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Old 11-06-2002, 02:11 PM   #1
ftropea
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA.
Posts: 1,778
5 yr Member
Default Arctic town trying offbeat tidal energy

Cool article on CNN about a town getting their electricity generated from tidal energy:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science...eut/index.html

I know the concept isn't new. I've been hearing about it for years. But, the article says...

"We will be the first in the world to use tidal currents to generate electricity to be fed into the local grid," Harald Johansen, managing director of Hammerfest Stroem, told Reuters.

So that's what impressed me. I'm glad to see this finally being applied in the real world. Although, they aren't generating that much electricity...

The Norwegian sub sea turbine will have a tiny capacity of 300 killowatts and is due to expand to 20 mills from 2004, giving enough power for perhaps 1,000 homes.

However, I think the concept of utilizing appropriate alternative technologies in the appropriate environments is a solid one. For example, solar and wind energy is not an option for this town...

In Kvalsund, the water flows at about 8.2 feet per second apart from a pause at high and low tides. By contrast, windmills are useless in calm weather and have to be built to withstand hurricane force winds.

Solar power is a non-starter in winter in Hammerfest where the sun sets for about two months in mid-winter. The town was the first in Europe to get street lighting almost 100 years ago.



So solar panels in the deserts.. tidal generators along your shores.. turbines in your windy cities... stirling engines everywhere else?

Still dreaming...

Oh, and one last thing. One thing that has always impressed me about the world we live in is the amount of potential and kinetic energy stored all over the place. The Earth in motion, for example, is a fantastically huge ball of energy. The magnetic fluxes.. the gravity interactions with the moon and sun... just incredible amounts of energy. If we could just harness a tiny little bit of it Without throwing our planet out of orbit of course!



Regards,

Frank A. Tropea
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