Recently, during a gathering of neighbors, a man and I had a debate about the horrible terrible, hypocritical jerk....Al Gore. This gentlemen was flogging Mr. Gore because he, and other leftist extremists like him (that would be me), were behind the stopping of drilling (to save some idiotic polar bears and caribou) and building of nuclear and coal plants.
This gentlemen felt that coal in and of itself would more than help the U.S become self sufficient in terms of energy and we should go back to relying on it. Add drilling and nuclear and we were set for as long as he could see into the future. (Of course so many of us are very short sited now aren't we?) Just to finish summing this thought up...this man was in his late 30's. So much for the future.
Changing thoughts...not long ago on this very site I blogged about a new technology that was being tried out in the ocean. It sounds wonderful...and clean...and non invasive (anymore than humans are in general I suppose). One person commented that they thought it was still a bad idea and that really all people just needed to use less energy. Period. No other thing but just that.
Now...after some thought I do agree with that commenter. How we will actually accomplish this, and can we as a society, I don't know. I have thought about it and just don't see it happening without MAJOR complications forcing it. Like gas..being so high this last year. Now that it is low...people are back to buying big vehicles again. And letting them idol while they run in the store to buy something.
I also know I don't go to enough trouble to change my own personal consumption. Not as much as I should anyway...though I am trying to and do use many ways to reduce my consumption, but by no means am I an ace at it.
I do use some ways most average Americans don't even bother with like power bars to completely shut all power off to electronics not in use. I mean...most of it uses the same amount of energy while waiting for me to tell it what to do as it does while doing it. On the other hand at times I do leave the t.v running when I am really not paying complete attention to it as I clean and what not.
Moving on....I am sure you heard of the Tennessee coal ash spill. This spill is maybe 2 hours northeast of me as the crow flies (if that far). And of course as it moves downstream it will eventually make it's way down into the Tennessee River, through Chattanooga (near me) and on to places like Atlanta Georgia. All shit flows south now doesn't it?
And so...did you hear that a few weeks after the Tennessee spill, TVA had another one over in Alabama?
Here's the link.
I have always been completely against Nuclear Power. I have on this very blog posted about that a number of times. If for some reason you can't understand my rabid dog (and yes, I can get very mad about it) opinion on NO nuclear....please read the title of this post. Now think of these coal ash spills.
My thought is this: No persons life, and the total wasting of land, was worth a nuclear melt down to me just so I could leave all my lights on while I ran to the store. (know people that do that) Soooo...someone wouldn't steal my stuff???
So I could see into the upstairs window when I got home??? So I could tell what time it is in every single room I walk into and the t.v will respond without me first having to flick a switch. So that I could have a t.v in each room and watch my show as I walk around the house and never miss a part (know people that do this too).
Now....I feel the same way about coal. Now...I must get even more serious about my power use. Not just because coal is more common in my area but because NO person's life is worth trading for me to have a light on during the middle of the day while I walk down a very familiar hallway (know someone that does this also).
So...are you one of those people that thinks it's o.k as long as it's not in your back yard? If we aren't willing to live in the zone of the emergency evacuation signs for nuclear plants or under the towering walls holding back the poisonous ash then why do we expect others to? I mean how can we ask someone else and their child to do it if we won't?
My point is both that we need the government behind clean technology (and I don't mean clean coal) and we ALL need to conserve......as if our very life depended on it. Because in reality someone else's might.
The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.
Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots.
The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.
As water flows past, the cylinder creates vortices, which push and pull the cylinder up and down. The mechanical energy in the vibrations is then converted into electricity.
Cylinders arranged over a cubic metre of the sea or river bed in a flow of three knots can produce 51 watts. This is more efficient than similar-sized turbines or wave generators, and the amount of power produced can increase sharply if the flow is faster or if more cylinders are added.
A "field" of cylinders built on the sea bed over a 1km by 1.5km area, and the height of a two-storey house, with a flow of just three knots, could generate enough power for around 100,000 homes. Just a few of the cylinders, stacked in a short ladder, could power an anchored ship or a lighthouse.
Systems could be sited on river beds or suspended in the ocean. The scientists behind the technology, which has been developed in research funded by the US government, say that generating power in this way would potentially cost only around 3.5p per kilowatt hour, compared to about 4.5p for wind energy and between 10p and 31p for solar power. They say the technology would require up to 50 times less ocean acreage than wave power generation.
The system, conceived by scientists at the University of Michigan, is called Vivace, or "vortex-induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy".
Michael Bernitsas, a professor of naval architecture at the university, said it was based on the changes in water speed that are caused when a current flows past an obstruction. Eddies or vortices, formed in the water flow, can move objects up and down or left and right.
"This is a totally new method of extracting energy from water flow," said Mr Bernitsas. "Fish curve their bodies to glide between the vortices shed by the bodies of the fish in front of them. Their muscle power alone could not propel them through the water at the speed they go, so they ride in each other's wake."
Such vibrations, which were first observed 500 years ago by Leonardo DaVinci in the form of "Aeolian Tones", can cause damage to structures built in water, like docks and oil rigs. But Mr Bernitsas added: "We enhance the vibrations and harness this powerful and destructive force in nature.
"If we could harness 0.1 per cent of the energy in the ocean, we could support the energy needs of 15 billion people. In the English Channel, for example, there is a very strong current, so you produce a lot of power."
Because the parts only oscillate slowly, the technology is likely to be less harmful to aquatic wildlife than dams or water turbines. And as the installations can be positioned far below the surface of the sea, there would be less interference with shipping, recreational boat users, fishing and tourism.
The engineers are now deploying a prototype device in the Detroit River, which has a flow of less than two knots. Their work, funded by the US Department of Energy and the US Office of Naval Research, is published in the current issue of the quarterly Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering.
