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Non-Tech : Alternative energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gg cox who wrote (2325)	10/27/2005 1:12:44 PM
From: Rock_nj	Respond to of 16955

Interesting. I hope they find that it works. I don't see why it wouldn't work as expected. It is important in this cases to prove that a concept can actually work. There are plenty of naysayers and the like. Prove it can work, and you're likely to see a lot more of these types of plants constructed. Imagine the City of San Francisco gaining all of it's electricity from the tides that have passed through the bay for eons. That would be a remarkable step forward. Someone already built a tidal plant somewhere in Europe I believe and there are ones in development in Asia and one in New York's East River that has been in development for a few years now. Tidal Flow To Power New York City In the third stage of a project which started in January 2003, Verdant Power, a small energy company, will install six electricity turbines into New York's East River. These turbines will only deliver 200 kilowatts of power. This will be the world's first farm of tide-powered turbines, according to Nature. And the company already plans to populate the tidal basin with several other hundred turbine units in the years to come, with a goal of 5 to 10 installed megawatts within three years. The next step will be to install other farms in the US and in developing countries. The company plans to be present in ten sites by 2007. However, it will still be a very small company in the energy business, with a projected revenue of $37 million in 2007. Here are some details from the Nature story. Verdant Power, an energy company based in Arlington, Virginia, plans to plunge six electricity turbines into the East River. If the $4.5-million project is successful, the generators will form the first farm of tide-powered turbines in the world. The plan is to attach the machines, which look like small wind turbines, to concrete piles hammered into the bedrock nine metres below the river's surface. As the tide surges in and out, the heads pivot to face the current and the blades spin. The project is a modest one in electricity terms: the suite of turbines will generate just 200 kilowatts of power at their peak, enough to power perhaps 200 houses. Initially, the energy will be used to run some lights and machinery in a local supermarket and parking garage, avoiding the expense of transmission cables. But if everything goes according to plan, company president Trey Taylor says he hopes to grow the field to 200-300 turbines stretched along the river. The UN headquarters in Manhattan is among those who have expressed interest in tapping into the environmentally friendly energy that would be produced by the project, he says. radio.weblogs.com