Of course, everything has its problems. With solar, it only works well on sunny days. In order to have electricity at night or during prolonged stormy times, you have to have some form of storage, usually batteries. And they have a big environmental impact in production and recycling. Ultimately, any solution will have to be multi factorial. Better insulation leading to decreased usage, thermal sinks to regulate temperature, use of waste heat to provide hot water needs etc. are needed in conjunction with cleaner generation of power.
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How expensive are piezoelectric materials? Theyāre used routinely as igniters, but is sticking them out in the wind somewhere to power low demand energy devices along highways or something a possibility?
Solar panels are stuck out āalong highways or somethingā all over Oregon, Washington, and California ā that used to be cumbersome because large batteries were needed, but then came LEDs and suddenly a small traffic information sign only needs less than 2% as much power.
Iāve seen them in cemeteries as the power source for small fountains, in park kiosks to provide light for nighttime so information can be see after dark, and even on navigation ātowersā to light them up at night.
But wind-driven? The only ones that Iāve seen that work from wind use vibration, so I donāt know if theyāre using piezoelectric materials or not. Iām not aware of any actual practical application.
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Here too, of course. The most recent Iāve noticed are for cameras to record license plates of vehicles. At least once that Iām aware of resulting in an arrest of someone from out of state who was an active fugitive.
How about piezo devices embedded in sidewalks or in shopping mall floors, or turning the local fitness gym into a dynamo? 
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There was a Close to Home cartoon that featured hooking up a generator to one of those kid-powered merry-go-rounds, but I canāt find a copy that I can put here.
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Im am going to resist the urge to get really annoyed at this. Kendel, up to this point i had generally found your responses to be those of a person with great humility and caringā¦however that is certainly not true of the above.
i ask that you dont tell me what i was or wasnt implying in my comment. I mean it exactly as i explained after it was taken the wrong way and i expect you will take this rebuff in a manner exactly as it sounds because i am making it very plain that I am unimpressed with what you have said!. Thats the thing that i get really annoyed with on this forumā¦those YEC haters who cannot help themselvesā¦they just have to go looking for any little nitpick assumption that can be plastered onto postsā¦and what pisses me off even more is when cohorts get together in their stuck up little group and āloveā what are pathetic comments specifically aimed at personal insult!
I tire of hearing things like "YEC practise pseudo science, YEC are incapable of reading the bible, YEC are using their own interpretations, YEC are lying to their kids. I spend almost all my time on this forum defending agtainst personal insults like the above from what are intentional attacks. These are used as an attempt at ,for example, countering biblical referencing because there is an obvious chasim between science and literal reading of the bible (even i accept this issue).
I am happy to accept comments with scientific referencing that are at odds with my beliefā¦we can debate that openly and even robustlyā¦but we should not be trying to find fault with other peoples characters. If i have done that, then i will take my own criticism on the butt and chinā¦I am honest enough to do that!
Adam, your words are all you have here to represent you. Your presence and your thinking are comprised of the text you publish, and your tone is established through your history of posts. As it is with each of us here.
You regularly address the forum participants here as a monolith of self-deluded pseudo-christians, who will get a horrible, hellish surprise in the end. And apparently, you think God will find that just hilarious. You set your tone hundreds of posts ago.
Your inappropriate, sneering response to Laura:
to Laura, an intelligent, thoughtful child of God, who is far kinder, sweeter, more patient and more temperate than I am, was simply as rude and condescending as the way you address the rest of us regularly.
She did not deserve your āone would have thought you listen to the news or radioā¦ā insinuating sheās deliberately ignorant or feigning ignorance. Your attempt to paper it over later just adds insult to injury.
I was actually replying to Marta, but you should know how you come off to other people, if you really intended to communicate something else. Proof read more. Read your posts back to yourself in the voice of someone you really dislike; see how your wording sounds then.
And here you have gone and done it again, starting to address me but finally gathering up all the people in the forum who disagree with you (or question you or attempt to explain to you) into one target for your disgust. As you have been doing since about December 2021.
Likewise.
Iād like to see a mixture of both. Some strategies work better bottom up, and others better top down.
