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Giant Snake-Shaped Generators Could Capture Wave Power
Roland Piquepaille writes "UK researchers have developed a prototype of a future giant rubber tube which could catch energy from sea waves. The device, dubbed Anaconda, uses 'long sea waves to excite bulge waves which travel along the wall of a submersed rubber tube. These are then converted into flows of water passing through a turbine to generate electricity.' So far, the experiments have been done with tubes with diameters of 0.25 and 0.5 meters. But if the experiments are successful, future full-scale Anaconda devices would be 200 meters long and 7 meters in diameter, and deployed in water depths of between 40 and 100 meters. An Anaconda would deliver an output power of 1MW (enough to power 2,000 houses). These devices would be deployed in groups of 20 or even more providing cheap electricity without harming our environment."
I really don't know whether to laugh or to cry at your post. But while we're in imaginationland where we can put everyone into Texas and solve all the worlds problems, well...I'd like a pony gosh-darn-it.
Interesting/Informative my hairy ass. Shit, why didn't you throw in the fact that there's enough iron and nickel plus "trace" elements in the Earth's core to solve all our metallurgical resource problems as well? If only we could put all those happy Indian people to work digging to the center with spoons... Maybe 'cause, like the rest of your post, it's only useful if we have half a chance of ever making such a scheme work, and I don't see one proposal in your post that doesn't smack of "if wishes were horses".
Free trade? "Well placed bullets"? Grow up.