Germans switch on 'largest artificial sun

[Because_They_Lie]

Let there be light: Germans switch on 'largest artificial sun'

Scientists hope experiment, which can generate temperatures of around 3,500C, will help to develop carbon-neutral fuel

Synlight produces 10,000 times the intensity of natural sunlight on Earth. Photograph: Caroline Seidel/AP

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent

@hannahdev

Thu 23 Mar 2017 12.19 GMT

German scientists are switching on “the world’s largest artificial sun” in the hope that intense light sources can be used to generate climate-friendly fuel.

The Synlight experiment in Jülich, about 19 miles west of Cologne, consists 149 souped-up film projector spotlights and produces light about 10,000 times the intensity of natural sunlight on Earth.


When all the lamps are swivelled to concentrate light on a single spot, the instrument can generate temperatures of around 3,500C – around two to three times the temperature of a blast furnace.


The ultimate aim of the experiment is devise a setup to concentrate natural sunlight. Photograph: Picture-Alliance/Barcroft Images

“If you went in the room when it was switched on, you’d burn directly,” said Prof Bernard Hoffschmidt, a research director at the German Aerospace Center, where the experiment is housed in a protective radiation chamber.

The aim of the experiment is to come up with the optimal setup for concentrating natural sunlight to power a reaction to produce hydrogen fuel.

Solar power stations that use mirrors to focus sunlight onto water are already well established. These work by harnessing heat from the sun to produce steam that turns turbines and generates electricity.


The energy produced would be used to extract hydrogen from water vapour. Photograph: Picture-Alliance/Barcroft Images

The Synlight experiment is investigating the possibility that a similar setup could be used to power a reaction to extract hydrogen from water vapour, which could then be used as a fuel source for aeroplanes and cars.

Synlight currently uses a vast amount of energy – four hours of operation consumes as much electricity as a four-person household in a year – but scientists hope that in the future natural sunlight could be used to produce hydrogen in a carbon-neutral way.

“We’d need billions of tonnes of hydrogen if we wanted to drive aeroplanes and cars on CO2-free fuel,” said Hoffschmidt. “Climate change is speeding up so we need to speed up innovation.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/23/worlds-largest-artificial-sun-german-scientists-activate-synlight

[Jlabute]

It's an interesting idea... I think if they can pull it off, they would be making hydrogen in the most expensive way possible, and not likely competitive. This is a stepping stone for testing towards finding a better method. After-which, we need inexpensive and efficient fuel cell technology and transportation systems for hydrogen.

[alanjh595]

Anything recent? When I looked it up, there is nothing since March 2017. Has any progress been made? Have they learned anything over the last year? Have they just dumped the project and written it off as failure? Just wondering.

[Because_They_Lie]

It's an interesting idea... I think if they can pull it off, they would be making hydrogen in the most expensive way possible, and not likely competitive. This is a stepping stone for testing towards finding a better method. After-which, we need inexpensive and efficient fuel cell technology and transportation systems for hydrogen.

I think it's interesting as well - interesting in an evil kind of way

I do not see it as a harbinger of good things to come.

I see it as a sign that we are in dangerous times.

Artificial life is being created all around us at maximum pace, while organic and biological life is being destroyed.

This is a critical point in our history and everyone is too busy with their faces in their screens to notice the die off of everything that lives and breathes.

I see this as a stepping stone to a total technocratic takeover and the end of biological life.

[Because_They_Lie]

Anything recent? When I looked it up, there is nothing since March 2017. Has any progress been made? Have they learned anything over the last year? Have they just dumped the project and written it off as failure? Just wondering.

Nope nothing since March 2017, I was initially searching for an update on this project but have found nothing to date.

When they do update us, I will post.

[rustled]

Update from earlier this year:
http://www.labmanager.com/research-spec ... s4dOogbOHs

[Jlabute]

Wow, 149 x 7KW per bulb, that's 1,043KW.
The cost of German electricity (0.25/KWh) this would cost only $260/hour. Don't leave the lights on.

https://www.pc-control.net/pdf/032017/solutions/pcc_0317_dlr_e.pdf

[Because_They_Lie]

Nice find on the update rustled.

What is curious to me is why would SRM (solar radiation management) be used as well as this synlight - SRM reflects the natural sun light away from the earths surface.

The two seem counter productive to one another.

It seems more plausable that the synlight is being created due to the use of SRM - solar uptake is at an all time low due to the spraying of reflective metal particulate being sprayed in the upper atmosphere under operation solar shield. (SRM)