There is a major rumbling in the energy world this day as Bill Gates has backed up a solar energy company, Heliogen. The company has harnessed solar energy and says it may replace fossil fuels. If these claims are true this could be an enduring, unlimited supply of fuel. It may be a lot cheaper to source than fossil fuel as well. The article will delve into the solar energy startup and explain some of the history and rationale behind this latest Bill Gates venture.
How it Works
Heliogen, is a company that has made a breakthrough in developing solar energy. The process is computer-controlled mirrors-heliostats that capture and concentrate the rays of the sun. The mirrors transfer the sunlight to a tower and receiver which convert the sunlight into ultra-high temperature heat. The sunlight caught and transferred to the receiver/tower is equivalent to 1200+ suns.
Helio heat is processed which is a super heat—1500 C—and this useable heat can be used in several industrial processes including cement, mining, steel, petrochemicals, and waste treatment. Green fuels are also processedlike hydrogen that can be used in Transportation, heavy equipment, and the all-important household heating.
Heliogen says that there technology is a patented first in the energy industry. As was mentioned the mirrors are the backbone of the Helio Heat system. These mirrors are a breakthrough in harnessing the sun for energy. The mirrors are located in a field and they act like giant magnifying glasses to capture and multiply sunlight. With this system the company is able to make carbon-free, super-hot heat to be used commercially for the first time.
Humans can use this alternative fuel at a much lower cost than fossil fuels and the fuel is much cleaner and safer for the environment. It will help corporations to meet emission standards. The heat is sustainable, and can be used forever as long as the sun exists. There are studies that prove more people are dying each year because of air pollutionthan wars, murders, and traffic accidents combinedand fossil fuels are largely to blame.
The energy was created by some of the best minds at MIT and Caltech and other significant technical institutions. It can be converted to sizes as low as 1MW--Megawatt, (MW) a unit of power. Milliwatt, (mW) one thousandth of a watt..mw, the country code top level domain (ccTLD) for Malawi.MediaWiki, (MW) software that runs Wikipedia, Wikimedia and many other wikis. Medium Wave, (MW) frequency range of 530 to 1700 kHz (commonly called the AM band)—and it can be scaled to several gigawatts--a unit of electric power equal to one billion (109) watts. The fuel is also economical as it much cheaper to produce than fossil fuels and it does not contain CO2.
In the Open
Back on Tuesday, November, 19, 2019 Heliogen came out of hiding and announced its identity and that it had some billionaire backers—including Bill Gates—has revealed its business and what it will mean to future energy endeavors and usage. It uses artificial intelligence in conjunction with the mirrors to harness the sunlight rays as the beams enter the earth’s atmosphere.
The energy may be able to be used to make cement, glass, steel and other necessary industrial processes and their method of harnessing energy may save the planet they claim. The extreme heat from the solar energy can be used to make materials for the first time. The process is still in the hypothetical stage and needs to be perfected so it can be used for practical purposes. One of the backers is billionaire Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong who along with Bill Gates has very high hopes for the company and their alternative energy process.
Patrick, believes that the patented energy technology will greatly reduce greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere. This may help to alleviate the whole global warming effect and restore the climate to normal. If the technology evolves and is successful it can revolutionize the energy market.
It will make energy available on a worldwide scale and it would be reasonably priced. It may hurt the profits of traditional energy companies and they may fight this new energy process. It could cost them a lot of money in revenues.
It is not known whether Heliogen will sell the rights to their process to other energy manufacturers or not. If the company does take off the stocks could sell for a very lucrative price. Investors may be smart to invest in this company because they could become billionaires.
The International Energy Agencysays that cement-as it is currently produced—accounts for 7% of the total CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere. This energy process may cut that amount to zero. It would also cut down the CO2 emissions from other industrial processes. This was triggered by a conference in Paris/Geneva where they adopted policies and technology to reduce the direct carbon dioxide emissions from the cement industry by 2050. The cement sector is the third largest- consumer driven industry in the world.
This energy process could reduce the direct emissions from cement industry dramatically. This in turn, would save a ton of money for the cement industry. They would not have to conform to the new emissions policies or adopt to the new technology that would re3duce the direct Carbon Dioxide emissions into the environment.
The world population is will continually increase causing more cement production to be necessary to keep up with the world demand. This will increase the emissions the cement industry will emit into the atmosphere. This energy process would eliminate this reality and save the planet from all types of environmental hazards. It may be possible for cement to be manufactured more economically through this alternative energy process.
Artificial Intelligence’s Part
It is said that renewable energy has not even bit into the industrial processes such as glass, steel and cement. This is a big problem because the world has a never-ending hunger for these types of goods. Renewable energy not being able to interfere with these industrial processes will not reduce the CO2 emissions these industries released into the atmosphere.
Think about it, cement is used to build schools and hospitals and these structures are located all over the world. Other companies tried to attack this energy model by adding steel to make the technology stiffer. Heliogen approached the technology by using artificial intelligence. The company uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection, and other state-of-the-art technology to set the mirrors to a single point.
The mirrors then collect the sun rays and send it to the appropriate receiver. A company spokesman said that if you take a thousand mirrors and align them to a single point you can generate a super amount of heat. The person went on to say that Heliogen made a breakthrough the first day they opened the plant.
Heliogen believes that if they can make hydrogen a green fuel it will change the whole energy game. They are striving to produce green hydrogen and when that will be accomplished is not known. It could be shortly or it may take a long time.
The one shortcoming of solar energy is that the sun does not always shine and this could potentially be a major obstacle. But Heliogen seems to think they solved this problem. They have built storage areas to keep the solar energy in when the sun is not shining on rainy days. This has to be a feasible solution because cement companies need the heat or energy constantly. They cannot stop operations because it is raining.
Heliogen says now that they have made this groundbreaking breakthrough that they need to scale up their operations to meet the massive needs of the various industries around the world. Their goal is to transfer their operation to a large scale operation. But this will take time and money. Heliogen needs to raise more money by increasing the amounts current investors are giving and they need to attract new investors.
If the operation turns out to be successful the company is going to have to go public to raise the millions perhaps billions of dollars to make the operation a worldwide business. Heliogen sys it must convince fossil fuel producers to switch over to solar energy. The companies may not be willing because it may cost a lot of money to switch over to a solar energy process. But the company says they have been talking with these manufacturers and some of them are ready to convert over to the solar process.
Soon the company will announce its first customers. The company spokesman said that if they offer a cement company hydrogen fuel that is clean and cheap it will be a no brainer for the company to buy the fuel from Heliogen.
Heliogn has made a breakthrough in the energy business that could change the rules of the energy game around the world. The company—if successful—could produce a hydrogen fuel that is clean and burns less or no CO2 into the atmosphere. The fuel is also cheaper to make then conventional fossil fuel. The company thinks it could help to control the climate as well.
