Do you reckon the scientists that are researching this now "useful" plant are being paid by the tobacco companies? If not, why of all the thousands of species they couldn’t find a suitable plant other than tobacco? Is it a trick to fool people into thinking tobacco smoking is not so terrible because subconsciously they reckon tobacco has beneficial uses?

Remember that there were studies funded by the tobacco companies which coincidentally found no correlation between smoking and lung cancer.

Weird products come from weird places. First you take it at face value until you can investigate.

I for one am just sick of the tremendous amounts of money I shell out every month for my phone bill. Many of us don’t realize it but the cellular companies have us consumers cornered. With nearly every cell phone company comes similar rates and not much to shop around with. I wanted to know if there was a way we as individuals can setup our own cellular plans from our homes or from a bought telephone tower? Just like how some of us setup solar panels and eliminates some of our energy bills could we see a future in this as well? Thanks!

Simple answer is no. There are very basic and limited plans you can buy nowadays.
Everyone thinks they need a cell phone. If you can’t deal with the costs, get a house phone and voicemail setup so that people can call you at home.

I thought I heard "millions."

And if you were to make windmills, solar cells, or curly lights in California, could your company offer competitive prices?
Yes, Brother_Lu. I just heard the results.

Save any feathers you should buy my feline friend. There will be lots of use for them in the 2010 congressional elections… Now, where did we place that bucket of tar?
The solar panel arrays made in the United States are limited and significantly more expensive than those of the major manufactures (most of which are in China.)

Nearly all CFLs are made in China. (Too much hazardous mercury involved.)

2.5 Million jobs lost according to the GPO and the Heritage Foundation.

Do you reckon the scientists that are researching this now "useful" plant are being paid by the tobacco companies? If not, why of all the thousands of species they couldn’t find a suitable plant other than tobacco?

Remember that there were studies funded by the tobacco companies which coincidentally found no correlation between smoking and lung cancer.

They probably are. So what? If they come up with something useful, people will start checking other plants to find something cheaper or something that doesn’t require excellent bottomland to grow.

I am researching on renewable energy.

So far I know Singapore has implemented biomass, solar energy and fuel cells.

The problem that I am facing is that when I search the net for renewable energy, all the information given are not within Singapore region. I need someone to tell me where can I find more information on renewable energy in Singapore.

Do anyone know which companies uses renewable energy? Who can I find to know more about the topic?

Is there any other students doing major project on renewable energy? If yes, email me. I hope to work together to produce excellent results.

Thanks a Lot!

Not sure if this will help but you can do a search on the Singapore Yahoo search engine: http://sg.yahoo.com/ , Type in ‘renewable energy Singapore’ click on ‘Singapore’ and it should turn up a few websites for you. You can go to the National Environmental Agency (NEA) at http://app.nea.gov.sg/ or visit the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) at: http://www.seas.org.sg/

Other sites you may wish to check out:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Singapore/Background.html

http://www.serayaenergy.com.sg/energy/generated/SEContent/content/energyinformation/energyeducation.html

http://www.rsi.sg/english/ecowatch/view/20050203215113/1/.html

http://www.sde.nus.edu.sg/MEM/dissertation/4.%20Ong%20Hwee%20Fang%20Amanda.pdf

http://www.nccc.gov.sg/renewables/renewables.shtm

like.. solar energy, wind energy, hydrogen fuel cells etc…

the companies which make alternate energy to crude oil…

Thankz

The first link below is for biodiesel.
The second link is for BP’s Alternate Energy.

My husband and I are about to make an investment to make our own solar panels for our home. He is the mechanical end in terms of sealing and mounting the panels and I am the technical side. My question is this.. have any of you bought the cells themselves in bulk form and soldered them yourself? What company is a excellent one (price-wise/ease of assembly/high quality) to buy the cells from? I have found quite a few online companies to buy from and am curious as to what kind of results you had before I make this choice.

I have a strong background in electronics and have a excellent understanding of how it all works in terms of converting your home so technical jargon is OK in your explanation. Please be specific!

The Earth4Energy kit suggests one of those well loved alternative energy devices that prove to drop home energy costs by 50-80%. The kit also shares information on where to buy free batteries required for your project. These batteries store the alternative energy making it a portable energy resource. You can take them anywhere, for any use!

I oppose federal funding for abortion clinics. And oppose abortion itself except for cases of rape or the mother’s life is at risk.

I support same-sex marriage.

I support adult stem cell research but oppose embryonic stem cell research.

I support euthanasia only when the patient decides.

I support very strict immigration and a very tough stance against illegal immigration (building a large technologically advanced border, adding more border patrol and troops, immediate deportation of detained illegal aliens, reserving citizenship for children born to U.S. citizens,legal residents, and those with non-expired visas.)

I support a honest tax.

I support incentives for companies to bring jobs back to the U.S.

I support the 2nd Amendment 100%.

I support an extremely strong policy to produce 95% of all energy resources in the United States and make energy jobs in the U.S. This includes using only U.S. oil, coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, solar, nuclear to produce electricity and giving incentives to auto companies to produce electrical/plug-in cars.

I support a Veteran’s bill of rights to replace the GI Bill and explicitly guarantee and state benefits for anyone who serves in the Armed forces for at least 2 years.
I support replacing large parts of welfare and other social programs with workfare.

