Would be dope to have playlists sorted by TRL. Algae solar panels are probably not gunna happen cuz we have way more efficient options, but the biotech revolution is definitely coming.
@@Vaeldarg yes, it would be incredibly optimistic to find a secondary purpose for solar panels that would make them more viable such as feeding non-human animals (or humans - maybe there's edible algae that could be used). Solarpunk is definitely the correct sub-genre, dystopia is something else entirely.
@@jonevansauthor "spirulina" is the edible species of algae, it can even be made to come in a variety of colors to also be used as a pigment, iirc. (Cody's Lab's algae panels used this kind, as he was doing the agri version more growing it as a food)
Carbon capture and storage: grow algae (any fast growing variety preferably one that can grow in brackish water), harvest and pump down into depleted oil wells
I've seen a couple different ways to describe the various stages in development of new tech, etc. 1 "blue sky" R&D. This can be spaghetti on the wall, or wild ideas, but is at the absolute edge. 1.5 - Regular R&D, where novel ideas that have been shown to maybe work on occasion, are developed into tech that is reproducible. 2 Peosuct development (which is what I do in chemistry) is take technology that has been shown to work, and incorporate that into marketable products. 3 - Product sustainment, where you iterate on the product to improve efficiency, reliability, and reduce cost. 4 EoL, end of life. I separated 1 and 1.5, because in some companies, these are separate activities. Academia falls mostly into 1, and corporations that partner with them often fall into the 1.5.
Algae derived biomass has been used to produce biofuels... 10 yrs ago UCSB professor was working on algae biomass production in produced water impoundments (oil&gas production)...
Science for the sake of the knowledge is a great thing. Someone really should be covering this stuff and making it "sexy", so that more people are encouraged to do science for the sake of knowledge. So many useful things have come out of such science totally unintentionally, that we really ought to be heavily encouraging it, even if it often leads to a dead end. Thanks for discussing this weird and fascinating idea. I am not going to bet against this technology simply because things like submarines were thought to be impossible at one time, and are now a part of life these days.
There is basic research, then it goes to Research that goes into Development, then it goes to various versions of production phase. Could you just ACCEPT the NASA scale for tech readiness? A big spreadsheet of 'Tech Readiness' could be revisited over time... There were several companies that were trying to grow algae for food a few years ago, and they had a few farms near ElPaso TX if I remember right. With automatic harvesting, etc. It was grown in tubes and pumped around, not 'ponds' or exposed to outside environment. Another one I tracked for some time is one Kickstarter actually built and sold plans for a float to put in a lake. It had solar panels, but it slowly filtered the algae from it's floating pontoons of algae, ran it through a drain cycle to remove most water, ground it and compressed it (as a find 'algae flower') and pressed the oil out of it, the returned the solids either to feed fish in the lake/tank or sold if anyone wanted it for fertilizer etc, the used the algae oil (straining it) in diesel vehicle directly. One float made a couple of gallons of 'fuel' a day. I found him some years after he went 'dark', and asked how it was going. He said he still have 3 or 4 units running in a local pond generating fuel for him to use on his farm. ... All that to say, there is working tech that is somewhat viable that never makes it through the process. Many needs someone to re-evaluate it and if they can muster the energy to complete development and bringing it to market. Cleanerwatt just did a thing on Perovskite solar. Evidently it can be put on existing surfaces that already exist. I could see using it or similar tech just to coat the front of old solar panels to rejuvenate them and let them go back for a second life before recycle/trashing them.
I can imagine a pump system, whereby you can pump new algae into the panels and extract the contained algae out, for sustenance. I swear I have seen this in another example of the tech. Though it could easily be from a mental image during a sleep induced thought experiment. I love how they can both produce energy and oxygen at the same time. Though, I have an idea on how this could be adapted to increase the efficiency of regular solar panels as well. And talking of Oxygen, would love both your thoughts on my latest video guys? 🤔
Would be dope to have playlists sorted by TRL.
Algae solar panels are probably not gunna happen cuz we have way more efficient options, but the biotech revolution is definitely coming.
If anything, Matt's dog is confirming Sean's books are food for thought🐶
🤣😂😭😅🤣
Weird science episodes? Yes, please. But, I now have the song stuck in my head...
Far from being a "dystopia", what Sean and Matt are describing with algae use and recycling sounds like a post apocalyptic UTOPIA.
