When we were in Ocean City, MD this summer I kept looking at the ocean and thinking 'Why can't we find a good/easy/cheap way to harness the power of the waves?' That is a nearly endless source of potential energy - even at low tide (or when the tide is going out) there are still waves. Hell, in a storm, we could get more energy.
That lead me to think of ways we could get energy from rivers without having to dam them up - but this thought process got me nowhere. Larry - that is an interesting idea about using the dams from Old Mills. Not sure how much energy could be generated from one, but a bunch together may yield enough to make it worth while. On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 1:53 PM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > > I think its mostly going to be a mixture of different systems, like > natural gas, methane from biomass, various green power etc. One thing > no one has mentioned is hydro power. Greenhouse gas emissions are very > low, - even those 2 or 3 studies that have claimed that hydroelectric > dams create greenhouse gases used 2 examples of very poorly done dams > in Brazil. > > Years ago I used to live in a rebuilt mill from the 1840's. The water > was still dammed in a retaining pond, and went over a sluiceway. For > this sort of system it should be relatively easy to put in a turbine > system to generate power. Since all throughout the eastern US there > are old dams left over from the old milling days, it may be a good > alternative method of generating electricity. Even more so if the land > (and dam) owners have incentives to install these turbine systems. > That ought to go a long way towards reducing our dependence on oil and > reducing greenhouse gas emissions. > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 1:00 PM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Gel wrote: >>> What we need are materials/organisms that create harvestable energy in >>> appreciable amounts direct from the Sun. >>> >> >> All the algae farms have gone bankrupt, but we better figure out >> something fast because the world's demand for energy is exponentially >> rising while the world's supply is exponentially falling. >> >> And the bad news is the planet's economic growth hinges on one single >> factor: a growing supply of energy. >> >> So one of two things is going to happen: >> >> (1.) Humans devolve into a cold dark world. >> >> (2.) A new form of energy is invented / discovered and it creates an >> economic boom. >> >> The problem with # 2 is that inventing / discovering new energy >> *takes* energy and if that energy is getting more and more scarce then >> you're in trouble. >> >> Which is why nuclear is so attractive. >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:310432 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
