[Ted.com]Invention: New plastic film replaces fossil fuels and the grid etc.

[walker 0]

Hi all

Interesting presentation on a cheap plastic film that produces and emits energy.

http://www.ted.com/talks/justin_hall_tipping_freeing_energy_from_the_grid.html

One of their technologies they have already developed is a plastic film that acts as night-vision system you just put on vehicle windscreens or on conventional glasses.

It is shown in the video above and there is more about it here.

http://nanoholdings.com/portfolio/new-technologies/nirvision

I expect we will see it on military vehicles and aircraft fairly soon, and not long after that on cars and trucks.

We can do better. We must do better.

Kind regards walker

Edited November 10, 2011 by Dwarden
spelling and grammar

[Maio 293]

Impressive. I saw this my self several days ago. Let's hope something good comes out of it and it does not get swept under the carpet :)

[Tonci87 163]

Very very interesting and impressive stuff.

Freeing energy and producing it cheaply would be great, but I doubt its going to happen. The Power Plant industry will do simply everything to not make it happen!

THX for posting Walker

[dmarkwick 261]

I think that is the best presentation I have ever seen, thanks Walker for posting it up.

[PELHAM 10]

Is there any independent scientific analysis on this? Mr. Hall-Tipping is a seasoned venture capitalist and entrepreneur and not a scientist. It's a great motivational speech but does it actually work and will it be practical? Some are calling it pseudoscience and labelling him a snake oil salesman. I can't tell either way till the scientific community analyse his proposals and so far I can't find anything.

The IR viewer application looks promising but the rest I'm not sure about.

[Guest]

What Pelham says. It looks fantastic to watch, but whether anything is true or not i honestly do not know.

There is too much bullshit in this world, and his speech seemed to hit every note perfectly, including a sad picture at the end.

It would be nice if everything he said was true, and if he really did mean everything he said, but I will have to wait and do more research before i know if he is legit or not.

[walker 0]

Hi all

In reply to PELHAM and richiespeed13.

The filter film was demonstrated in the video as was IR system. The IR system is to have field trials in 2012.

If you follow the second link above you will see this.

Without doubt the electron storage system is the game changer though.

Here is some further information on some of their electron storage technology.

http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/lasers-create-slice-of-energy-storage/

Kind regards walker

[Flash Thunder 10]

Even if it works out nicely it wont be used for the masses so it wont make any real difference.

[st_dux 26]

plastic film replaces fossil fuels

Plastic is made from fossil fuels.

[walker 0]

Plastic is made from fossil fuels.

Hi ST_Dux

No you are incorrect plastics can be made from oil.

You do understand the difference don't you?

Some plastics are made from other organic sources but it has no real relevance to my previous two sentences.

Kind regards walker

Edited November 10, 2011 by walker

[st_dux 26]

Not just any oil, but petroleum, which is a fossil fuel.

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

Maybe I'm remembering the video wrong, but didn't he say that sheet was made out of Carbon, not plastic?

[walker 0]

Plastic is made from fossil fuels.

Not just any oil, but petroleum, which is a fossil fuel.

Hi all

Ah you don't understand the difference then.

It is major difference and implied in your statement. I will leave you a little longer to figure it out yourself.

Kind regards walker

[Dwarden 1124]

well i want already that nanocarbon material film on my glass windows ...

would save lot of energy cost on house heating

the cheap NightVision solution would apply to windows but You can adopt it e.g .for cars

by flipping switch, all windows in Your car allow You see like with NV googles ...

this is going to be major improvement in safety on roads

ofcourse same could be applied to any vehicle (car, ship, helicopter, train, airplane)

Edited November 10, 2011 by Dwarden

[Innomadic 10]

inb4 oil is a fossil fuel.

[dmarkwick 261]

Am I expected to believe that oil, as in the oil we suck out of the ground and which plastics are made from, is not a fossil fuel?

It was also my understanding that those devices and materials were made from carbon too.

[Dwarden 1124]

the thread subtitle is totally 'useless like all modern media headlines'

yet the fact this TED talk is worth to watch

and inventions shown in it are 'very great achievement'

so i fixed the thread title :)

Edited November 10, 2011 by Dwarden

[st_dux 26]

I give up, Walker. Please explain to me how petroleum is not a fossil fuel.

[ProfTournesol 956]

I give up, Walker. Please explain to me how petroleum is not a fossil fuel.

Yep, i'd like to know it too.

[spec_ops_sniper 0]

I give up, Walker. Please explain to me how petroleum is not a fossil fuel.

Yep, i'd like to know it too.

