Comments on: Three radical new energy technologies

By: Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 21:19:52 +0000

And another ocean-based possibility, use the heat and high pressure around at least some deep ocean volcanic vents for energy, while also capturing the CO2 they produce, without necessarily harming lifeforms around the vents.

By: Dennis R.

Dennis R. — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 01:39:51 +0000

I have to echo Bri’s caution on this. These types of things always start small, and the supplies are always limitless. And their will need to be some types of structures for housing the tech that harvests all that energy– possibly leading to greater erosion and impacts on the local ecosystems. Better solar that can be implemented locally and on a small scale could have a smaller impact. Big projects mean big expenditures and require higher returns to justify the investment. Cheap energy becomes less cheap once infrastructure is built.

By: grettir76

grettir76 — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:32:09 +0000

You better leave the gulf stream alone! My small country would freeze to death without it!!

But a nice mix of hydro, solar, geothermal, wind and tidal should be an optimal option when possible.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:34:12 +0000

The total energy in a given ocean current would be several orders of magnitude larger than anything we could possibly extract from it. A very large turbine farm might be 100 meters wide and 10 meters tall, and would extract only a portion of the energy from the current impinging on it.
From Wikipedia: “The Gulf Stream is typically 100 kilometres (62 mi) wide and 800 metres (2,600 ft) to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) deep–flow is 30 million cubic meters per second”. By comparison all the rivers that flow into the Atlantic combined run at 0.6 million CMS. It’s like being concerned about the cooling effect of solar cells because of the shadow they cast–it’s infinitesimal compared to what reaches the earth.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:15:10 +0000

….just wondering… if you had a device that would convert heat in the ocean’s to electricity, then would it cool the oceans and thus likely create some other problems? Or change currents so drastically that it causes a problem ? I guess there is no concern now that a few thousand windmills will change the air-stream and create some unknown problem down the road… Just wondering…?

By: graham caldwell

graham caldwell — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:26:26 +0000

farmers in scotland could use the greenhouse light and cver thier fields with poly tunnels , no more crop failures due to bad weather.

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:49:26 +0000

“Converting waste heat to electrical energy can be a reality by using a rectenna, a combination of high frequency antenna and a tunnel diode,”

Those little plutonium reactors, like the one that powers NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, could use these to be more efficient. You’re going to need a reactor to power those grow-lights during the long Lunar night.

Of course, to grow crops on the Moon, you’re going to need to send robots out prospecting for carbon and nitrogen, but those elements are up there, though they are scarce.

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:51:16 +0000

“A new nanophosphor-based electroluminesence lighting device that caters to the exact wavelengths of light required for photosynthesis in indoor, hydroponic agriculture.”

This is just what you need to grow crops on the moon. Sure, the days are always bright and sunny, but the nights are two weeks long.

By: Bri

Bri — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:12:10 +0000

IR capture would be ideal for server farms. They could recover all that wasted heat..

By: Editor

Editor — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:10:00 +0000

Good point. I’d like to understand that better.

By: Bri

Bri — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:08:08 +0000

Every drop of energy that the ocean currents use to circulate arm ocean water affects local temperatures elsewhere. Although this might help reduce the effects of global warming, it will affect it in locally different ways. It could have unwanted side effects. It really depends on how much energy is taken out of the system and where.