I decided to go look things up. Unfortunately, the cost of piezoelectric power turns out to be something like on the order of 10^5 times as expensive as power from a coal plant ā a big enough gap that thereās no major application so far.
On the other hand, the number of applications is increasing rapidly, and there are promising new materials, so costs ought to come down ā though thatās quite a gap to overcome!
Just for an example, one application being pursued is piezoelectric materials in ārumble stripsā along highways that warn drivers theyāre drifting off the road; connected to LEDs on the guardrails to add a flashed warning. But that illustrates a big limitation: piezo- materials tend to be fragile; finding ones that arenāt is a major focus of research.
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Yeah, thanks ā I expected it had to be too high except for a few specialized niche applications. (Or very small, like gas stove or butane igniters.)
How about Peltier effect AC for the local gym/dynamo? 
All the ones Iāve seen on YouTube are bogus because the cooling at one end matches the heating at the other ā you canāt just magically get cold with a unit sitting in a room, you have to have an exhaust for the heat just like a regular AC. Besides that the cooling ends up not being commensurate with the power put in due to inefficiency, which ends up making it a lot more costly to run than an ordinary AC ā and that doesnāt include the power for the fans to get rid if the heat on the outside and spread the cooling on the inside. There are other issues I donāt really grasp, but ultimately theyāre more a novelty or for small spaces, not whole rooms but maybe a small refrigerator? or run it for the heat and make a hot plate?
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I have made my position very clearā¦i know what i mean and i mean what i sayā¦Contrary to your experience, i come from a religious denomination where a lot of members stopped using TV sets. My parents didnt have one for years, they isolated themselves and insulated us kids from it. It is not uncommon for Christians to not watch television or listen to radioā¦i dont know why you would be suprised at that.
Kendel, i generuinely do respect you and i read your posts with respect and interest. Im dissapointed in your sudden attack which is not warranted.
I am telling you that you are trying to read into these forum statements of mine ideas that really are being driven by a hate campaign against the āother sideā of the earth age debate. Taht is plainly obvious from not only yours but a lot of other members here. I am a defender of my side against a massive number of individualsā¦i dont see why that anyone should be philosophically threatened by that?
If i were a conspiracy theorist, i would believe that what in fact is really happening is an attempt at getting a person banned from a forum so that you do not have to face opposing to your world view comfort zone. Surely your theology is on firm enough ground to be able to handle that without fear of conversion?
We all read lots of things from posters on this forum that are stupidā¦ive written plenty of stupid things ,and i mean the unintelligent kind of stupid that comes from rednecks, theres a bit of redneck in all of us i think. However, generally i believe most individuals here are engaging with like minded people. Those who wish to speak their mind, and grow philosophically. I am a subsrriber to those things.
We all know that each member here has quirksā¦i know there are certain individuals here whose entire world view is just plain loopy (me included)ā¦sometimes i wonder if that isnt the point of forums?
Even the Mennonites I knew watched TV and listened to the radio! I canāt think of any Christians Iāve ever known who didnāt watch TV or listen to the radio.
i have studied a bit of church history from the reformation and recall a number of denominations with similar beliefs to some SDAās on this topicā¦my upbringing was not unique
Many outsiders mistakenly think that the Amish reject technology. It is more accurate to say that they use technology selectively. Televisions, radios, and personal computers are rejected outright, Technology ā Amish Studies
and then there is thisā¦
The difference between Amish people and most other Americans is the deliberation that takes place before deciding whether to embrace a new technology. Many Americans assume newer technology is always better, and perhaps even inherently good.
āThe Amish donāt buy that,ā says Donald Kraybill, professor at Elizabethtown College and co-author of The Amish. āTheyāre more cautious ā more suspicious ā wondering is this going to be helpful or is it going to be detrimental? Is it going to bolster our life together, as a community, or is it going to somehow tear it down?ā
There are 40 different Amish affiliations around the country, according to Kraybill, and they often reach different conclusions in answering those questions.
