Is there technology that would allow us to use the Earth’s gravity and it’s force to solve the energy problems?

@Dog Are you shitting me? Before 10:00? This is way too profound.

Well, it has been thought about, but not actually developed.

Yes there is and it is being worked on as we speak. You will find it in the largest of the contractors of the government. Lockheed Martin, Noerthrop Grumman etc…

@Summum What is it called? I want to read more! It is an exciting thought. Do you have any links?

It is spoken about but it is hush hush and I could get in trouble for saying. There are a number of literal craft that are using the technology but it is far from being fine tuned.

I am curious to know how this is possible. The energy that you could get out of a pendulum cannot be any greater than the energy required to initially lift the weight at the end of it. I suppose that you could use weights that have already been raised on a mountain, but this is non-renewable energy.

You use gravity very similar to a magnet where you can repel or attract.

My first thought was what @LostInParadise said.
@Summum what exactly do you mean by that? Gravity can’t repel.

Oh yes it can and does if you use anti gravity. If you could create a craft that could repel Earths gravity and push yourself outside the atmostphere then you could attract yourself towards say the sun and get up your speed. Once traveling you then could just release the attraction and in space you would maintain the speed at which you stopped pulling yourself towards a body.

I guess you could say that Tidal Generators use Earth’s gravitational pull—or more accurately the tug-of-war between the Earth’s and the moon’s gravitational pulls.

We already do. The vast majority of our hydro-electric plants are run by water going over/thru/whatever turbines. The water does so because gravity is pulling it down (see the hoover dam).

This was my favorite, a sterling engine…. http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/9e84/#tabs

Tidal power is a good example of the use of gravitational energy It is renewable in the same sense that solar energy is renewable. Eventually the tidal friction will slow down the Earth’s rotation and the moon’s revolution, but then the sun will eventually run out of energy. Nothing to worry about in the near term.

Hydro power is an example of solar energy. It is the energy of the sun that evaporates water and assures a steady supply of it at the top of the dam.

We’ve been using hydro power for longer than we’ve been using steam. We still use it quite extensively. That’s all based on the force of gravity (aided by solar evaporation and the rest of the hygroscopic cycle).

Let’s make use of the moon’s gravity first and build more tidal power plants.