Thought we all at DMS would like this story / video / project:
-Ian
Nothing he stated is entirely as he presents it. None of these inventions are new, and most of them have significant flaws apparent to me. This video gives me an uncomfortable feeling, because it looks like a scam.
@Opcode mind citing your complaints about his project to better in form? I think that would be more help than just blanket doubt.
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Iāll post just a few general comments, though a heat map as I watch the video would double what I have to say.
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Peddle-powered generators have been around most of a century, so his āFree Electricā machine isnāt much of an invention. What has me alarmed about it, though, are the open spokes on the heavy flywheel, right next to the guy peddling it. That is an invitation for some child (or adult) to stick his hand or fingers in those holes and get them mangled. He ought to enclose that flywheel, or seal the holes.
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His geothermal energy scheme depends on āunobtainium,ā a material or substance that does not exist. Yes, graphene fiber would revolutionize technology! However, nobody has been able to produce yard-long (never mind, miles-long) strands of graphene fiber, though a lot of research is going into it.
He also is incorrect in saying that nobody is investigating the use of geothermal energy. Actually, the US federal government has spent decades researching the development of geothermal electric generation. The Big Island of Hawaii has a large geothermal generator already installed, as do some Caribbean islands.
He greatly oversimplifies what it would take to drill a hole many miles deep (his illustration actually shows the drill going to the mantle).
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His Rain Machine is, apparently, just a distilling plant. I was certified to operate a six-stage distilling plant for generating drinking water when I served in the US Navy; thatās the largest distilling plant the Navy installed on ships. So, not really a novel idea. One thing that I wondered, though, is what is the heat source for the Rain Machine is supposed to be? He portrays huge barges stacked with these things (not really an efficient way of doing this, but whatever), but he never shows whatās supposed to be heating the water. It isnāt like lots of countries donāt already distill millions of gallons of ocean water for their drinking needs. Indeed, Israel has completely reversed their water deficit, and are exporting water, thanks to their technology.
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I think heās doing a lot of hand-waving about his inflatable boots assisting the heart. Iām sure the FDA would think so, too. Quite often, these concerns are the reason these sorts of people donate their technology to developing countries, where regulations donāt filter out quackery.
I probably should mention that products like 5-hour energy drink are associated with an increased risk of heart attack.
OK, thatās the major points. As I say, I had twinges of concern throughout the video. He says a lot of things that are what people want to hear, and it sounds good, but it isnāt quite right.
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I am excited that a multi-billionaire wants to give 99% of his fortune back to the planet (thatās nominally $3,960,000,000 of $4billion for the mathematically impaired, such as myself). I like that employing people to try to come up with innovative solutions to what he perceives as the worldās problems is his major method in so doing. These are my major positive comments.
My negative comments largely center on mis + dis -information, misleading statistics, and willful blindness to the bigger picture. Creating such expensive, complex, technological solutions for application where they will largely become furniture for lack of suitability for environment and purpose seems problematic. Ignoring the impact the methods of producing āthe solutionā as if it were unrelated seems problematic (how much pollution is output in creating each āfree energy machineā BATTERY, not to mention the rest of the device?) here as well as endemic to the entire āenergy solutionā and āgreen movementā theater.
Finally, I find it disturbing that āJoin[ing] the Billionsā has no explicit purpose other than being marketed to.
Thank you, Ian. That was interesting. I never knew 5-hour Energy was such big business. I certainly wish Mr. Bhargava & Co. all the best. I hope they prove me wrong in the near future. I shall not be joining the Billions unless they operate near enough to where I live to offer me a job I am willing to take.
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Thanks for the specifics @Opcode These kinds of posts provide room for discussion, instead of shutting discussion down. I also got the marketing feeling from the video. Also, pie in the sky plans donāt carry much weight in my thoughts of future plans either.
Iāve been interested in the idea of pedal powered generators, but I thought the main thing holding the technology back was trying to capture the flywheel in vacuum in order to keep it efficiency high enough to be worth doing.
Iām also starting to wonder what are the out comes of these give 99% and keep 1% schemes. Are they really aimed at making the world a better place, or are they some financial scheme to get out of taxes or some other loss of money? I just think that billions of dollars invested would have a more visible impact on our day to day, but they donāt seemed to be targeted at thing that I would see, so I could understand that lack of visibility.
I think the primary thing holding back pedal powered generators is a lack of power in the engine. The average human would be hard put to produce about 200W of power for an hour. Professional bicycle racers at the top of their form can produce about twice that for an hour. Higher peaks are possible for shorter periods of time, but 200W / Hour is a good rule of thumb for long term generation, which a person in good physical condition being able to produce that for 8-10 hours with food and water being supplied.
