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Concerns emerge about environmental effects of wave-energy technology
Seattle Times ^ | 11/17/2008 | Michelle MA

Posted on 11/17/2008 10:09:08 AM PST by sionnsar

...

Tapping the power of waves and tidal currents to generate electricity is promoted as one of many promising alternatives to the fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

But no one knows exactly how the technologies will behave in the water, whether animals will get hurt, or if costs will pencil out. The permitting process is expensive and cumbersome, and no set method exists for getting projects up and running.

...

A new report that collected findings from dozens of scientists raises concerns about the impact wave-energy developments could have on the ocean and its critters. Wave-energy buoys could alter the food chain or disrupt migrations, the report says.

...

Concerns linger

The environmental effects of wave and tidal energy are largely unknown and require more studies, dozens of scientists concluded after meeting a year ago at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore.

The group was concerned that electromagnetic cables on the ocean floor could affect sea life, and that buoys could interfere with whale and fish migration.

Large buoys might actually attract more fish, but the marine ecosystem could be altered if more predators move in. Buoys also could disrupt natural currents and change how sediment is moved. Shorelines might be affected as energy is taken from the waves.

Even if environmental concerns are checked, costs to extract the power remain high. Wave energy costs at least 20 cents per kilowatt hour to generate, compared with 4 cents per kilowatt hour for wind power, said Annette von Jouanne, leader of OSU's wave-energy program. Wind energy used to be much more expensive 20 years ago.

In comparison, coal-generated power costs about 5 cents per kilowatt hour, and power from dams can be as low as 3 cents ...

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: coastalenvironment; energy; environment; globalwarming; waveenergy; wavepower
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1 posted on 11/17/2008 10:09:09 AM PST by sionnsar
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To: sionnsar

LOL.

The real agenda of all these “it’s bad” environmentalist is to detroy the West’s economic capacity.

It’s transparent when you look at it.


2 posted on 11/17/2008 10:10:42 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Beware of Obama's Reichstag Fire; Don't permit him to seize emergency powers.)
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To: sionnsar

One batch of watermelons hating on another.


3 posted on 11/17/2008 10:11:28 AM PST by Travis T. OJustice (Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.)
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To: sionnsar

I need to trim my toenails tonight.

But I’m wringing my hands and paralyzed with anxiety over the potentially dire impact on Mother Gaia.


4 posted on 11/17/2008 10:14:40 AM PST by EyeGuy (Obama will deliver America on a Leash to an envious world.)
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To: sionnsar
The leftist idiots won't be happy until we're sitting naked in the dark. No electricity. No cars. No food. I'm reminded of a comment from a friend..."God puts limits on our intelligence, but none on our stupidity".
5 posted on 11/17/2008 10:15:37 AM PST by Myrddin
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To: sionnsar

I suggest we just wait until the lights and heat goes out in the various state houses, governor’s mansions, capitol hill and 1600 Penn Ave. At that point, there will be no barrier to producing all the energy we need. It will take a little while to ramp back up, however.


6 posted on 11/17/2008 10:18:21 AM PST by RobinOfKingston (Democrats, the party of evil. Republicans, the party of stupid.)
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To: sionnsar

I actually thought this technology had some potential, unlike most of the others.


7 posted on 11/17/2008 10:18:24 AM PST by Hardastarboard (America is so "twenty minutes ago")
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To: sionnsar

More bait and switch from the environmental movement.

There really are clean alternatives to fossil fuels— see here— oh wait, you are actually going to use this energy— no its dangerous. must keep looking and never finding. That is the key to collapsing the economy.


8 posted on 11/17/2008 10:18:28 AM PST by lonestar67 (Its time to withdraw from the War on Bush-- your side is hopelessly lost in a quagmire.)
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To: sionnsar

Wind power kills birds, solar power can cook animals, dam power kills fish, fossil fuels kills everyone, nuclear power is evil for some reason. The left isn’t happy with any type of power source we can generate.


9 posted on 11/17/2008 10:19:26 AM PST by LukeL (Yasser Arafat: "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize")
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To: sionnsar
They should study the effect of mass wind farms on weather and climate around the areas that they harvest the energy from.

Nuclear ... the only truly clean, zero impact energy. Just seal the wastes in leaded glass and place on the ocean floor.

10 posted on 11/17/2008 10:20:19 AM PST by Centurion2000 (To protect and defend ... against all enemies, foreign and domestic .... by any means necessary.)
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To: sionnsar
But no one knows exactly how the technologies will behave in the water

So you try, improve, and keep going until they do...

whether animals will get hurt

Silly little Eco-freak, of course they will. I just pray to God it's not cute little seals dumb enough to get hurt, as that will make the job harder, but still, you morons seem to get public empathy for pond alge.

or if costs will pencil out.

