DailyDirt: Wind & Water Power
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
It’s generally a worthwhile goal to diversify — putting all your eggs in one basket is almost asking for trouble. So it’s nice to see folks working on different ways to generate electricity that don’t involve burning fossil fuels or dealing with the hassle of radioactive materials (not that there’s anything wrong with that). There are a bunch of really interesting wind power and hydro power projects going on, but some can scale better than others. And some of these projects just look cool.
- A Michigan artist is testing out a hydro-powered generator that’s modeled after a basking shark’s mouth. This generator mimics the shark’s mouth to help extract energy more efficiently… technically “infringing” on nature for this patent-pending design. [url]
- Arrays of piezoelectric cells could harness wind/water energy without using a turbine. Capturing vibrational energy, it’s silent and doesn’t kill birds/bats. And maybe analogous technology could be put on fault lines to get some electricity out of earthquakes…. [url]
- Deepwater Wind has a $4-5 Billion plan to put a wind farm about 20 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Its electricity would cost about twice that from a fossil-fuel power plant, but about half that of photovoltaic solar. Maybe someday, electricity branded “CO2-free” will be worth the premium? [url]
- Underwater turbines could generate power without building a dam along the Mississippi River. As with all hydro-electric projects, though, there are still concerns about how turbines might affect wildlife and shipping regulations. [url]
- To discover more stuff on alternative energy, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
As always, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: energy, hydroelectric, piezoelectric, shark, turbines, wind
Companies: deepwater wind
Comments on “DailyDirt: Wind & Water Power”
Mmmm wildlife
“there are still concerns about how turbines might affect wildlife” Wildlife, always in the way. Damn you wild life, damn you to hell! Always in the way and sooooo tasty.
On another note, I’ve had deepwater wind. I love the cute little bubbles it makes.
Mmmm wildlife
Pixelation,
Is that a Homer line? I haven’t seen the Simpsons in forever..
And I’m sorta surprised that any energy company would name themselves “Deepwater” anything (after the Deepwater Horizon disaster)….
Mmmm wildlife
It’s a bastardized Homer comment.
Maybe they should name it Deepwater Valdiz…
That Strait Power prototype looks like it will chop the fish up really nice too.
I am loosely following what is happening here…
https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2010/nnsa/NR-NNSA-10-10-02.html
Mmmm wildlife
Yup, Pixelation — the National Ignition Facility sounds like a cool way to achieve fusion… but like all the other fusion approaches, it seems perpetually about 30 years away from actually generating more energy than it consumes?
Mmmm wildlife
From an article on OptoIq, about an Oct. 31st test…
“”The results of all of these experiments are extremely encouraging,” said NIF director Ed Moses, “and they give us great confidence that we will be able to achieve ignition conditions in deuterium-tritium fusion targets.” The NIF researchers expect to achieve a self-sustaining fusion burn reaction with energy gain within the next two years.”
Eye opening if correct.
wind power is a crime
Every attempt to use wind power has turned into a massive waste of taxpayer money. When it go cold in Europe turbines generation dropped to 6% of capacity. It seems the wind doesn’t always blow when you need it most. All wind power must be backed up with quick start fossil plants. So now the taxpayer pays 10 times over for electricity and there is no positive environmental impact. Indeed, the impact is worse. And do you know what kind of mining is done to get the materials for wind turbines? Dirty stuff, but that is going on in China! RICO laws should be used to go after the world fraud be sold!
wind power is a crime
It’s interesting what you say. I would love to see something to back it up.