āSome of the subgroups are very conservative, very isolated and doing very well protecting their way of life because they basically reject much more technology than the more progressive ones,ā he says. Amish Community Not Anti-Technology, Just More Thoughtful : All Tech Considered : NPR
Below is, I suppose the general SDA position on thisā¦
We find from our study of the writings of Ellen G. White that music was given to us by God and is meant to be a blessing. Here are a few short quotations from her pen illustrating the virtues of music.
āMusic can be a great power for good.ā āTestimonies, vol. 4, p. 71. "Music . rightly employed, is a precious gift of God, designed to uplift the thoughts to high and noble themes, to inspire and elevate the soul."āEducation, p. 167. "Song is one of the most effective means of impressing spiritual truth upon the heart."āEvangeĀlism, p. 500. āMusic was made to serve a holy purpose, to lift the thoughts to that which is pure, noble, and elevating.āāPatriarchs and Prophets, p. 594.
But there is another side of the picture. We find that music, like everything else in this world of sin, can be a power for evil as well as good. We find that music may "deĀprave the imagination and debase the morĀals."āTestimonies, vol. 4, p. 653.
I wasnāt hardly serious of course, and for a net effect inside the room, a device would have to be mounted in an outside wall with the hot surface out. But it is still a cool (
) effect, and solid-state refrigeration.
In a medical laboratory, biopsy tissue specimens are embedded in molten wax using a piece of equipment, an āembedding stationā, similar to this ā
The little surface under the metal mold that the technician is working with is the cold side of a Peltier device, and it can get frosty cold.
High powered computer CPUs and GPUs are also frequently cooled with Peltier effect āelectronic coolingā devices with fins and fans to dissipate the heat.
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There are such groups. As a child, I lived in an area where many belonged to a strict and old revival movement within the Lutheran church. Watching TV was not ok because the programs were too worldly. One of our neighbors belonged to the movement and they learned to call to us when their children suddenly disappeared. We had a TV and it was a strong attractor for the kids. Ten kids as they did not either accept any prevention methods.
Lovely people, except that the movement had the teaching that practically all outside the movement were going to hell and it was not good to have close relationships with those going to hell (= all other adults). They formed a warm and safe society for the children growing within the movement but perhaps not to the adults questioning the teachings.
Growing up (if I ever did ; - ) in the 1950s when television was just getting established, I think there were conservative Christians that would not have one, and I know for sure there were some that would never go to a movie.
During 1980ās I heard teaching where they claimed that TV can be found in the Bible.
Zechariah 5:5-9 tells about a box of the size of an ephah. Inside the box is a woman called Wickedness. Those preaching remarked that a TV (of that time) is a box about the size of an ephah. So clearly this text tells about a TV. Inside the TV is Wickedness, avoid it!
You can find all kinds of things from biblical scriptures if you let your imagination fly.
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That is perhaps not the worst problem.
I have been involved in a project that studied the impacts of wind power on bats and has followed projects that studied the impacts on large birds. If the structures are situated in a site used by bats and birds, the number of casualties can be high.
In the public discussion, the major problem has been the NIMBY attitude. The wind mills produce some low-frequency noise and glittering when sun reflects from the moving blades, and they also spoil the scenery and lower the value of houses situated close to the structures. Some want that the distance between wind power structures and houses needs to be at least 2 km. That limits the area where the mills can be built.
There are also other local-level problems. In eastern Finland, military has prevented the building of wind power in some areas because the wind mills distort the picture produced by radars. A good awareness of what the neighbor is doing is considered important when the neighbor is prone to aggressive moves.
The best areas for the production of solar energy would be barren sunbathed areas, possibly close to sea or other source of water needed for the production of hydrogen. It has been speculated that in the future, Middle East may be known from the production of hydrogen instead of oil. The electricity may be produced in dry areas and the power transformed to hydrogen in production plants close to sea. The hydrogen can be transported after converting it to synthetic fuels or ammonium. If there are lots of production around the Mediterranean sea, there could also be hydrogen pipes leading to Europe.
At a very small scale, solar panels on roofs can produce much of the electricity needed during the sunny months. Building materials that can also act as solar panels are developed and would make parts of the houses sources of solar energy. The scale of this production is small and therefore is not a sufficient answer to the needs of industry.
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Hard to tolerate this kind of loveliness ā pride ā for long.
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