See the first sentence. At one time, before they worked out the kinks, computers cost millions of dollars, and there were five in the world. People who believe cheap solutions will be found will be the ones to find them, not negative-Nancy No-no-noing ninny naturalists who find no problem aborting human beings for convenience, but who don't want you to touch a hair on the head of a rabid sewer rat because "it's unkind!"

In comparison, coal-generated power costs about 5 cents per kilowatt hour, and power from dams can be as low as 3 cents ...

Listen, lib...You don't want us to build coal plants, and you sure as hell don't want us to build new damns, but you scream that they are alternatives to the next big wave of non-polluting energy? What kind of idiots do you take us for?

I suggest that the best way to treat this kind of Luddite is to do the obvious. We confiscate every kind of labor-saving or electronic device from the people who don't want new engery sources, and make them slave labor for the Amish.

11 posted on 11/17/2008 10:39:55 AM PST by 50sDad (OBAMA: In your heart you know he's Wright.)
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To: sionnsar
But no one knows exactly how the technologies will behave in the water

So you try, improve, and keep going until they do...

whether animals will get hurt

Silly little Eco-freak, of course they will. I just pray to God it's not cute little seals dumb enough to get hurt, as that will make the job harder, but still, you morons seem to get public empathy for pond alge.

or if costs will pencil out.

See the first sentence. At one time, before they worked out the kinks, computers cost millions of dollars, and there were five in the world. People who believe cheap solutions will be found will be the ones to find them, not negative-Nancy No-no-noing ninny naturalists who find no problem aborting human beings for convenience, but who don't want you to touch a hair on the head of a rabid sewer rat because "it's unkind!"

In comparison, coal-generated power costs about 5 cents per kilowatt hour, and power from dams can be as low as 3 cents ...

Listen, lib...You don't want us to build coal plants, and you sure as hell don't want us to build new damns, but you scream that they are alternatives to the next big wave of non-polluting energy? What kind of idiots do you take us for?

I suggest that the best way to treat this kind of Luddite is to do the obvious. We confiscate every kind of labor-saving or electronic device from the people who don't want new engery sources, and make them slave labor for the Amish.

12 posted on 11/17/2008 10:39:56 AM PST by 50sDad (OBAMA: In your heart you know he's Wright.)
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To: Myrddin
The leftist idiots won't be happy until we're sitting naked in the dark. No electricity. No cars. No food.

You don't quite get it...the leftist idiots won't be happy until you're sitting naked in the dark with no electricity, no cars, and no food. The Evil Republicans want to enslave and destroy Mother Gaia. Once they're taken out of the equation, existing power will be plenty to provide computer, cell and HD service to the sensitive Liberals.

It's like Orwell said...some are more equal than others.

13 posted on 11/17/2008 10:43:07 AM PST by 50sDad (OBAMA: In your heart you know he's Wright.)
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To: 50sDad

Have I discovered a “double post” button on my keyboard?


14 posted on 11/17/2008 10:43:54 AM PST by 50sDad (OBAMA: In your heart you know he's Wright.)
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To: sionnsar

Who cares if it costs three times as much and doesn’t work!

It doesn’t emit CO2, so it becomes loveable and fuzzy!


15 posted on 11/17/2008 10:53:23 AM PST by aShepard
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To: sionnsar

This newspaper will soon go in the toilet like other ones are going.


16 posted on 11/17/2008 10:55:06 AM PST by taxesareforever (Quick justice for the senseless killing of Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield.)
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To: sionnsar; Delacon; According2RecentPollsAirIsGood; TenthAmendmentChampion; calcowgirl; Horusra; ...
 




Beam me to Planet Gore !

17 posted on 11/17/2008 1:29:41 PM PST by steelyourfaith
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To: Myrddin

Every leftist idiot thinks that HE will be one of the elites sitting in the comfort that they will deny everyone else.


18 posted on 11/17/2008 1:31:57 PM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: LukeL
dam power kills fish

have you actually seen this argument? because it's really not true - the outlet to the turbines is so deep that no fish can live down there.

They do bitch about dams, though, because they change the "natural" flow of the river.

19 posted on 11/17/2008 1:34:18 PM PST by MrB (The 0bamanation: Marxism, Infanticide, Appeasement, Depression, Thuggery, and Censorship)
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To: Myrddin
I'm reminded of a comment from a friend..."God puts limits on our intelligence, but none on our stupidity".

Your friend is mistaken:

Genesis 11:6

The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

20 posted on 11/17/2008 1:37:57 PM PST by Red Badger (Never has a man risen so far, so fast and is expected to do so much, for so many, with so little...)
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