Topics

Just a thought - would it be possible to install wind turbines low down to the ground at the end of airport runways? I'm just thinking about when a plane takes off; when commercial jet engines power up to full thrust that's a lot of energy being released backwards. Perhaps we could somehow harness the jet blast? I guess the main concern would be safety.

Could you ever see this happening?

Not quite green roofs, but I thought this forum best matched the subject. What do you make of green walls? That is, a wall covered in plant life? This is one example:

[img width=250 height=149]https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/france-green-roofs-law-solar-panels-20150819/france_roof.jpg/image[/img]

They're nice for oxidising the air, but they're a lot more limited in their application than green roofs. Additionally, many people don't like the look of them and they can cause cracking in the underlying wall. Would you want to see more of these, or should we just stick to roofing?

Around 99% comes from hydroelectric power, with small additional input from wind and geothermal. If Norway can do that, why can't we? We are an island after all.

If you had a really good system here, I'd imagine it may be possible to sell large amounts of dirty water water at a very low cost for people to use in their gardens in your area. Would this be legal? If so, are there any requirements or exclusions?

Being a volcano nut, geothermal has always been a renewable energy source that's interested me. Would it be possible to harness this [i]at all[/i] in the UK, or does an area have to be volcanic/tectonic for to even be possible? Surely if we go deep enough there is still magma below us, so perhaps it would just be more expensive?

Boris Johnson wants to pump the excess heat from London's underground stations into peoples' homes (minus the pollutants, of course). Do you think this is a bit far fetched, or do you think this is actually doable?

Do you think there is a future for the 'sci-fi' technology of space-based solar power? Up to 60% of the sun's radiation is lost in the atmosphere before it hits the ground, and thus earth-based solar panels, so we're losing out on a lot. Combine this with the fact we have night time on Earth, and we really are losing out. Once concept is for a giant orbiting solar power station, which would beam energy down to Earth in the form of a giant laser or microwave energy. It would be extremely expensive to produce, although arguably not as expensive as the research hoping to lead to nuclear fusion. Do you think it is a technology worth pursuing?

[img width=250 height=163]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Solardisk.jpg[/img]

I often wonder why we don't utilise more of the world's deserts for solar farms. The main downside I can think of other than cost is that it would damage the habitat of desert-dwelling creatures. Which do you think is more important - a natural habitat or clean, renewable energy?

Has anybody ever considered getting underfloor insulation? I have a tiled kitchen floor, and I can't even describe to you just how cold it gets. This leads me to believe I'm losing a lot of my household heat through the floor. Is underfloor insulation a decent option to prevent some of this? How exactly does it work, if heat rises?

I just came across this website today while going on a YouTube video spree about futurism. One thing led to another, and soon I was on a Wikipedia article for green roofs, so I Googled that some more, and here I am now :D