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

To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (5735)	1/2/2009 6:47:37 PM
From: Gary Mohilner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16955

Ashley, The way I believe you could construct an upwelling device would have something like a 15 foot section of pipe, preferably copper nickel, but possibly PVC suspended a few feet below the surface by a floating platform. I believe that beneath it a very flexible hose, essentially similar to what's used on a clothes dryer could be attached, perhaps with a small section of a more rigid hose in between. Air would be pumped down to the bottom of the solid pipe through something which would create small bubbles. If nutrient levels were greater deeper, I see no reason not to go deeper, the difference in the density of the water would be so slight that there would be little pressure between the inside and outside of the hose. I tend to think a fair amount of nutrient can be moved with something that's say 8" to 10" in diameter. The platform could either drift, anchor, or be self propelled and designed to slowly maneuver using power from solar and wind power. It would be extremely slow, especially with the hose fully extended, but mobility would permit it to cover a greater area then if stationary. A fractional horsepower compressor would be all that's needed to produce the air needed to move the water. As I said in an earlier post, the floating platform could be instrumented to provide all sorts of data, and it would need to have things like strobe lights, horn, radar reflector, etc to not be hit by ships, boats, etc. I don't believe it would have to be very large to support the needed solar panels and wind turbine, but it would probably need to be somewhere in the range of 25 feet long if it were to be designed to maneuver, and perhaps 10 to 15 feet in diameter if stationary. The key would be building it solid enough to stand up to the worst sea conditions, and reliable enough that maintainance would be very infrequent. It sounds like you may have built something similar, I'm certainly open to your thoughts on this matter. Gary