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Post by Magnet Man on Mar 17, 2006 18:53:27 GMT -5
 If there is one single commodity whose absence can stop a civilization dead in its tracks and put it out of business - literally overnight - it is energy (famine, plagues and war take much longer.) When the lights go off, the refrigeration no longer works and the water pumps stop pumping, the game is over. Within one week a city like New York would fi nd itself starving, its streets stinking with rotten food and sewage. A week later, infectious epidemics will begin setting in and the emergency generators in the hospitals will be running out of gas. In less than a month the city will have to be abandoned. Everybody still strong enough to walk, or with some gas left in his or her tanks, will be long gone.  |
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Post by Tourniquet on Jun 15, 2006 23:58:38 GMT -5
Energy, yes. I heard about wave energy projects and experiments going on somewhere off the coast of California... But on a small scale if I recall. Not near the magnitude that is so necessary at this stage of the game. Wave energy seems so right to me. (Or is it called tidal energy... is there a difference?) Maybe I'm wrong but isn't this is the form of alternate energy that is the most reliable? As opposed to wind or solar, both of which seem to me as being kind of erratic, wind more so then solar.  But there will always be a tide. You can set your watch by it. Such massive amounts of energy washing onto our shores, it seems obvious to harness it. I can only imagine the potential. I guess I can only imagine the bill too... but I don't think we can afford to think in those terms anymore. |
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soulatom
Apprentice
P-G Angel ~ R.I.P.
Posts: 87
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Post by soulatom on Aug 23, 2006 18:43:29 GMT -5
Hey Guys, found this article in a local mag thought you might like it. Someone should take those pix of the wave energy and tidal machines and blow up the smaller inset pix so you can read the text and understand better how the two systems work. From what I gather Tourniquet, as to your question, one uses the up and down motion of the wave to drive pistons which then go through the process to convert to energy, while the tidal pods use the tidal movement to funnel the water through a venturi system utilizing turbines. Maybe MM could come on and explain these ideas better.   |
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piper
Apprentice
Posts: 84
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Post by piper on Sept 26, 2006 12:35:05 GMT -5
Hi, I was just watching the news on TV and saw that San Francisco is going ahead and making plans for a tidal energy system using turbines under the Golden Gate bridge. The bad news was that the scientsist also came on and said that there was no way we would be able to stop the warming of the planet by 2 degrees by 2050...... we have some big challenges ahead of us!
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