Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Roof garden

 The easy way to convert your roof into a microcosm
  (+3, -2)
(+3, -2) 		  [vote for,
against]

You will need the following.
1) Solar panels
2) Mircoreactors (edit)
CO2 + 4H2 -> CH4 + 2H2O
CH4 -> CH3OH
3) Electrolysis cells (edit)
2H20 -> 2H2 + 202
4) A collector (perhaps from your dads still)
5) Roof mounts, fittings, 2 lengths of tubing and a ladder.

Check the net (or a local moonshiner) for your nearest stockest.

Install your artifical roof garden as follows.
1) Attach your solar panels, microreactors and cells to your roof. Remember always get the permission of an adult before using a ladder.

2) Put your collector in a convenient location near the house and attach using your first length of tubing.

3) Attach a water supply to the electrolysis cells and duct the hydrogen (at the cathode) to the microreactors using your second length of tubing.

All done... your roof garden will produce oxygen and alcohol just like a real one would... (if your dad is a moonshiner)

—madness, Sep 03 2004

Methanol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol
from the Wikipedia [st3f, Oct 04 2004]

Ethanol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol
from the Wikipedia [st3f, Oct 04 2004]

Sabatier reaction http://en.wikipedia...ki/Sabatier_process
from the Wikipedia [madness, Feb 13 2008]

[link]






       Ha !, the last paragraph's a inflammable cracker.
—skinflaps, Sep 03 2004
   

       I have no idea how this works... mainly because I'm thick... but I would gladly swap our prize cow for he magic beans that made my roof into a distillery.
—etherman, Sep 03 2004
   

       The magic is heat and electricity... the solar panels provide energy to the reactants and the result is moonshine! (and O2). The electrolysis uses electricity and the micoreactor uses heat.   

       The microreactor chemicals in their new high energy (heated) states are more likely to combine as alcohol and oxygen than carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The new bond energies are higher since they have retain some of the heat energy provided by the reactor.   

       The reactor is just a small box containing a catalyst that brings the reactants together at the right temperature. The chemicals just do whatever they think is best at that temperature.
—madness, Sep 03 2004
   

       //2CH3OH// Methanol is not good drinking.
—Laughs Last, Sep 03 2004
   

       OK, so this produces a toxic alcohol, but it's an interesting way of storing solar energy. It would probably be more efficient if you found a way to split the water molecules using the sun directly as solar panels are, on the whole, horribly inefficient.
—st3f, Sep 03 2004
   

       Yeah interesting in as much as it copies grass and the like...   

       The micro reator requires a constant supply of Hydrogen --- and no heating --- as the Sabatier process is endothermic and once started will continue until all the Hydrogen is consumed.   

       Hence the electrolysis...   

       I figure the Hydrogen should be produced during the day and consumed at night --- sort of mimicking a plant...
—madness, Sep 03 2004
   
      
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