James May: James May's Big Ideas

Shawn said:
Hmm, same with BC actually. It's mostly from hydroelectric dams and that makes our electricity damn cheap.
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And Manitoba and Yukon as well, though Yukon Electric is bloody expensive by comparison.:(
 
Shawn said:
Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure season 3 is just around the corner though. :woot:
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I suppose January can be deemed as 'just around the corner' the way the time flies these days ;)

This episode, I think has the general consensus that it wasn't as good as the previous. I am inclined to agree, but I still found the subject interesting and it has put me in a better frame of mind for the future.

As soon as they work out the deal with Hydrogen, I think things will start looking up!
 
aaurora said:
This episode, I think has the general consensus that it wasn't as good as the previous. I am inclined to agree, but I still found the subject interesting and it has put me in a better frame of mind for the future.
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No consensus, I'm afraid. This was my favourite one out of the three. :)
 
Really liked these programs and it looked like James enjoyed making them as well.

He is very good at this presenting lark for the Open University.

All three programs were very interesting, although I had seen some of the ideas before. The planes were great and the Asimos are really impressive now they are being developed.

LOL @ JM: Who?s this Asimo? : ?Grandpa? :lol:

And slightly off topic, just saw ?Mrs. Captain Slow?, aka Sarah Frater, on BBC1 doing a small piece to camera, reviewing a dance routine that the Oscar winning actress Juliette Binoche was rehearsing at Sadler?s Wells Theatre, London.
 
I've really loved this series, some really fascinating stuff out there. However, I was a bit miffed that he went for those kites instead of looking at some of wind farms Denmark have been putting up recently. It's more or less out in the middle of the ocean, where it won't disturb anyone's view - and they look bloody impressive when you come across them.
 
Autobahn said:
I've really loved this series, some really fascinating stuff out there. However, I was a bit miffed that he went for those kites instead of looking at some of wind farms Denmark have been putting up recently. It's more or less out in the middle of the ocean, where it won't disturb anyone's view - and they look bloody impressive when you come across them.
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That would have been interesting! Maybe time or cost constraints?
 
I just popped in to say that I absolutely adore this series and am sad that it's already over. The third episode on Energy really opened my eyes, I said wow many times during that episode. I'm so hoping that James continues his series in the future!:)
 
IceBone said:
They're good enough for powering small towns, but when it comes to industrial power consumption, there's no better way than nuclear. Our small local plant outputs 600 GW. :)
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"ONE POINT TWENTYONE JIGAWATTS!?" - Dr. Emmett Brown, some time in 1955.

Time travel in 2008... it's possible, see.

grievousjali said:
My brothers and I also giggled our heads off while watching the solar furnace boil away the steel. Wouldn't making fuel out of thin air be similar (in principle, anyway) to making deuterium?
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Not entirely sure what you're getting at here; "making" deuterium in the most literal sense of the word involves a nuclear reaction between a standard ?H atom (presumably ionised as a proton) and a neutron, and the creation of petrol by the solar furnace process is a purely chemical reaction (reverse combustion, in fact - I'd like to see how they manage it!). If, on the other hand, you're implying the use of the solar furnace for the repeated evaporation of water to increase the concentration of HDO and D?O, then that's more viable... as long as there's enough sun. As for the nuclear fusion process itself - that's still a very long way off. Anyone ever play Sim City (or at least, one of the Sim City games, because there's been a hundred-odd)? Nuclear fusion doesn't become available until 2050, and that's probably an optimistic estimate. Of course, we're going to have far more problems to worry about by then.

I heard - admittedly by word of mouth - that there are bacteria being developed that produce petrol, or at least some mixture of (approximately) C6-C10 hydrocarbons, as a metabolic product. This, should it not turn out to be a complete myth, sounds even more encouraging.

One thing Captain Slow didn't touch on is geothermal power. The Icelanders may not have any money left, but it'll take an utter cataclysm to shut off the supply of free hot water. I'd like to prove, though, that geothermal energy can be obtained anywhere, not just a few hot spots. It would involve drilling a far deeper hole than in Iceland or Hawaii, but once that's done, it's only a case of sending water down the hole and watching the steam blast upwards again... and when that energy source runs out, humans will have long ceased to exist anyway.
 
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little off topic too but its a song request

its on the 3rd installment of the series its right around 47:55

thanks!
 
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