Solar Thermal Generators

Hosted byIan Punnett

Solar Thermal Generators

About the show

Appearing during the middle two hours, aerospace and defense systems developer Sir Charles Shults talked about his research into solar thermal generators. Explaining how this technology works, Shults said "basically, they capture the heat of the sun, concentrate it in on some sort of reaction system such as a boiler or a working fluid, and they transfer that heat into a generator."

Shults detailed his work developing a new type of solar thermal generator which utilizes lenses instead of the traditional "solar panel." Optimistic about the progress of this research, he described the project as "a real winner, because it's working very easily...it's an amazing thing when you see the stream just screaming out of this thing." According to Shults, the long term goal is to produce smaller versions of the device for individual homes, so that people can create their own electricity.

Should such solar thermal generators become prevalent, he foresees a number of benefits to the US. Aside from a shift away from foreign oil dependence, adoption of such devices would create jobs for people "manufacturing, installing and servicing the systems." He also noted that having a more localized source of electricity could prevent power outages that result from natural disasters.

The last hour of the show featured Open Lines.

Bumper Music