From what i understand they are not using petroleum. You can make plastic out of other oils not just petrol.

[walker 0]

Hi all

In reply to ST_Dux one word you used is the answer:

Fuel

In the case of fossil fuel you burn it rather like a cave-man. Millions of years of evolution, thousands of years of science and invention and the best thing you can do with oil is burn it.

Hmm.

Marks for thinking, invention and science: F

By the way plastics can be made out of a variety of organic compound sources, and indeed from scratch. Though of course using a ready made supply of complex organic soup is more efficient until the new replicators become cheap and common though even then oil would make a good source pipe with early forms, I probably have not linked to that, I get complained about from certain quarters for posting up too many science and technology threads.

Of course you could continue burning it.

Kind regards walker

Edited November 13, 2011 by walker

[Daniel 0]

Nice video walker, thanks for posting. That guy's a good speaker. Reminds me of my old Managing Director.

[walker 0]

Hi all

Thought you might like to see some news on the IR plastic function of this material, follow the linky:

http://news.discovery.com/tech/night-vision-cell-phone-eyeglasses.html

Kind Regards walker

[PELHAM 10]

There are some interesting questions about this....

-If applied to a windscreen, how do you turn it off in daylight? (maybe the image is so dim it will not show in full daylight?)

-What's to stop pranksters standing at the side of a road with an IR flashlight and blanking out your whole windscreen?

-Most security cameras have LED IR lights to invisibly illuminate areas - what happens when you drive through locations like that?

-It's likely that this will have to be used in conjunction with IR headlights to give a good enough image - how will it cope with oncoming traffic?

-Is this a way of displaying an image from a separate IR camera? The response below questions how the image is focused.

best response from tgatts:

It doesn't make sense that you can coat a windshield or glasses with this coating and suddenly be able to see an image. Infrared radiation would be hitting the coating from every direction and the result would be a haze of glowing light. The infrared rays have to be focused onto the coating just like any other image. It's identical to holding up a piece of printer paper to a window. You just see a lit up piece of paper until you put a magnifying lens in front of it. The lens focuses the rays of visible light, and then you get a visible image on the paper. I see how that would work for camera phones, they have lenses, but I don't see how it works for sunglasses or windshields.

Factually incorrect:

The article states that, "Most night vision devices today use massive amounts of electricity -- often several thousand volts, according to So -- and heavy, glass lenses that maintain a vacuum to make the night come alive."

This refers to image intensifiers that amplify existing ambient visible light. Existing IR vision does not require this and there are children's toys on the market already. The disadvantage of IR (and the reason light-amp is still used) is that you have to bring your own (infrared) light source. Granted, you can't see the light leaving an IR flashlight with the naked eye, but if your opponent has his own goggles, you might as well be using a regular flashlight. FLIR used on aircraft is a form of image intensifier that uses ambient IR spectrum.

I'm not sure if it's the journalists that are not quoting this the right way but there needs to be some more info on this.

Edited November 17, 2011 by PELHAM

[dmarkwick 261]

There are some interesting questions about this....

-If applied to a windscreen, how do you turn it off in daylight? (maybe the image is so dim it will not show in full daylight?)

As you say, maybe very dim in normal light. I expect it will be a better product by the time we see it (if we ever do).

-What's to stop pranksters standing at the side of a road with an IR flashlight and blanking out your whole windscreen?

What's to stop pranksters shining normal lights at your windscreen? I would expect you'd see the same thing, a prankster shining a light.

-Most security cameras have LED IR lights to invisibly illuminate areas - what happens when you drive through locations like that?

Would look the same as though the cameras were shining normal lights?

-It's likely that this will have to be used in conjunction with IR headlights to give a good enough image - how will it cope with oncoming traffic?

Same as we already cope with other cars with normal headlights?

-Is this a way of displaying an image from a separate IR camera? The response below questions how the image is focused.

My impression was that you see the same thing as through normal transparent material, except the light spectrum is shifted.

best response from tgatts:

It doesn't make sense that you can coat a windshield or glasses with this coating and suddenly be able to see an image. Infrared radiation would be hitting the coating from every direction and the result would be a haze of glowing light. The infrared rays have to be focused onto the coating just like any other image. It's identical to holding up a piece of printer paper to a window. You just see a lit up piece of paper until you put a magnifying lens in front of it. The lens focuses the rays of visible light, and then you get a visible image on the paper. I see how that would work for camera phones, they have lenses, but I don't see how it works for sunglasses or windshields.

For a camera yes. For a normal transparent object, why? Do you worry about focus mechanisms on a normal window?