Start-up sees new dawn for old solar tech

Iria · Aug 14, 2005, 07:17 PM

David Slawson is an unabashed granola-crunching, tree-hugging New Age apostle whose livelihood rests on matriculating massage therapists to his alternative health care college in Portland, Ore.

Yet he's also the chief executive of a Phoenix-based start-up that's raised $20 million to parlay a quirky, early-19th-century engine design repeatedly discarded as antiquated, most recently by aerospace company McDonnell Douglas and utility giant Southern California Edison, into a multibillion-dollar solar energy company.

Intriguingly, Slawson might be on to something, though with the help of the U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories and Boeing. Then again, one of Slawson's former business partners, Harry Braun, an expert on Slawson's acquired technology, argues that it will never be efficient enough to produce power at competitive rates.

Both men, however, agree that Slawson's Stirling Energy Systems boasts good science as well as inspiring environmentalism. Only the business model is in doubt, which hasn't deterred Slawson. "I've raised money and mortgaged things for the last nine years to keep the company going," says Slawson, 57, the father of two grown children and now the owner of Portland's East-West College of the Healing Arts for advanced massage and hydrotherapy instruction.

Stirling Energy's solar technology, however, is anything but New Age. It consists of small metal tubes filled with hydrogen, which are heated by a large dish of mirrors that concentrate the sun's rays on the tubes, causing the hydrogen to expand and contract as it passes through heat exchangers. This process pushes the pistons of an engine originally invented by Church of Scotland reverend Robert Stirling in 1816 that in turn drives a generator and thus creates electricity.
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Read More / Source: News.com

Aug 14, 2005, 07:17 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 87	Start-up sees new dawn for old solar tech David Slawson is an unabashed granola-crunching, tree-hugging New Age apostle whose livelihood rests on matriculating massage therapists to his alternative health care college in Portland, Ore. Yet he's also the chief executive of a Phoenix-based start-up that's raised $20 million to parlay a quirky, early-19th-century engine design repeatedly discarded as antiquated, most recently by aerospace company McDonnell Douglas and utility giant Southern California Edison, into a multibillion-dollar solar energy company. Intriguingly, Slawson might be on to something, though with the help of the U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories and Boeing. Then again, one of Slawson's former business partners, Harry Braun, an expert on Slawson's acquired technology, argues that it will never be efficient enough to produce power at competitive rates. Both men, however, agree that Slawson's Stirling Energy Systems boasts good science as well as inspiring environmentalism. Only the business model is in doubt, which hasn't deterred Slawson. "I've raised money and mortgaged things for the last nine years to keep the company going," says Slawson, 57, the father of two grown children and now the owner of Portland's East-West College of the Healing Arts for advanced massage and hydrotherapy instruction. Stirling Energy's solar technology, however, is anything but New Age. It consists of small metal tubes filled with hydrogen, which are heated by a large dish of mirrors that concentrate the sun's rays on the tubes, causing the hydrogen to expand and contract as it passes through heat exchangers. This process pushes the pistons of an engine originally invented by Church of Scotland reverend Robert Stirling in 1816 that in turn drives a generator and thus creates electricity. __________ Read More / Source: News.com