i have done and spend a similar amount of time working with the fish.
INSTEAD YOU CAN TAKE MY COURSE, LEARN HOW TO GROW 10,000 POUNDS OF DELICIOUS TILAPIA AT 200 POUNDS PER WEEK IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD.
I BELIEVE THIS SYSTEM WILL REVOLUTION THE FISH GROWING INDUSTRY BECAUSE THE CAN BE GROWN SUCCESSFULLY IN LARGE QUANTITIES,
I believe that a simple demonstration on my farm will bring many people to a level of understanding needed to further advance my system to be able to provide unending supplies of all kinds of aquatic life forms.
Many of these life forms can be grown under ideal conditions in controlled environments and help to feed billions of people on our planet in spite of the deteriorating conditions in our oceans.
What to do next to make sure everyone who needs the information has the opportunity to learn how to create working models of the system.
My proposal is that I offer to take a total of 50 associates under my wing, so to speak, and ask each associate to put up $1,000 which should get our prototype up and running by august.
Once the prototype is producing 200 pounds a week in 5,000 cubic feet OF WATER (1.000 SQUARE FEET OF POND) kept well oxygenated at 12 to 14 parts per million by our u-tube combined with an oxygen generator that can deliver 50 pounds a day as dissolved oxygen to the pennyfish stocked in the pond.
We will have proved that 10,000 pounds can be grown in a similarly equipped pond and system of whatever size. since one acre pond has 46,540 square feet times 5 foot in depth which will demonstrate that 1,000,000 pounds can be grown in a one acre pond at a stocking density of one pound per cubic foot.
This is the first benchmark of stocking densities and densities which may be reachED up to seven pounds per cubic foot with good safety. see my video video which demonstrates densities of seven pounds per cubic foot in our 20 years old video on youtube.
the potential of being able to support the growth of pennyfish stocked at 7 pound per cubic foot is totally mind boggling. this will mean we can increase our production of tilapia up to seven million pounds per acre and do it at a reasonable cost. it may also suggest the ability to raise grouper, red snapper, oysters abalone and other aquatic animals by controlling oxygen level in our cultivation.
what i need to do to begin this demonstration is to assemble the machinery and instruments required and do all of this on my property.
I have already done part of this by having a pond dug of the right dimensions and a liner was donated as i said this prototype still has a number of improvements to be made to demonstrate how the system works.
With the help of dennis and ron and the generosity of federal express got a liner made in oregon deliver to my farm in high springs florida and have gotten it put in my put in the previously dug pond which is 20 feet by 40 (dug by mr. william royster -on credit) will assist in providing the hands on experience to those who wish to come to my farm to learn.
the cost to date (owed or paid) is digging the pond ($1,200), liner including delivery ($2,500) breeders provided by me and labour to produce pennyfish ($2,500,) operating cost $3,000 per month.
So, to summarise. getting the pond dug and the liner designed manufactured and delivered free by federal express for free is a giant step towards creating a suitable prototype.
This is a culmination of something that started with my reading the article in the May 1963 issue of Scientific American, ”THE CULTIVATION OF TILAPIA BY C.F. HICKLING.
This is incredible because tilapia cultivation will now become a part of our lives
We will need next a u-tube built to my specifications ($2,500), an oxygen generator that can provide at least 50 pounds a day to be dissolved in water by the u-tube ($2,500). suitable oxygen meters and control computer built to my standards ($5,000). plumbing delivery system with the ability to control the oxygen being delivered $2,500 to the u-tube a cage system built on site delivery reusable ($6,000). the currently estimated for finishing the prototype to the point of being able to schedule classes (estimated time is six months) is $40,000. to $50,000, but considering the enormous amount i have already spent doing four previous pilot projects and uncovering a whole new dimension in aquatic production, it is only a drop in the bucket to create a whole new dimension in aquaculture.
Our current investment of money spent since 1963, so far, is around five million dollars to date for all cost over the last twenty years and includes over 300,000 hours of my caring for tilapia during which I learned a great deal.
The video is shown of my production facility 20 years ago is on youtube by going to youtube and entering in the search area the words “cherry” and “snapper” and you will see the 20 year old video that shows how easy tilapia culture can be
Out of this video and 20 years of development came the world changing event they allows one million pounds of tilapia to be grown in a simple pond with a few of my improvements.
mike sipes simple one acre intensive system or Sipe's simple system
nov 28, 2009 ... mike sipes simple one acre intensive system the essence of this communication is to explain why the use of oxygen improves the growing of ...
www.aquaculturetalk.com [found on google, bing]
aquaculture talk " mike sipe
yearly production of tilapia in ponds ranging from 1 acre to 1/30th of an acre. mike sipes simple one acre intensive system or "sipe's simple system" ...
