Free Energy from snow

Thread Starter

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
With the weight of that crap, there's gotta be a way to extract something from it, right?

Granted, any process would be more intermittent than wind power, but something along the lines of a self-powered, self-cleaning driveway would be fine by me.

Yes, I just got done shoveling about 2 tons of it, in 15-25 pound increments, thus giving time for thought on this topic. :(
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
Are you trying to get a free energy thread from water coming thur your back door,
since your front door Is all snowed In .Will that free energy come thur your roof from all the weight and move your car,which movement will be free energy. So will that prove that guys theory.Unity

Click here to make Loosewires post to look good or better.
 

cooltwins

Joined Dec 26, 2009
2
hello there,

i am just new here.... and i think this place is just awesome...:)

and that one guy...

i think it is possible to extract "something" from it....
i mean the weight the snow gives is a mechanical pressure right?
so a piezo-electric crystal can be used to get the electricity from that pressure...

i am new to electronics itself and this is just a thought:)
correct me if i am wrong. :)
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,809
We already get energy from rain, which feeds the rivers that feed the dams and their hydroelectric plants. Snow is part of this cycle too. Funny thing, it is still a form of solar in the long run.

Welcome aboard Cooltwins (like the picture in your profile). Hope you enjoy it here.
 

steveb

Joined Jul 3, 2008
2,436
With the weight of that crap, there's gotta be a way to extract something from it, right?
Weight, by itself, is not a direct source of energy that can be easily harnessed. You would need to capture the snow before it hits the ground and then use the weight to drive a mechanism as it completes its journey to ground level.

It might be easier to do this with rain, but with either, you could collect large quantities with a huge funnel and direct the flow into a "water-wheel" to drive an electrical generator.

It doesn't seem very practical, but the principle could be demonstrated very easily on a small scale.

Thermoelectric Coolers could be used to generate electricity between the cold snow and the warmer air, on days when the air temperature is greater than 0 deg. C. Again, this is not very practical, but the principle could be demonstrated easily.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,809
The real problem with harvesting energy is density, for an energy source to be practical there has to be a lot of it in one place.

Minor change of subject, in some states (where water is scarce) the run off from your roof (be it snow or rain) is considered property of the state, and is illegal to be diverted. Politicians can be strange sometimes.
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
A little change,a weatherman was showing off the largest

hail stone from a freak hail storm. He keeps it in his freezer,

it looks a little rounded from being in the freezer.Am I right that the

stone will become larger in the freezer over time.
 

studiot

Joined Nov 9, 2007
4,998
With the weight of that crap, there's gotta be a way to extract something from it, right?
Well I suppose if you collected enough of the stuff into a large enough snowball, gravitional collapse would be enough to fire it up into a sun.
 

SIcam

Joined Aug 9, 2008
61
Hey thatoneguy, you got a great idea but you missed the real free energy part.

The free energy comes from you lifting the 15-25 lb increments to shovel it all. You are the free energy source.

Now think about it on a grand scale. Patent an exercise machine that has a generator on it that converts FAT to electrical energy. Then make it so it can be plugged into the wall and force feed the energy into the electrical grid. Take that and multiply it by the 100 million overweight people and the US could be powered and get fit at the same time.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
Now think about it on a grand scale. Patent an exercise machine that has a generator on it that converts FAT to electrical energy. Then make it so it can be plugged into the wall and force feed the energy into the electrical grid. Take that and multiply it by the 100 million overweight people and the US could be powered and get fit at the same time.
Heres an interesting fact about energy. If you can produce X amount of electricity your electric company is obligated to buy it. How much X is depends on your location.
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
Does that mean that the power companies own all excess energy,
and part of the bigger plan. One of the larger waste companies that
contracts to cities are about to expire,so they are offering a rate
decrease to get new long term contracts.The only problem is that
they will have clause that will allow up to 40 percent increase without
going before the cities. So that will open up the cap and trade laws to
there advanage later on.
 

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,283
If I look out my window, I can see a whole lot of snow up on those mountains, that fuel a couple of local hydro generators. Some heat trace laid into the driveway pad makes the loop complete. Damn the shovel.
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
You would expect the ice to expand UP, out of the cup. The reason it splits is because the surface of the liquid freezes first causing a plug. As the rest of the liquid freezes and expands (h20 at 20%) it can no longer go out of the pluged cups top, hence the split sides.
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
These are heavy duty red plastic cups,and they split down both sides.
So the ice has to expand in the middle of the cup sides.
 

t06afre

Joined May 11, 2009
5,934
You would expect the ice to expand UP, out of the cup. The reason it splits is because the surface of the liquid freezes first causing a plug. As the rest of the liquid freezes and expands (h20 at 20%) it can no longer go out of the pluged cups top, hence the split sides.
The OP forget to mention that an electric motor pull the system back. The energy comes from a gasoline/HHO powered big block V8 engine. The engine is hooked up to an electric generator producing current for the electrolytic process, and the latter electric motor. The hydrogen is also used to power the V8 engine. I am somewhat puzzled that people in this forum did not grasp the obvious logic in this
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
A little off topic,Bill Gates wanted to take ships filled
with snow into the gulf of mexico to cool the warm water
of a hurricane.They may have tried this ,we want know
until some one leaks information.He was serious about this,
he had distractors.There are alot ships in what they call mothball
fleets that go nowhere,if any one has read any trade magizines
about this please add to this post. The metal ships could
expose a lot coldness to the center of a storm.Ships can
take hurricane winds and if slowed the storm so much the better.
Any comments or math on this,like i said he was very serious
about this project.
 
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