Solar Thermal Power Coming to a Boil

ME needs to contact this company and do an article & updates on a technology that may be perfect for the self sufficient homesteader;

Generating electric from heat; I would love to learn the pros and cons of this new product and be there to help support their implementation and integration into my needs.
http://www.ergenics.com/page27.htm

This sounds really good, but so does Batha's Comments on the Black Box. Can you tell us how these Black Boxes were made, etc? Thanks

As always, I find your articles interesting and informative, especially when it comes to one of my favorites topics, alternative energy!

Solar thermal power, at 13 to 17 cents per kilowatt, and projected to decline to 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt in the future seems like a bargain when you think about it from a financial and global perspective. Your article commmented that it would be competitive with fossil fuels when it reached the 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt range.

Realistically, if we look at the true cost of fossil fuels, more specifically, crude oil, solar thermal power among other numerous alternative sources of energy seems like an inexpensive solution to our energy problems. When you consider the amount of money the US spends on keeping the middle east shipping lanes open with our expensive military machine to provide safe passage for our tankers to transport crude oil to the US; the grave mistake that President Bush made invading Iraq; and the tax breaks the federal goverment gives to the oil companies that break their own record quarterly profits on a regular basis, alternative energy seems very inexpensive, especially when you factor in job creation and supporting your own country with your hard earned money.

There is another very important matter to consider regarding solar thermal power and other sources of alternative energy that could be used to wean us off of our unrealistic appetite for foreign oil at a cost of approximately $700 billion per year. If our elected leadership in Washington had finished the job in Afghanistan after 911, and had focused on our domestic priorities, one of which is out of sight energy prices and creating a bonafide energy policy for the long term benefit of the US, how far would the current $500 billion dollar tab in Iraq-with seemingly no end in sight-gone in converting the US to numerous domestically produced forms of alternative energy and most importantly, the preservation of lives?

http://www.ergenics.com/