Submitted by New Energy News Blog
The current debate in the U.S. Congress shows clearly that a large minority of elected representatives means “oil” when it says “energy,” primarily because polls show the U.S. electorate hears “gas pump prices” when it hears energy.
The bulk of the electorate seems to like the ideas of solar energy and wind energy, but only because they sound free or because they sound like energies that don’t come from the Persian Gulf.
The newest ideas in New Energy mostly remain of interest to geeks, hobbyists and futurists among the population at large. Why? Well, here’s how one writer described some of the new ideas:
Robert S. Boyd, Sacramento Bee: “Kites, waves, tides, ocean currents, geysers, garbage, cow manure, old utility poles, algae and bacteria are being enlisted in the effort to lower the world’s reliance on climate-warming coal and oil…Researchers are even trying artificial photosynthesis, producing electricity by imitating the way that green plants exploit the sun’s energy…”
Such ideas simply sound (at best) exotic and expensive to the bulk of the public, certainly nothing anybody sensible would fuel their car or heat their house with.
These ideas are nonetheless compelling topics of debate in Silicon Valley. Up there, ambitious entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for the new new thing. Many have come to the conclusion they will find it in New Energy. That’s why the Sacramento Bee, one of Silicon Valley’s most popular dailies, took a look at some of the latest of the energy ideas on the cutting edge.
Boyd, Sacramento Bee: “Most of these ideas may never make economic or technological sense. It’s always possible, however, that a daffy-sounding scheme could turn out to be the next Google, GPS, Facebook or similar breakthrough.”
It might seem “daffy” but it cuts trans-Atlantic shipping energy costs 20%. (click to enlarge)
Energy hunters explore seafloor turbines, giant kites
Robert S. Boyd, August 17, 2008 (Sacramento Bee)
WHO
Researchers seeking the next source of New Energy, the source that will be the next breakthrough; the folks who fund them
WHAT
One of Silicon Valley’s most widely read dailies took a quick look at experiments with wave, tide and current energies, with advanced wind concepts and with a very recent advancement solar energy.
No ocean energy technology has yet emerged as the obvious best.(click to enlarge)
WHEN
– Wave energy prototypes and testing are ongoing.
– A Gulf Stream current harvesting turbine will be tested in 2009.
– The new Severn River tidal energy barrage is modeled on a French barrage that has harvested energy for 40 years.
– Beluga Shipping’s ocean-going freighter-pulling SkySails worked in 2007.
WHERE
– The European Wave Energy Centre is in Lisbon, Portugal.
– Early experiements in harvesting wave energy are ongoing off the coast of Oregon, off Hawaii, off the coast of Portugal and off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
– Currents like the Gulf Stream 13 to15 miles off the east coast of Florida have large energy potential. Harvesting of the Manhattan’s East River current energy has been tested.
– The $29 billion barrage on England’s Severn River Estuary is one of the foremost experiments in tide energy. It is modeled on a smaller barrage in France.
– Beluga Shipping, based in Germany, designed a kite (SkySail) that pulled a freighter 12,000 miles across the Atlantic.
– Makani Power is based in northern California.
WHY
– Many ideas sound “daffy” at first glance but a small number turn out to be important breakthroughs.
– Many good energy ideas fail because they are more expensive than prevailing if less desirable forms of energy.
– Environmentalists have usually resisted New Energy developments until satisfied every effort has been made to accommodate nature.
– The European Wave Energy Centre lists 63 such projects (ex: Wave Dragon, WaveRoller, Manchester Bobber, Poseidon’s Organ).
– Wave energy devices mostly attempt to capture the up and down or in and out movement of the waves.
– The energy of certain ocean currents, especially the Gulf Stream, could be captured. The Gulf Stream flows steadily north at 5 mph. A turbine in it could send power to shore via a seafloor cable.
– The energy of river currents can also be captured.
– Powerful and predictable tide current energy can also be captured. The Severn Estuary’s tides can turn turbines like traditional hydroelectric power as they rise and fall 48 feet.
– The Beluga Shipping freighter-pulling 520-square-foot SkySail cut the ship’s energy use 20%.
– Makani Power is experimenting with kites that would harvest very high, very strong, very steady wind energies.
– Daniel Nocera, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) chemist, has found a way to mimic photosynthesis – using sunlight to split water into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) – with cheap, abundant materials as catalysts. The H2 and O2 can then be stored and combined in a fuel cell to create electricity.
QUOTES
– Chang Mei, ocean engineering expert, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “No design has yet emerged to be the winner…”
– Robert S. Boyd, Sacramento Bee: “Scouring the Earth for new sources of clean, renewable energy, scientists and engineers are exploring some unusual nooks and crannies… They mostly depend on government subsidies, and probably the continued high price of oil, to make them competitive with the old standbys.”