A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim.
…
Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth’s currents are slower than three knots.
The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.
As water flows past, the cylinder creates vortices, which push and pull the cylinder up and down. The mechanical energy in the vibrations is then converted into electricity.
Cylinders arranged over a cubic metre of the sea or river bed in a flow of three knots can produce 51 watts. This is more efficient than similar-sized turbines or wave generators, and the amount of power produced can increase sharply if the flow is faster or if more cylinders are added.
A "field" of cylinders built on the sea bed over a 1km by 1.5km area, and the height of a two-story house, with a flow of just three knots, could generate enough power for around 100,000 homes. Just a few of the cylinders, stacked in a short ladder, could power an anchored ship or a lighthouse.
just about every sea bed can be home to a generator
There is liability to this technology as all, this will slow the speed of water if it becomes too pervasive and that might have a warming affect or possibly a malignant affect on wild life so there are obviously environmental concerns with this technology as well
Everything new has to be monitored and charts created to discover if the benefits outweigh the liabilities
The point that I am making however is the fact that there is no new science with this "invention" it is simply applying known science and technology with a little more ingenuity.
Another example are electric cars, there is a common misconception;
Most people believe all cars have to have the same flexibility as "only" cars, as if everyone has "only" one car.
Very few families have just one car, most families needs are served by a vehicle doing less then 50 miles a day, on the rare occasion people need a car that travels further
An electric car can be an "around town car" or a "date" car or a "go to work or the station" car, these cars need only store an hour or so of electricity, when a person plans a bigger trip they can take their hybrid or their gas fired auto.
There are several ways to address refueling as well, instead of "recharging" a battery it could be a cartridge that is swapped out at the refueling center, the car’s computer combined with the refueling station’s computer can figure out how much charge is left in a battery and how much of the duty cycle is expended to compute the price of refueling any electric vehicle, the station computer will have to agree with the vehicle’s computer, there will be a tracking system on batteries to monitor fraud
That will take a mandate of standards from government and an investment in infrastructure
Therefore most travel energy can be taken off main peak energy expense even without new battery technology and a replacement battery that only stores a couple of hours worth of energy will not be as expensive as those being used in hybrid and electric cars right now
What Obama should be doing is NOT cutting jobs from federal programs, he should be investing in this type of infrastructure, thus creating new jobs with our investment and leaving product
Wr do not nrrf an investment scheme that is privatized through the banking system, there is ridiculous overhead giving profit to the very industry that cuased the probelm and we should not be paying that overhead.
We can be energy independent in less them 10 years and probably 5 if Obama has the will to make it so



1 Comment







this is an unusaly post, it disapeared for a while and now it’s back