In Memoriam: saschapohflepp
Project AMBER
The goal of this project is to use the momentum of our home, Planet Earth, to drive a giant gyroscope near one of the poles. Although technically not a renewable source of energy, this possibility had been researched by the USSR in the 1970s and is still to be considered active since the energetic opportunity is immense.
Consider that the kinetic energy of rotation alone is 2.137 x 1029 Joules. Channeling this energy would require a slowing in the rotational force of the earth. Assuming we harnessed a fraction of the earth’s rotational energy, increasing the length of a day by a mere one second, it would consistently yield 2.5848 x 1024 Joules (approximate and assumes losses to friction) of energy. According to the Energy Information Administration’s projections for the year 2006, the total American energy usage (comprising of residential, commercial and industrial) will be 1.0989 x 1018 Joules per month, a fraction of the energy available in the earth’s rotation.
What must be be considered is the fact that terrestrial days would in fact become longer than 24 hours, although by fractions of a minute which over the course of a year would add up to approximately 384 seconds or 6,4 minutes. We are curious to see how the public would react to such alterations of global properties.
Project AMBER
The goal of this project is to use the momentum of our home, Planet Earth, to drive a giant gyroscope near one of the poles. Although technically not a renewable source of energy, this possibility had been researched by the USSR in the 1970s and is still to be considered active since the energetic opportunity is immense.
Consider that the kinetic energy of rotation alone is 2.137 x 1029 Joules. Channeling this energy would require a slowing in the rotational force of the earth. Assuming we harnessed a fraction of the earth’s rotational energy, increasing the length of a day by a mere one second, it would consistently yield 2.5848 x 1024 Joules (approximate and assumes losses to friction) of energy. According to the Energy Information Administration’s projections for the year 2006, the total American energy usage (comprising of residential, commercial and industrial) will be 1.0989 x 1018 Joules per month, a fraction of the energy available in the earth’s rotation.
What must be be considered is the fact that terrestrial days would in fact become longer than 24 hours, although by fractions of a minute which over the course of a year would add up to approximately 384 seconds or 6,4 minutes. We are curious to see how the public would react to such alterations of global properties.