The free (as in "beer") NASA magazine Tech Briefs is holding their annual "Create the Future Contest with entries in the following categories:I've entered my idea for a steam powered car with on-board hydrogen generator.

This place being space geek central , I figure that I can't be the only one to have an entry, so who else has one?

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We want our children to go to the planets. Burt Rutan 6/21/04
Tuckers! Science! Automotive Oddities! Boycott Trek XI! Building my hot rod with the help of the intarwebs Those who would delay scientific progress for a little temporary prosperity shall have neither. MachineCast

I am intrigued by you steam engine.
How will it work?
On the link you provided environmental benefits and performance benefits, but there was no "actual design" information.
The engine you used as a reference from 1925 sounds interesting, but I am too lazy to google.

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This whole internet thing is probably not a passing fad.-Ronald Brak
While speech might be free, consequences cost.-Doodler

See here.And here.

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We want our children to go to the planets. Burt Rutan 6/21/04
Tuckers! Science! Automotive Oddities! Boycott Trek XI! Building my hot rod with the help of the intarwebs Those who would delay scientific progress for a little temporary prosperity shall have neither. MachineCast

A very interesting challenge from the folks at NASA. Thank you for making me aware of it, I plan on entering it in the next few days as I research my idea. Forgive me if I do not elaborate on my idea until it is submitted

I hope your submission is a working time machine

It's really too bad we didn't see this sooner, it could have been fun.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

DOH! *Wince*

Well, since I won't be able to partake, I might as well explain what I was thinking. In developing nations, they all seem to have the same problems. They need more electricity, more clean water, and more money. What if you could solve or partially fill all three in one shot?

I was thinking of a shore-based geothermal plant. Piping would pump brine deep underground, heating to near-steam, then looped back up to the surface, driving a turbine for the electricity portion. Then, the water is cooled by piping in plain seawater from offshore and run through a heat exchanger. The "open" seawater system would allow evaporation, and the steam distilled into pure drinking water. The resulting waste salt could be refined and sold as sea salt. There you have it. One plant, three badly needed resources.

I would have had to research the feasibility of it all, and cost comparisons of course, but it seems viable to me.

It would consume electricity, not produce it.

I don't think so. I recall hearing about a similiar idea invented by Tesla. Lovelock of Gaia fame is advocating a wave driven system to pump cold water from the ocean depths to the surface to cool the surface water down and prevent coral reefs from dying (another advantage of this would be to weaken hurricanes).

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We want our children to go to the planets. Burt Rutan 6/21/04
Tuckers! Science! Automotive Oddities! Boycott Trek XI! Building my hot rod with the help of the intarwebs Those who would delay scientific progress for a little temporary prosperity shall have neither. MachineCast

Electricity from seawater also powered the Nautilus. And what a voyage that was! (sorry one of my favorite books)

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

Hey, there's always next year! If you subscribe to the magazine (Did I mention it's free?), they send out ample reminders of when it starts.

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We want our children to go to the planets. Burt Rutan 6/21/04
Tuckers! Science! Automotive Oddities! Boycott Trek XI! Building my hot rod with the help of the intarwebs Those who would delay scientific progress for a little temporary prosperity shall have neither. MachineCast

I'm not an engineer. If they need a logo designer or writer to raise awareness, though, I'm there.
Imagining the future is what I'm all about.

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"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

Can I submit my son as an entry?
My greatest invention with a lot of potential.

Wow well spotted.
I loved that book...Captain Nemo rules

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This whole internet thing is probably not a passing fad.-Ronald Brak
While speech might be free, consequences cost.-Doodler

Of course my setup would generate electricity. That's how geothermal energy works. You use piping to bring heat from below nearer to the surface, and you use that to flash water to steam. The expansion of the water drives a generator, and bingo! You got juice. The major difference with my setup is simply that I distill the steam into pure drinking water, and reclaim the *waste* salts for sale as sea salt.

Yes, indeed.

__________________
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek
"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song

OK category one 'Consumer Products': Products that increase quality of life in the workplace, at home, during leisure time, or while traveling.

Since we now know the asteroids are formed under extreme heat and pressure as discovered a few weeks ago how about 'DIAMONDS THE SIZE OF FOOTBALLS'. Well they are formed under extreme heat and pressure. They are forever and it might just be a private funding boost to get the space program really up and running. It might even receive strong support from some more of the community genuinely interested by 'sparklers in space'.

I can only think of one and that's reliable and fast space travel to enable emigration off-world.
Everything else that my pea-brain would muster up for the benefit of humanity would be philosophical by nature.
It's a sad commentary that certain people believe that wholesale salvation may lay in technology and commerce.