Be nice if his later theories actually worked.
We don't currently charge the end user for prison accomodation, directly - and yet we manage to provide a massive network, supplying ever-increasing numbers.
hmm..
provided that we can supply and generate enough cheap/free energy, this is feasible. if we charge to begin with, some of the costs can be recouped, and perhaps fund other projects on the island afore we switch to a free model.
remember though, that the Autfinity project is aimed at small communities, for now.
Hmmm...part of me thinks punishment should at least be productive, maybe we could get them charging electric vehicle batteries with pedal-power? Of course you'd then need to feed them more than a sedantary prison population, which would add to your costs...and if they ever got over the wall they'd be fit enough to outrun the dogs...
so get a bigger wall, and get faster dogs.
Of course, if it's not profitable why bother?
*walks off without saying a word in his usual aspie fashion*
What would be the practical difference between "beaming" electricity and transmitting it through power lines? The end users will still be billed anyway (Fees, bills, taxes, etc.).
it would probably be line of sight, and thus, you would be able to tell if someone did.
secondly, ideally, if we ever do get an island, we would be able to provide a (reasonable) amount of power free to the residents.
Alias,
For practical purposes, there is currently no realistic choice in electricity grid, everyone is hooked to the same general power grid. In this proposed case, everyone would be working off a wireless "grid". Just from the expense of generation, there would probably only be one "grid" to work from, so if someone has electricity, they are taking power from the "grid". It would not be very difficult to locate "leaching".
You thinking like the Matrix, or just gigantic hamster wheels? The wheels would be funnier...
(Looks terribly important while making this statement...)
I cannot be bothered with details. You figure that part out. Though the wheels would be amusing.
Giggle!
"I don't care who you torture, the President, just get me those stones....you'll wanna." - Zorg
While wireless energy is cool it seems a bit...impractical. You're forgetting the tremendous loss of efficiency that happens when you do that, not to mention the substantial amount of RF spectrum you have to carve out for it
I think we should use 100% clean energy. Whether it be solar or whatever.
There isn't any - unless by 100% clean solar energy you mean daylight and whatever warmth the sun provides. You can make energy a lot cleaner than, say, coal-fired power stations, but it's never 100% 'clean'. Most of the cleaning of power needs to come from people being willing to use less of it, less often, for less things...and designing in better insulation/cooling in buildings, better use of natural light etc.
Apparently brits are better at turning off the lights than us norwegians...
I do believe it's marginally brighter and warmer in the UK than in Norway, Ivar T - on average, at least? Whether you have a naturally more wasteful culture would be harder to measure, but I doubt it somehow...most brits seem to measure success by conspicuous consumption still (and scoff at environmentalism generally).
I do have to wonder about Tesla's idea, it seems like a nice idea in theory, but keep in mind that his experiments were done before even simple radio technology was in the mainstream. Now that we depend so much on radio systems in our everyday life, I wonder how transmitting massive amounts of electricity would affect our radio communication systems as far as unnecessary interference.