Some things bear repeating – more than once – and one of those is the statement of the honored Jacques Yves-Cousteau who warned, “Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.”
There are many, in all locations, in all walks of life and with the best of intentions who are attempting to “clean up the mess.” A major problem is the lack of coordination of these efforts with the result that cross-purposes often wind up making matters worse instead of better.
So we have to “unpollute” both the air and our water supply while still providing those services to humanity that requires the consumption of energy. Not so easy – but not impossible.
Here are some scenarios that promise clean energy and air at greatly reduced cost:
Where falling water exists near salt water (oceans/seas) hydropower can be generated and used for desalination processes as well a normal export of electricity
Where a supply of natural gas is within reasonable distance of the salt water electricity can be generated with the gas and the waste heat recovered to run a desalination process.
Where falling water exists inland, away from salt water, hydropower can be used to provide cleaning services for contaminated “fresh” water that is not usable for drinking, washing or normal human functions.
Where geothermal energy is available and falling water is not, “geo” can be used for generation, desalination and decontamination: - wherever a heat source is needed.
And where are all these Hydro- and Geo- sources and are they available to be used?
Well, for starts there are 159 hydroelectric power plants in 34 states. 78% are using man-made dams to develop falling water, and not nature’s waterfalls.
In 16 continental states there are 85 waterfalls from 3 to 10 times higher than Niagara. (Hawaii has 41 more – big ones). Of course the volume of water passed for power generation is directly related to the width of the waterfall. We are studying this.
In Canada the roles are reversed. In 7 provinces there are 42 major waterfalls many times larger than Niagara. And while there are 55 hydroelectric power plants only 34% of them use man-made dams for falling water.
Message: there is potential on both sides of the border.
As to geothermal potentials, the search for geothermal fields is on – and proceeding with great success. California’s success is famous; it currently has over 2,500 Megawatts of installed capacity.
Idaho has installed its first plant, as has New Mexico. Nevada has 17 power plants with a total output of 318 MW. And in late 2008 Associated Press reported the discovery of a “massive geothermal field” in Utah which is being developed as we speak.
You must have noted by now that all of the geothermal activity is in the West. In areas that mostly don’t have falling water.
Soon we will go into much greater detail regarding the life-saving processes enabled by nature’s replaceable water and earth’s rather large supply of heat.
After all, America is a work in progress
Showing posts with label wind power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wind power. Show all posts
Friday, February 13, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
What is Really Green?
GREEN ENERGY is the byword in the energy field today and we all know that it refers to sources of energy that are “environmentally friendly” and “renewable” and “non-hazardous” and the like. Basically we’re speaking of energy forms that do not pollute the air or earth and do not contribute to “Global Warming.”
But there is another side to this fascinating coin: GREEN COLOR OF MONEY
Economics has played and will continue to play a large part in the eventual development of what we hope will be energy sanity. So let’s take a look.
Solar All the fossil fuels used in the entire country could be replaced by solar cells contained in an area 300 miles square (90,000). That would be little larger than the state of Minnesota; and a little impossible. But solar panels are useful for homes and one- or two-story shopping centers and marts.
Prices range from $4 to $6 per watt and panel wattages range anywhere from 40w to over 200w. Prices do not include delivery or installation Comparative savings depend on local electric rates.
Ethanol Derived from corn its development is highly subsidized- more than $4 billion in 2006; plus another $3 billion at the pump which resulted in many billions in windfall profits. No wonder the politicians are for it. But if you don’t like global warming you certainly won’t like ethanol. As one critic put it, “It ain’t green – only the cash is.” And it takes more fossil fuels to make than it replaces.
Wind – It would take wind farm size of Colorado to serve northern California – Certainly it is an inexhaustible source of clean energy and one would think free of cost. But each wind generator has low energy production therefore many units are needed to provide meaningful output of electricity, heat or water movement and maintenance cost is quite high.
Hydrogen – must be liquefied – expensive – more explosive (See” Hindenberg”) than gasoline. Not readily available and the $1.2 billion the Fed has spent since Pres. Bush’s initiative to develop hydrogen infrastructure is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount necessary to meet the Bush goal of fossil replacement by 2040. More on this fuel later.
Geothermal – excellent where found –good for major loads, not homes – As Earth Policy Institute puts it, “World Geothermal Power Generation Nearing Eruption.” The fact is that the heat energy hidden in the top six miles of the earth’s crust is thousands of times greater than the energy contained in all the oil and gas reserves on earth. Moreover A number of countries with a total population of over 750 million people have enough geothermal energy sitting under them to replace all their electric generation from fossil or any other fuels.
There will be considerably more on this subject soon. Suffice it to say that while there appears to be a lot of geothermal energy available it is not known at this time whether it is self-replacing or finite in the long run. (A run which could be a thousand years)
WATER – HYDRO – cheap and very available where permitted by government regulations. We have already discussed the advantages of hydro power as it exists in the U.S. and Canada. Here again look for more in-depth coverage in the near future.
But there is another side to this fascinating coin: GREEN COLOR OF MONEY
Economics has played and will continue to play a large part in the eventual development of what we hope will be energy sanity. So let’s take a look.
Solar All the fossil fuels used in the entire country could be replaced by solar cells contained in an area 300 miles square (90,000). That would be little larger than the state of Minnesota; and a little impossible. But solar panels are useful for homes and one- or two-story shopping centers and marts.
Prices range from $4 to $6 per watt and panel wattages range anywhere from 40w to over 200w. Prices do not include delivery or installation Comparative savings depend on local electric rates.
Ethanol Derived from corn its development is highly subsidized- more than $4 billion in 2006; plus another $3 billion at the pump which resulted in many billions in windfall profits. No wonder the politicians are for it. But if you don’t like global warming you certainly won’t like ethanol. As one critic put it, “It ain’t green – only the cash is.” And it takes more fossil fuels to make than it replaces.
Wind – It would take wind farm size of Colorado to serve northern California – Certainly it is an inexhaustible source of clean energy and one would think free of cost. But each wind generator has low energy production therefore many units are needed to provide meaningful output of electricity, heat or water movement and maintenance cost is quite high.
Hydrogen – must be liquefied – expensive – more explosive (See” Hindenberg”) than gasoline. Not readily available and the $1.2 billion the Fed has spent since Pres. Bush’s initiative to develop hydrogen infrastructure is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount necessary to meet the Bush goal of fossil replacement by 2040. More on this fuel later.
Geothermal – excellent where found –good for major loads, not homes – As Earth Policy Institute puts it, “World Geothermal Power Generation Nearing Eruption.” The fact is that the heat energy hidden in the top six miles of the earth’s crust is thousands of times greater than the energy contained in all the oil and gas reserves on earth. Moreover A number of countries with a total population of over 750 million people have enough geothermal energy sitting under them to replace all their electric generation from fossil or any other fuels.
There will be considerably more on this subject soon. Suffice it to say that while there appears to be a lot of geothermal energy available it is not known at this time whether it is self-replacing or finite in the long run. (A run which could be a thousand years)
WATER – HYDRO – cheap and very available where permitted by government regulations. We have already discussed the advantages of hydro power as it exists in the U.S. and Canada. Here again look for more in-depth coverage in the near future.
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