A heart is probably the most efficient way on earth to turn one from of energy into another.
So why not take all the hearts from all the dead cows in America and use them to pump a liquid to power a generator?

A cow heart powered generator would not make any noise or pollution.
No noise, no pollution, runs on hay, probably the most efficient way on earth to convert one form of energy to another - sounds good to me.
And it works all the time, unlike solar or wind power.

Sewage could be used as a fuel for a cow heart powered generator.  I don't think the heart would care what it was feed.

How many horsepower a cow heart would make?

Its all about turning a useless form of energy into a useful form of energy.

And as a added bonus we get to eat the cows.

The cow heart powered generator would need 4 things.
1. A working fluid inside the heart to pump thru the generator.
2. A fluid to submerse the heart in to support it.
3. Oxygen in the fluid.
4. Artificial nutrients in the fluid.

During peak electrical demand give the cow hearts coffee and they will beat faster.

The old h.p. is horse power, the new h.p. is heart power.

A Elephant heart weights about 60 lbs.
I am not saying we should kill all the elephants on the planet, and use there hearts to make electricity, but what if we could clone a 60 lb Elephant heart and use them to make electricity?

A Blue Whales heart weights 1000 lbs, that’s a big heart.
I wonder how many horsepower a 1000 lb whale heart could make?
We could domesticate Blue Whales and harvest various part of there body, just like cows.

Hearts do appear to be a very efficient pump.  What would be your best guess, for the work that could be done from the output of the heart, versus the input to keep the heart pumping?   It's not a bad idea to try and emulate nature.  This is interesting.

Gravityblock,
The important question is how efficiently can one form of energy be converted into another.

Quote from: brian334 on March 08, 2009, 04:28:11 PM
Gravityblock,
The important question is how efficiently can one form of energy be converted into another.

I think you would need to have a synthetic blood or plasma fluid for the heart.  Both of those options are available right now.  What if you had the plasma fluid pumped back upstream and then have a water wheel downstream to turn the generator.  Throw a couple hundred or thousand hearts into the system for better conversion.  More hearts would then equal a better conversion.  What type of conversion are you thinking about, or am I way off?

gravityblock,
you are right on.