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]
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Filed Under: energy, hydroelectric, piezoelectric, shark, turbines, wind
Companies: deepwater wind
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Mmmm wildlife
On another note, I've had deepwater wind. I love the cute little bubbles it makes.
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Re: Mmmm wildlife
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)....
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Re: Re: Mmmm wildlife
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
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Re: Re: Re: Mmmm wildlife
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Mmmm wildlife
""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.
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wind power is a crime
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Re: wind power is a crime
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