Posted on 04/24/2006 1:48:35 PM PDT by mission9
Now that oil is 75 dollars a barrel, and it costs fifty bucks to fuel the SUV, what about tapping the gulf stream for inexhaustable power? This nation's energy needs are growing, and national security demands that we free the electricity producers from the oil economy. Florida has ALL the free new energy it needs in the form of the Gulf Stream. This moving current of water is one thousand feet deep, twenty miles wide and three miles off Broward County. A moving current of water is 832 times more energy dense than wind. There is many times more energy in the Gulf Stream than there is found Colorado River when harvested by the Hoover Dam. Additional research is not needed; pilot programs have been tested and are viable. The state should establish a contract for an offshore energy development area then lease the zones at favorable rates. The income from the leases and electricity will help balance the national debt. The harvesting of tropical ocean heat could potentially help to reduce global warming and the intensity of hurricanes. Check out the link.
It might aggravate some fishies, we can't have that.
Fish are Friends, remember.
I expect the same will be true here. Salt water isn't the lowest maintenance environment around.
Could'nt we just put the same generators in the Mississippi to test them? On second thought, it's GA tech, put the generators in slow spots on the Chatahootchee (sp?). The weight of the floating students will only generate extra power.
Agreed...TANSTAAFL....tapping the GS in any appreciable amount would probably affect many other aspects (as in what would the West-East airliners do then?) Spend all of their time dodging the tapping apparatii? Or, worse yet, the 'tapping apparatii' causes a decrease in West-East wind flow at ground level. That would mean the next big Nino, Nano, Nono (whatever is now fashionable) sea circle jerk would stay on the west coast obliterating LA, SF and Seattle...wait a minute....where IS the down side in this?????
Actually, if you succeeded, you would cause even worse hurricanes and the next ice age. Good luck with that.
even eels need electricity.
I always thought the contrails were mind control
Good thinking, I can look for funding from al qiada.
We could make geothermal taps that would cool down Yellowstone's supervolcano.
Suggesting that advocates for pipe dream technologies actually base their dreams on reality is a positive thing. All costs are oppertunity costs. Somebody should have smaked down the fanboy who thought nuke power would be that cheap years ago.
The cost of building white elephants is the project that was not funded in it's stead. Generating power out of slow flowing streams of water (like the gulf stream and the slow sections of rivers) is unlikely to recoup the energy budget of building the project (it has been tried). Preventing these wastes of taxpayer money IS a positive thing (not that posts on FR will have any affect).
I did'nt see myself decry any forces. (Engineers decry forces? Must have missed that class. Does a decried force still act?) I do decry the 'wide open' minded fanboyism for anything that sounds different.
I actually broached the Yellowstone geothermal idea with my Senator, Mel Martinez, at a "hispanic day' celebration at the Univeristy of South Florida one year ago, in front of two hundred other college educated attendees. I spoke to Roy Blunt, House Whip personally. Action? none. Look, I am just one man, I need the power of Freepers to hold the so-called leaders accountable. Good independent thinking, now let us coordinate an implementation.
"That's the problem--projects like Hoover Dam are nearly impossible to initiate these days."
We have seveal groups out West here that actively lobby to have all of the hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake River watersheds removed or breached.
Now.
It's not only impossible to build a Hoover Dam today, it's getting dammed difficult to hold onto the one we already have...
So I suppose the working prototype is a pipe dream to you. I am not the project engineer nor do I pretend to be, however, I can evaluate the relative merits of technology proposals. We are not re-inventing the wheel here. Actually, this project is less complicated than the Hoover Dam, or an ocean liner. What are you waiting for? TAKOMAK fusion?
They are putting unreliable power into the grid which must still be backed up with expensive power plants to cover the times when the wind doesn't blow. Windfarms are another feelgood environmentally correct (unless Teddy Kennedy can see them from his front porch) form of energy. They might actually contribute if they can find more efficient batteries to store excess energy.
I've seen hundreds of commercial windmills trucked in pieces through our area, and they are pretty impressive devices. The generator housing alone, no mast, and no blades or hub, weighs 160,000 lbs, and requires a special truck with more wheels on it than a Hot Wheels collection, to move it.
Yes, they cannot generate anything when the wind isn't blowing. But the guys who design the wind farms are pretty smart, and they've found the passes in the Washington Cascades (and elsewhere) where the winds blow most of the time, and are putting power on the grid.
I think that anything we can come up with to generate clean electricity is worth a look, and this Gulf Stream generator project looks pretty promising. I hope it's worthwhile to some Company to make these units, and get them up and running.
The "wind" never stops "blowing" in the Gulf Stream...
The scary thing about the jokes on this thread is that they are so darn close to reality.
Energy generation is messy, in ALL its forms. "Clean" energy is a myth, and windmill birdstrikes and solar panel clutter have proven. Conservation is only a stalling tactic and energy is what drives modern economic growth, lifestyle and opportunity.
I say, protect the environment as much as possible and feasible, but lets move ahead toward energy independence, using the latest proven technologies, and let the market dictate innovation. Too many enviros what us barefoot on the grass and aren't serious about real solutions.
Thanks for the info on Pacific ethanol. That interests me. Do you know how they will make it? Probably not corn in CA>
Note that the speed is omitted, and this is very low, less than 2 m/sec. That's a "velocity head" of 1/2 v^2 = 2 joules/kg, so it's analogous to having a monstrous lake behind a dam 0.2 meters high, giving a "gravity head" of 0.2 m * 10 m/sec2 = 2 j/kg.
This is the original meaning of "head", btw, from the days of water power. It signifies the height of the "stream head" above a water mill. A "head of steam" derives from the "pressure head" equivalent to a certain "gravity head".
Anyway, 8 inches isn't much of a "head", even if the source is unlimited in capacity. And note the imaginary lake would be much more workable than the actual Gulf Stream since there would be a well-defined interface where you could build your monstrous, insanely slow-moving turbines.
Those of you who want to bash Bush are dealing with probably the most knowledgeable politician in this area. He led Texas through successful deregulation and there is more going on in the US than any of you recognize.
Take a look at the California ethanol link above. See when the co was formed, 2003 and remember how opposed CA and NY were to ethanol. Then credit the tooth fairy for the 5 m flex cars already on the road and continue to bash Bush. Just be grateful he doesn't bash back.
I have a neighbor who used to work for FPL. She saw the plans for windmills off the coast of FL years ago. As the engineer above indicated. Research has been going on for 30 years and lots has been learned. Jim Woolsey was quoted recently as saying the Wright brothers have flown. Why not sit back and enjoy the ride? You are not going anywhere, anyhow, to hear tell, as you don't have the money for a tank of gas.
What the customer pays and what it costs the company are two different things. But, there needs to be an investment up front to get the machinery installed, and that would eat a lot of $$$$ before there is anything to start selling. Still, it might be possible to get a DOE grant to build a pilot plant. That would be worth something.
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