Lets get together and ... design a power plant

shpegs.org has started a fascinating project. They want to design an open source power solar heat pump, and they need your help. The gist of the design is to exploit the temperature difference between the ground and the air.

Both the design and development approach are innovative. Will the open source software model spill over into the world of atoms? Perhaps, though there is the problem of prototyping. Who will make the (often expensive) prototypes? Seems like the best approach may be a hybrid one. Maintain a central headquarters to run tests and build prototypes, but keep the designs open source.

Something troubled me from their FAQ. "A new idea in renewable energy is priceless to society and worthless to an individual with a normal lifespan" While I have nothing but praise for the result, this seems a little defeatist. Make something open source because you believe in the cause, not because of some notion that you wouldn't make any money anyway. I hope this quote goes down in history as famously wrong such as IBM president Watsons (misattributed) quote that "there is a world market for maybe five computers."