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

To: gg cox who wrote (3369)	11/6/2006 1:24:55 AM
From: AuBug	Respond to of 16955

James Lovelock, The Revenge of Gaia: Page 14: "The extravagant and intrusive building of onshore wind farms should cease immediately and the funds released be used for practical renewable energy schemes such as the Severn Estuary tidal barrage..." Page 82: "We still have much to learn about using wind power, and most of all about storing the energy it produces when the wind blows...But when we can store the wind energy, all could be well. There is no reason in principle why we can't; there is, for example, in Wales a high reservoir built in the 1950s into which water is pumped using electricity when it is in surplus, such as in the middle of the night...At present none of them is immediately available on the scale that is needed. ... But in no way is it efficient and economic; the intermittency of the wind means that, at best, energy is available from wind turbines only 25% of the time. During the remaining 75%, electricity has to be made in standby fossil fuel power stations; worse still, the power stations have to be kept idling when wind energy is available, an inefficient way for them to operate. The most recent report from Germany put wind energy available only 16% of the time..." I wonder if his mind would change if he knew about the VRB storage system? Strange thing about this book is that he does not mention geothermal energy even once that I can see. There's enormous potential for geothermal energy, especially hot dry rock technology. He's obsessed with nuclear energy.

To: gg cox who wrote (3369)	11/9/2006 9:40:35 PM
From: thaidiamond	Respond to of 16955

Thanks gg...a frustrating read. You would think that Richard Blackwell's research skills in developing his wind story for the "Globe and Mail" would have come up at least the concept of creating an 'inventory' of wind's power. It's frustrating to note the number of times I've read about wind's intermittent shortcomings and the potential of "storing" its generated power to better balance supply and demand is rarely even considered - let alone mentioned as a future possibility. Whenever I can find the author's e-mail, I write to them and bring the developments in electrical storage -- and VRB in particular -- to their attention. Sometimes that efforts bears fruit. A letter to RenewableEnergyAccess.com (http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/home) brought about an interview with VRB's Tim Hennessy which will be podcast on their weekly "podcast" show sometime during the weekend of Nov. 11 - 12. Education will be one of the most important tactical elements that will be needed in a marketing campaign if there is ever to be a successful commercialization of VRB's technology. Unfortunately that usually takes time. Patience grasshoppers.

To: gg cox who wrote (3369)	11/9/2006 9:48:31 PM
From: thaidiamond	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16955

Thanks gg...a frustrating read. You would think that Richard Blackwell's research skills in developing his wind story for the "Globe and Mail" would have come up at least the concept of creating an 'inventory' of wind's power. It's frustrating to note the number of times I've read about wind's intermittent shortcomings and the potential of "storing" its generated power to better balance supply and demand is rarely even considered - let alone mentioned as a future possibility. Whenever I can find the author's e-mail, I write to them and bring the developments in electrical storage -- and VRB in particular -- to their attention. Sometimes that efforts bears fruit. A letter to RenewableEnergyAccess.com (http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/home) brought about an interview with VRB's Tim Hennessy which will be podcast on their weekly "podcast" show sometime during the weekend of Nov. 11 - 12. Education will be one of the most important tactical elements that will be needed in a marketing campaign if there is ever to be a successful commercialization of VRB's technology. Unfortunately that usually takes time. Patience grasshoppers.