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Tidal Power a Reality
updog writes "Here's an interesting story about a city in Norway using an underwater
turbine to generate electricity. It doesn't produce much power (300kW) but maybe it'll pave the way for these types of power plants. Maybe one under the Golden Gate someday??"
Another reason to move our other 2 moons nearer--more tides, more electricity!
Then profit!
Cover your eyes and click this link!
Please not to disturb great sleeping Cthulhu, I like human race to exist!
graspee
Great, so now I don't just look like a troll, I look like an uneducated troll....
Oh sure...all those ships running into the turbines will give it extra spin. Free power, hoozah!
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
I still wonder why we don't stick a bunch of generators in waterfall streams. The force of a water fall is much more than a normal incoming tide.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
minatures in toilets!
Everyone knows that coal and dams are the only way to go. All the green enegy sources are junk science. Because I sit around all day programming a computer I know everything about anything and I know this wont work.
Great! Admiral Kirk and crew grab two whales (and baby) to save the planet, they release them .. and the whales get chewed to sushi by the turbines. Probe shakes planet to bits shouting "Hello whales, wakey-wakey!" Ferengi sell souvenir Earth rocks. Profit!
But seriously, there's a lot of power in tides. Nice to see someone actually trying it out.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
but wouldn't the turbine harm aquatic life, and how would the turbines disrupt normal sediment flow?
Harm? don't think about that, just think how much extra energy is generated when fishies slam into the fan blades that drive the turbine.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
Tidal harness: increases energy production of this square by +2. Built by sea formers (*-1-4), 8 turns.
The thermal borehole is the one I'd really like to see in action, though. 6 energy and 6 minerals is a lot, and could really cut down on our dependency on oil.
Err, yeah...
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
1. Build tidal power plants, sapping angular momentum from the earth.
2. Days lengthen.
3. Everyone has to work 15 hour shifts (8 in France)
4. ???
5. Profit!
Scandinavia will get a rather cold climate.
Err, dude, if you think scandanavia's not cold, I dont want to know where you live!
and place mini turbines in all the toilets of the world and let the coriolus effect do the work for us? Energy flushes. Just think, in Australia they'd have the poles reversed!
Yes, I always knew Tide is the most powerful.
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So, tidal power is really just harnessing the moon's gravitational pull on the oceans.
But, doesn't conservation of energy suggest that "we can't get something for nothing"?
By taking power away from the moon's orbit, aren't we just accelerating the decay of that orbit?
Sure, we've got the power now, but what good will it be when the moon comes crashing down to KILL US ALL!
*runs and hides*
Oh no!
They are taking power from the tides? The tides are generated from the gravitational pull of the moon. Taking power from it reduces the orbit of the moon, inevitably making it crash into the earth. Doom Doom Panic Panic.
I wonder how many exawatt-years that would be until it gets that far though...
--- Hindsight is 20/20, but walking backwards is not the answer.
Lets do what the AI machines were doing in The Matrix. Since most people here love the movie so much, we'll start with them.
Think about it though. If we don't really "grow" humans (contrary to what was in the movie) for power consumption and just what we have, then the rate of power consumption will be declining with the more people we burn. After a while we can actually start closing plants. Once we get to more stable point, like pre-1900s population, polution will surely be low enough to appease the envionrmental loonies. Maybe by that time, it will be socially acceptable to have doube the number of kids so that half can be used for power generation.
Nobody is ever happy with power generation. No matter what you pick, there are always critcs:
--Coal/Oil/Natural Gas: Air pollution
--Nuclear: Nuclear waste
--Hydroelectric: Rivers need to be dammed
--Geothermal: Releases lots of sulfer and arsnic
--Solar: Not cost effective
--Wind turbines: Kills birds
--Tidal: We'll think of something
They'll probably setup a special tax for the construction of this thing.
They'll probably call this the "Slatibartfast tax".