michael.

its true that a photovoltaic cell is relatively poor and producing energy even in ideal conditions. this is acceptable because of the small size of the cell (there can be many in a small area) and mostly the shear abundance of an ample intensity of sunlight. sterling engines, while they have a higher possible potential, require more strict conditions to function in, they need really intense sunlight to create high temperature differences. at least this is my understanding. theyre also rather large and heavy(it would require a large parabola to compliment it) and ive only seen about 4 in my life so i wouldnt know where to buy a used one. anyway, its not that im trying to squash your idea, i dont want to brush the idea off. i think csp's are really awesome and i hope that we start seeing more of them im also toying with the idea of a bike powered arcade cabinet, which i feel could have some really awesome emergent game mechanics that could tie into the bike with like leaning and stearing and cool button arangements on the handle bars and of course, peddling. that would be much more complicated though. someday!

i think pinball is a genius idea! i'll definitely have to make one of those too! i plan to have a cafe someday, and a pinball machine would fit in so nicely. on energy: i actually foresee the audio system consuming the most. but i havent researched it at all. the monitor i found uses about 40 watts, its just a dell 22" flatscreen theres a new AMD Athlon 64 2000 processor that uses only 8 w, and then theres the intel atom which uses slightly more. so the computer + monitor is going to come in at about 60 watts, leaving 140 for the sound system. if anyone has any suggestions of what hardware to use, id love to hear your ideas! and about the the food issue. its true that only about 10% of the nutrients created by primary producers (plants) are assimilated by the primary consumers (cows) and only 10% of that amount is assimilated by us. also, due to perverted agricultural practices, it takes the average cattle ranch 10 pounds of topsoil to produce 1 pound of beef. and unless something is done (possible, but usually isnt done) to replace the topsoil, it will take hundreds of uninterrupted years to naturally restore all that topsoil. in places where food and resources are very scare, meat production isnt a very good idea. but animals are still really important, useful, and feasible parts of agriculture. they just shouldnt be our primary source of nutrition. im pretty much vegetarian, partly because i dont like how animals are 'produced', but mostly because if find most meat dishes pretty bland. its a huge misconception that being vegetarian means having to eat boring, bland food. theres more to not eating meat than tofu eggplants and mushrooms anyway, i appreciate all the interest in my project, i'll keep you guys updated on my progress!

hey! thanks for spreading the word heath! the idea behind this project was to combine my desire to stand up and be the change i want to see in the world and to sit down and make little video games. this isnt a commercial endeavor. its not a mass production thing, more like an traveling, interactive art exhibit. the plan is to take the cabinet around to schools and festivals and other public events and let people play the games and then learn how solar energy was used to power it. i live in portland, and there are a lot of suitable events. i also want it to be a venue for all the amazing independent games that are being created these days. i certainly still love arcade games, theres a retro arcade near where i live and i go there all the time. the organs of the cabinet will most likely be a linux computer, custom designed for energy efficiency. a 5'x5' pv panel costs about $1000 and puts out about 200 watts, so its going to be an interesting challenge to get all the electrinics under that limit, but i think it possible. the pv array actually charges batteries that power the computer so i'll be able to offset some of the consumption by using more batteries. the rest of the cabinet will be made out of salvaged wood and materials whenever possible.