For those longer periods, and when the person is in top physical shape (ie no more extra body fat), all of the energy they provide has to come from food calories. If you want to tap the energy in addition to provide motion like on a bike, the amount of energy that can be tapped goes down dramatically. As a point of comparison, the dynamo generators that provide power from the bicycle are typically about 5W in power output.
[quote=āNick, post:6, topic:5781ā]
Iāve been interested in the idea of pedal powered generators
[/quote] Think Solent Green - powering the TV.
I just want to get a kick back on my energy bill for working out at my house. Better body and lower electrical bills, combos like that might get me working out. 
(In all honesty combos like that might get me to buy a pedal generator and let it gather dust in my house.)
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They are using geothermal energy in the northwest & I think Sweden/Norway/Iceland( I donāt remember which). They cored a hole & water is falling in from the underground aquifer then they capture the steam & create electricity.
Most, if not all, of Icelandās electric power is geothermal. One Hot Island: Iceland's Renewable Geothermal Power | Scientific American
Itās pretty much their only natural resource, being basically a brand new lava island.
LOL @ gather dust. Thatās most of us.
I think this kind of idea had some merit. http://www.rahtmobile.com/?page_id=6
These guys are a little lite & fluffy for my taste but i think the basic idea being to combine your morning workout with your commute but in a vehicle you can charge from the grid, then extend by working out, is solid.
Watching this infomercial was both comical and upsetting. I have a nagging urge to get in contact with Stage 2(5-hour & Co.) and offer(for a exorbitant fee) a number of āinnovativeā technologies. A couple immediately come to mind, perpetual magnet motors, and communication devices that violate the laws of physics.
I guess that is what happens when a billionaire says: āemployee use as much of my money as you want - only to make things that are āslam-dunkā or you are firedā¦ā
These technological pursuits of Stage 2, even if they WHERE innovative, are targeting some of the symptoms and not the root cause. OVERPOPULATION. People with limited resources(mental, material) create and thus bring more people into the fold thus further diminishing said resources. It may be callus to state, but solving the symptoms will increase the problem exponentially.
The distillers technology works. However, they require a tremendous amount of power. Is the hope that the distillers are going to be bike powered? Another problem distillers have is that they increase the salinity of the water that remains. Those barges will create a huge environmental problem if the salts are not sequestered.
If Stage 2 wishes to make a sizable contribution to humanity, they would pursue FLibe or other form of thorium liquid salts.
I am not sure if Manoj is a victim of deception or if he is attempting to deceive us, with this marketing. Perhaps he is just terribly misinformed.
ā¦Xā¦
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Just watched that whole video. Very interesting, they touched on that stuff as well in Pandoraās Promise
āPandoraās Promiseā was well-researched and I donāt have any great criticism of it. This video from 5-Hour Energy drink is a lot of flim-flam, hand-waving.
Yes, but at 3 in the morning, I donāt feel so much like crafting a dissertation. I like to know that someone is going to consider what I have to say before I put in that much effort.
Are you sure you are thinking of peddle-power, and not just flywheel energy storage? Usually, the latter is powered by an electric motor to spin at >100k rpm.
Richard, I should have been more descriptive, I meant the thorium liquid salts reactor video in reference to the Pandoraās promise video.
I can see all of America sharing this video praising his efforts and how more big business arenāt giving their money away etcā¦ as many of you have pointed out many of the things covered in the video are hardly new ideas and in most aspects not viable when you look at the big picture.
BUT there are alot of dumb people out there that donāt know the whole story or understand the principles behind the machines and will want to push for all of these things to happen without thought to what other peripheral consequences these āsolutionsā will create.
I watched it, thanks for posting it. The strategy of privately financed engineering R&D has merit, but like the others here I find his conclusions somewhat dubious. But hey, itās a long curve, and I would no more discourage him than I would you.
The thorium guys are awesome, I sent them $5 and got a handwritten thank you and a bunch of cool stickers. I had previously watched another 2 hour film of theirs, but it was the one with the interviews of the surviving members of the original LFTR project. This one was much juicier, but they didnāt get around to mentioning the legislative hurdles around rare earth mining until near the end.
Not having Monajās aversion to the past, and using the Patent record to resurrect disregarded brilliance is a shorter and surer path to success, LFTR being just one example.
Those of you who are sold on thorium reactors should attend one of Chris Carsonās ( @publius ) lectures on atomic power. Maybe he would even do a special on thorium reactors?