Posted on 08/03/2006 7:27:46 AM PDT by Uncledave
NEWCASTLE, England — There is more riding the waves here than surfers, thanks to a growing number of scientists, engineers and investors.
A group of entrepreneurs is harnessing the perpetual motion of the ocean and turning it into a commodity in high demand: energy. Right now, machines of various shapes and sizes are being tested off shores from the North Sea to the Pacific — one may even be coming to the East River in New York State this fall — to see how they capture waves and tides and create marine energy.
The industry is still in its infancy, but it is gaining attention, much because of the persistence of marine energy inventors, like Dean R. Corren, who have doggedly lugged their wave and tidal prototypes around the world, even during the years when money and interest dried up. Mr. Corren, trim and cerebral, is a scientist who has long advocated green energy and pushed through numerous conservation measures when he was chairman of the public energy utility for the city of Burlington, Vt.
Another believer in the technology is Max Carcas, head of business development for Ocean Power Delivery of Edinburgh. “In the long run, this could become one of the most competitive sources of energy,” said Mr. Carcas.
His company manufactures the Pelamis, a snakelike wave energy machine the size of a passenger train, which generates energy by absorbing waves as they undulate on the ocean surface.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
... Salmon.
As an avid fisherman, I have found it difficult to support fishing groups because they get taken over by idiotic environMENTALists who can't understand the balance between their personal desire for great fishing, and the need for water, power, and recreation for boaters and lake fishers.
There are people who claim that salmon used to spawn up beyond Auburn in the North Fork of the American...that may be true, but given there is a hatchery at Nimbus that produces much higher yields than a river would, I fail to see the issue.
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