Posted on 10/09/2009 8:42:42 AM PDT by kingattax
A Texas firm plans to use power generated by the Gulf of Mexico's waves to make its salty water drinkable.
Renew Blue Inc. says its project can address two global problems — climate change and scarce drinking water — by using clean energy to turn seawater to freshwater. The company has a lease from the state of Texas to place the facility in 25 feet of water about a mile off the coast from Freeport.
It will use 18 specially designed, wave-powered pumps to send water over a wheel that will turn a small electric turbine. Power from the turbine will light the platform and run a 3,000-gallon-per-day desalination plant, said Doug Sandberg, vice president of Renew Blue's parent company, Independent Natural Resources Inc.
The desalinated water will be stored in a 30,000-gallon tank on the platform and then transported to shore, where it will be put in bottles made from corn-based plastic and marketed under the Renew Blue brand.
The idea of generating electricity via ocean waves and currents has been around for several decades but is still in its early stages. Six percent of U.S. electricity came from hydroelectric dams in 2008, according to the Department of Energy.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
I hope the taxpayers aren’t subsidizing this failure in the making.
The Gulf of Mexico is flat as a lake in the summer.
How about tapping the power of Alfred Nobel as he sets a new RPM record in his grave.
The delivered cost per gallon of water out of this will be astronomical, but the green jobs grants will more than make up for it. This will be the paradigm for the “new economy”: Quadruple the price for deliverables but justfiy it on the grounds of carbon credits and subsidies granted. Ugh, ugh, ugh. They forgot the solar powered timeclock at the plant entrance.
And the next big hurricane, the plant will be destroyed so taxpayers can pay to rebuild it.
LOL
corn-based plastic ?
how about a lot of bovine-based excrement ?
Isn’t FEMA money all “free” money?
I ain’t drinking any water that comes from the GOM. Desalinization doesn’t take out Mississippi pollution that makes its way down here.
“Desalinization doesn’t take out Mississippi pollution that makes its way down here.”
Another good point. Though there’s probably some angle that will thereby make it eligible for a double subsidy.
“The idea of generating electricity via ocean waves and currents has been around for several decades but is still in its early stages. Six percent of U.S. electricity came from hydroelectric dams in 2008, according to the Department of Energy.”
The conflation of those two statements is really stretching it. The idea of generating electricity by “water turning wheels around” has been around for a solid century.
Each bottle will come with a complimentary tar ball. Kinda like a worm in a tequila bottle, doncha know.
The desalinated water will be stored in a 30,000-gallon tank on the platform and then transported to shore, where it will be put in bottles made from corn-based plastic and marketed under the Renew Blue brand.
It's creative and ingenious!!!
I wish I had thought of it!!!
ROFL
Elitist thinking, if it costs more the little people can't buy it, but we can. It's a club thing.
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