Te reason this is a world changing event is because I have found a way to grow over a million pounds of tilapia in a single acre outfitted with less than $300,000 of equipment that will produce a sizeable crop within4 monyhs and this discovery makes it possible
to feed many more people in the world than are eating now.
This method came out of my reading the article in Scientific American in 1963 and becoming involved 53 years ago... So, this is all your Fault, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.,
I THANKYOU, AND THE WORLD THANKS YOU
SINCERELY,
MIKE SIPE
anything on ocean turbines please stephena
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisstrange while the US spends more than 1.4 Trillion $/yr in the notion of health care but in fact Sick care is whats driving the Medical n Pharma sectors....Cures r available in Ayurveda n TCM for a tenth of the Costs in US...yes cancer Rh.Artritis,motor neuron disease.etc r CURED....even in the US ,Dr.Cousens n group in Patogonia,AZ hv Defied Current
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMedical Wisdom by Reversing Diabetes... denying the medical estbmt n Big Pharma part of their source
of income ....no need for expensive biomarkers
Additional Information Requested:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit is difficult work but I AZHAR ASIF MUGHL chellange thar i will bring a
great revulation in the life of humanity.I want to tell you that how can we
bring revulation in the field of agriculture.i want also tell the world hwo
can we search the petroleume products most easily.hwo can do the best
agriculture best. If we see that it looks impossible but one day will come i
prove it correct.This is not the end of my ideas I will solve the previouse
problems relating to science.I have ability to do this.I will introduce a Lot
of new system. iwill also find the soloutions of many dangerouse dieseaseI
have technology to convert all the system of universe into a single word. I
want to tell the world hwo one system of world relate with another syetem.And
what is the effect of one system of world on other system.I want to tell the
world hwo can we pick the ideas from this theory and can discover a lot of
things and sysrems. However it is rather s. AS WE NOE CORRUPTION IS
ERUPTION. SIMILARLY STTRUGGLE IS EVERY THING.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit is difficult work but I AZHAR ASIF MUGHL chellange thar i will bring a
great revulation in the life of humanity.I want to tell you that how can we
bring revulation in the field of agriculture.i want also tell the world hwo
can we search the petroleume products most easily.hwo can do the best
agriculture best. If we see that it looks impossible but one day will come i
prove it correct.This is not the end of my ideas I will solve the previouse
problems relating to science.I have ability to do this.I will introduce a Lot
of new system. iwill also find the soloutions of many dangerouse dieseaseI
have technology to convert all the system of universe into a single word. I
want to tell the world hwo one system of world relate with another syetem.And
what is the effect of one system of world on other system.I want to tell the
world hwo can we pick the ideas from this theory and can discover a lot of
things and sysrems. However it is rather s. AS WE NOE CORRUPTION IS
ERUPTION. SIMILARLY STTRUGGLE IS EVERY THING.
global sustainability needs a global focus based on collective intelligance of humankind
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisye zude
The reason they are called rare earth metals or ores is not because they are rare in the earth, as a matter of fact there are plenty of places around the world that have deposits. Most of them are mixed up with other ores. The difficulty with them is the refining capacity. China is the only country with the refining capacity for the rare earth metals. Right now they have around 95% of the market. Other countries have not kept abreast of this market and are now rethinking the strategic problem of the lack of refining capacity. There is a Canadian push to develop this capacity but it takes years and money to do this, so if the investment dollars are there, the project will be done. Most of the rare earth metals are used in the new magnets and for new electronic devices that China basically has a monopoly on these metals, so be it for now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm sorry but lauraB, your plan sounds like genetic engineering on a global scale. You can't expect countries and governements to lay down and let your plan engineer the climate and ocean currents by pumping all this water from the ocean bottom. This is not something any sane scientist would support because it has unknown consequences for so many parts of our planet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscars should be phased out from urban areas,and replaced with trains or buses.Spending a lot of money on cars has made north America and Europe bankrupt.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is probbaly possible to make trains run continuously by linking 2or more trains together;only the the rear train would stop and then join up with the next train.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn untapped and ignored source of unlimited energy is the simple rise and fall of the ocean tides.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA floating body surrounds a column(s) fixed to the ocean floor. The fixed column employs rack gear-means to drive the pinion gear of a generator(s) on the floating body as it rises and falls with the tide.
The floating body is unlimited in dimension, and can be a floating city or a floating island with no environmental footprint.
An untapped and ignored source of unlimited energy is the simple rise and fall of the ocean tides.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA floating body surrounds a column(s) fixed to the ocean floor. The fixed column employs rack gear-means to drive the pinion gear of a generator(s) on the floating body as it rises and falls with the tide.
The floating body is unlimited in dimension, and can be a floating city or a floating island with no environmental footprint.