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There was discussion on Flywheels to smooth out energy generation daily fluctuations. The concept of tidal power incorporates a naturally occurring tidal flow and uses the ocean as sort of a flywheel. However it is AC alternating water current transformed into electricity.
www.bluenergy.com/Tidalpower.htm
www.bluenergy.com/Tidalpower.htm
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Re: Tidal power
Tue, November 3, 2009 - 3:36 AMInteresting (and fitting) re-use of the term AC. I like it.
There really is very little reason why we couldn't trap some water in a reservoir at high tide, then release it at low tide through a turbine. The biggest problem I can think of is corrosion.
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Re: Tidal power
Wed, November 4, 2009 - 6:29 PMTidal power is an awesome idea. Oceans have a lot of energy, which is an understatement... Pressure (at depths), Currents, TIdes, Waves. The first ideas will be crude and could very well add to the destruction of already endangered fish populations, unfortunately, and that's the downside. What's cool to me is that they don't ruin the skyline and geography.
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Re: Tidal power
Wed, November 4, 2009 - 6:45 PMTidal power is old, old news folks. They have even built "windmills" (wheat grinder) in the past to use tidal power.
The first problem is that there are very few useful sites.
The second problem is that the sea has enormous power and it is kind of tricky and very expensive to build something that will deliver economic power.
AFAIK, it has been tried in all forms, estuary, rivers, under sea current, etc. All of them have subcumbed to either the sea or economics. -
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Re: Tidal power
Thu, November 5, 2009 - 3:23 AMI heard rumours a few years ago about a project to put turbines in the bottom of the Hudson and East rivers around Manhattan (which are both tidal AND run of river), but I don't know if anything ever came of it.
The Hudson River is actually a fjord, and the tide rises and falls on it as far north as Albany (about 140 miles / 220 km). In some extreme cases, you can find salt-water fish in it this far north. I know . . . I caught a small Shad from this river as a teenager. -
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Re: Tidal power
Thu, November 5, 2009 - 8:12 AMI think that well designed Tidal power generation is no more environmentally intrusive than an off shore oil rig. The difference is that oil extraction is resource depleting and tidal power is not. In British Columbia there are plenty of inlets and channels to install tidal power but still the local government promotes small hydro electric generation via damming the rivers and does not support the tidal concept.
www.sierraclub.bc.ca/local-g...old-rush -
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Re: Tidal power
Fri, November 6, 2009 - 4:48 PMxailman - Local government is slow to hop onto new technologies, just the way it is, if you can show them a working model they might sway a little, in time, and then if it tests out, and you can show them money in their pockets (budgets) they'll be happy to invite the technology.
Were you responding to me about the intrusiveness of Tidal power, or someone else? -
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Re: Tidal power
Fri, November 6, 2009 - 6:18 PMA few years ago, I remember reading that there was a plan afoot to to harness tidal energy in San Francisco Bay. Has it happened yet, or is that project still vaporware?
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Re: Tidal power
Fri, November 6, 2009 - 8:48 PMQuote from the topic link in the first post:
JFK's 'Tidal Energy Dream'
One month prior to his assassination, JFK committed the United States to a spectacular, sustainable vision of ocean energy. Now is the time to fulfill JFK’s vision.
“Man only needs to exercise his engineering ingenuity to convert the ocean’s surge into a national asset. … I think this (Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project) can be one of the most astonishing and beneficial enterprises undertaken by the people of the United States. … I understand that, measured by the customary feasibility standards, the Passamaquoddy-St. John’s River project now meets that test.”
- President John F. Kennedy as read into Congressional Record, by Hon. Thomas J. Dodd; concerning the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project; as reported in Congressional Record – Appendix; October 22, 1963; pp 6580-6581
[Proceedings and Debates of the 88th Congress, First Session]
“It is clear from this recent report (by International Passamoaquoddy Engineering Board) that to tap this fantastic flow of 70 billion cubic feet of water each day would be a tremendous spur to the economic growth of Maine, and New England, and the entire United States. … If we have leaders who are willing to look ahead – who are willing to spend money now in order to reap vast returns in the future – then we can look forward to a new supply of 550,000 kilowatts – to some 1 million tourists a year coming to view one of the most spectacular products of modern technology – to the attraction of innumerable new industries with growing power needs – and to the regeneration of the whole economy of Maine and Washington County in particular. … We are talking about a great national asset, like TVA, the Grand Coulee Dam or the St. Lawrence Seaway.”
- Senator John F. Kennedy excerpts of address by Senator John F. Kennedy, Democrat, Mass., concerning the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project ; at Maine Democratic Party issues conference banquet, Augusta, Maine, Sunday November 15, 1959; as reported in Congressional Record, September 1, 1960; p. 19514
- July 16th 1963 President John Kennedy announces his intentions to accelerate the plans for the Passamaquoddy Dam. -
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Re: Tidal power
Fri, November 20, 2009 - 12:08 PMHere is some new thinking regarding tidal power.
Engineers Use Aerospace Approach to Design Wave Energy System
www.sciencedaily.com/release...1329.htm
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