Otherwise known as the "Solarpunk" genre. Solving problems, with varying levels of technology, in a more sustainable manner.
@@Vaeldarg yes, it would be incredibly optimistic to find a secondary purpose for solar panels that would make them more viable such as feeding non-human animals (or humans - maybe there's edible algae that could be used). Solarpunk is definitely the correct sub-genre, dystopia is something else entirely.
@@jonevansauthor "spirulina" is the edible species of algae, it can even be made to come in a variety of colors to also be used as a pigment, iirc. (Cody's Lab's algae panels used this kind, as he was doing the agri version more growing it as a food)
I'm a huge fan of these weird science projects. Keep them coming
Carbon capture and storage: grow algae (any fast growing variety preferably one that can grow in brackish water), harvest and pump down into depleted oil wells
What math does the best carbon capture factories use?
Gee I’m a tree.
😂
Gee I am a tree 🎄
I've seen a couple different ways to describe the various stages in development of new tech, etc.
1 "blue sky" R&D. This can be spaghetti on the wall, or wild ideas, but is at the absolute edge.
1.5 - Regular R&D, where novel ideas that have been shown to maybe work on occasion, are developed into tech that is reproducible.
2 Peosuct development (which is what I do in chemistry) is take technology that has been shown to work, and incorporate that into marketable products.
3 - Product sustainment, where you iterate on the product to improve efficiency, reliability, and reduce cost.
4 EoL, end of life.
I separated 1 and 1.5, because in some companies, these are separate activities. Academia falls mostly into 1, and corporations that partner with them often fall into the 1.5.
Algae derived biomass has been used to produce biofuels...
10 yrs ago UCSB professor was working on algae biomass production in produced water impoundments (oil&gas production)...
Science for the sake of the knowledge is a great thing.
Someone really should be covering this stuff and making it "sexy", so that more people are encouraged to do science for the sake of knowledge.
So many useful things have come out of such science totally unintentionally, that we really ought to be heavily encouraging it, even if it often leads to a dead end.
Thanks for discussing this weird and fascinating idea.
I am not going to bet against this technology simply because things like submarines were thought to be impossible at one time, and are now a part of life these days.
How about GMO algae to produce a high amount of ammonia and use that for hydrogen cars? No major infrastructure changes and no high pressure issues.
There is basic research, then it goes to Research that goes into Development, then it goes to various versions of production phase.
Could you just ACCEPT the NASA scale for tech readiness?
A big spreadsheet of 'Tech Readiness' could be revisited over time...
There were several companies that were trying to grow algae for food a few years ago, and they had a few farms near ElPaso TX if I remember right. With automatic harvesting, etc. It was grown in tubes and pumped around, not 'ponds' or exposed to outside environment.
Another one I tracked for some time is one Kickstarter actually built and sold plans for a float to put in a lake. It had solar panels, but it slowly filtered the algae from it's floating pontoons of algae, ran it through a drain cycle to remove most water, ground it and compressed it (as a find 'algae flower') and pressed the oil out of it, the returned the solids either to feed fish in the lake/tank or sold if anyone wanted it for fertilizer etc, the used the algae oil (straining it) in diesel vehicle directly. One float made a couple of gallons of 'fuel' a day. I found him some years after he went 'dark', and asked how it was going. He said he still have 3 or 4 units running in a local pond generating fuel for him to use on his farm. ... All that to say, there is working tech that is somewhat viable that never makes it through the process. Many needs someone to re-evaluate it and if they can muster the energy to complete development and bringing it to market.
Cleanerwatt just did a thing on Perovskite solar. Evidently it can be put on existing surfaces that already exist. I could see using it or similar tech just to coat the front of old solar panels to rejuvenate them and let them go back for a second life before recycle/trashing them.
I can imagine a pump system, whereby you can pump new algae into the panels and extract the contained algae out, for sustenance.
I swear I have seen this in another example of the tech. Though it could easily be from a mental image during a sleep induced thought experiment.
I love how they can both produce energy and oxygen at the same time.
Though, I have an idea on how this could be adapted to increase the efficiency of regular solar panels as well.
And talking of Oxygen, would love both your thoughts on my latest video guys?
🤔
Yes, the viability rating is measured not by the number of Matt heads, but by the SIZE😅
👍