Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: isr@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Michael S. Schechter - ISR group account) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: H20 + CO2 + electricity --> hydrocarbons ????? Keywords: solar power car gasoline energy storage Message-ID: Date: 27 Feb 90 23:11:10 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY Lines: 25 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu I may be way off on this, but I was under the impression that current solar conversion is up around 30% of theoretical, (for the best availible solar cells) so I can't see nanotec making a big difference here. Also, I'm curious to see if people out there can think of effective energy storage methods involving nanotechnology? Ones I can think of right now are ..better built batteries (boring) ..Molecular flywheel arangements? ..Molecular sized springs storing energy? ..mechanical charge transport mechanism? or possibly direct light powering of any of the above, getting rid of the Light->electricity->Storage->electricity cycle, giving us direct Light->Storage->Kinetic Energy?? Any comments?? Mike [Primarily in the cost arena, since the highest efficiency cells now are not economical. However, with nanotech, high-efficiency conversion may be remarkably simple: there's a good chance that you could just build arrays of tuned dipole rectennas at optical frequencies! Best storage methods will probably involve creating and storing HEDM ("high energy-density matter") forms, using nanotech to store them stably. Single-H, anyone? --JoSH]