Don’t try to ‘fit in’ to a party. Just be yourself and vote the best option. ‘parties’ are useless….

Sooooo, I built an electrolyzer in my garage that can process approx. 50+ gallons of tap water with KOH additive every hour. I don’t have a Honda FCX Clarity yet…lol…so for right now, I am tanking the products (Oxygen and Hydrogen), and using it in a fuel cell stack that cost me $4800. The Tanks are simply the "energy-storage medium". The point is: I am using free solar energy to turn cheap tap water into Hydrogen fuel. When the FCX Clarity does become a reality here in Oregon, what’s to keep me from never going to a gas station ever again? Assuming that I don’t exceed the vehicle’s 270-mile fuel range? Can you imagine it? Never needing an oil company for anything, ever again? Of course, most of them are plotting Natural Gas reformation to produce hydrogen fuel. But my process is cleaner…really as clean as it gets, really… Free fuel, as long as I have sunshine and water.
Yea, I know it’s already being used by others… I just can’t know why oil companies are pushing for the Natural Gas reformation route when it comes to Hydrogen. Other than the fact that it’s cheaper for THEM. But it makes waste, including CO2 and Methane gas. Though the Mathane can be used as a secondary fuel if burned, I suppose.
No, it’s NOT expensive. Asside from the $4800 fuel stack, and the Solar panels, which are $1200 a peice, being they are high-efficiency Polycrystiline Si. My panels track the sun, as well, which increases maximum energy output considerably. I designed the sun-tracking device using photo-sensitive receptors, and the 2-axis pankace gimble was also addapted by me from a design I saw on a tracking telescope once.
I should clarify that the INITIAL price seems prohibitive, but I have made about $7,500 as of my six-month mark simply by selling the O2 and the H2. That’s the tough part though, as I don’t have the hazardous materials permit required in Oregon to stockpile this stuff, so the 400 gallon pressure tanks are technically illegal in the first place, when storing that amount of liquid Oxygen. If there ever was an explosion, let’s say, there wouldn’t be any walking away for me. I mean, the house would be GONE. I guess THAT’s one downside of producing my own fuel, eh?

As it is right now, I am producing far more of both gasses then I really require to power my house, and what I sell back to EWEB (utility company) is nothing compared to what I could be producing if I had additional fuel stacks. Some of the 400-500 W variety…lol.
To wjc: I only have one fuel stack as it is, but it’s putting out about 90 KW, and I’m only using about 10KW max at any one time. I’m making enough electricity to power several EXTRA homes on my block – for the price of tap water and free solar energy. =) The thing is, EWEB would start to wonder how I am producing soooo much electricity if I upped my output onto the grid any further. As far as the utility company is concerned, I am using straight solar power – they don’t know about the hardware in the garage… LOL. The utilities pay small potatoes for the extra power you produce anyways; I am making way more money selling the O2 to local welding supply stores, and the H2, well selling that is slightly more tough geven the ammount that I am trying to sell. Making pure profit though. Tap water is cheap in the WIllamette Valley.

I reckon it is a fantastic thought. 50 gallons per hour? How many solar panels do you have? Sounds like you could also make electricity for your home. I live in Arizona where there is a lot of sunshine and want to do the same thing but don’t know if I could afford the initial costs. Lots use solar and store in batteries but that is only excellent for RV application where you can make use of small quantities of power.

Keep up the excellent work.

I have seen a lot of DIY information on making your own solar panels. I have even bought a couple of them. But, they have not been very helpful in the fact that they either call for buying tons of broken peices and putting them together, or buying each cell and building the frame, and wiring it together. I have a 14′X60′ Mobile home with the flat roof on it. It is in full sunlight 3/4 of every day. I am looking for an inexpensive way to build my own solar panel using the entire roof. I am not looking for the most efficient, because I have plenty of size to work with. I do not have a lot of electrical needs. I am on some medical machines though, if it werent for them I would probably just let the electric go and buy a propane fridge and stove and call it excellent. I do not want to spend a bunch of money on books either so please no advertisements on where to buy books on this subject. I have very small resources in the way of money or else I would just pay the electric bill, my electric company is 1/4 renewable energy anyway. So if anyone knows of a way to build this, or knows where I can get a book or website for free. please let me know. Thank you,
I have most of what I need. I have the inverter, the regulator and the wiring, what I do not have is the know how on how they built the first ones. I have seen some info. on the web. But not enough to even get me started. I am looking for how they made them back in the 50’s and 60’s when it took massive amounts of space. Because space I have, money I do not. Back then the parts would have costed a lot, but I am betting the parts are pretty cheap by todays standards since they would not be used for solar panels. They came up with the crystals sometime in the 60’s if my memory serves me. I am looking for instructions for the ones before that. I know I can not get more than an 8% yeild, but since I have the room to use, why not use it, if I can get the parts cheap enough to make it doable?

Other than the suggestion of buying surplus/used units that people are removing to get better efficiency – and I would reckon cities/towns might be more reliable in this area unless you make contact with a reliable club or group in your area (shipping being a factor)
The simple fact is that you are talking a huge area and the cost of solar cells has not come down that much and the labor in assembling the bits and pieces is still honestly high. The high early cost was the very costly equipment and its problems in making pure silicon disks – and there is no way you can do that part economically.