Very Cool

[KBK]

Imagine these puppies..modified.. for generating power via a geared, torque oriented system... underwater.. on ocean and sea currents. Dat dere water..she certainly generates torque!....

If you have moving water... you've got power. Tons of it. Literally.

Ocean current.. with one of these.. built at 100 feet across. Yikes!

Vertical axis turbine

Properly used.. you could generate power in rivers.. with no dams! Just more and more turbines.....hhm..... wide discs, with small flaps.... and minimal, nearly non-existent enviromental impact.

Small operations, in your local stream, on your property. The shaft (inner/outer system, captured thrust bearings, top and bottom) is anchored in the river/stream bed. The shaft that turns protrudes above the water. Outer sleeve turns the generator..that is anchored to the un-moving inner river bottom 'anchor' shaft. Wiring goes to house system, etc. Same for the wind beast in your back yard, of similar design.

This is one of the most interesting and promising I've seen in a while.

[CBS240]

Just think if you could capture all the energy in huricane Katrina that is currently sinking New Orleans, LA. Probably power the US for years.

[tlf9999]

Originally posted by KBK
If you have moving water... you've got power. Tons of it. Literally.

Ocean current.. with one of these.. built at 100 feet across. Yikes!

Right. Think what that is going to do to fish, small animals, the wind, farming, weather, and the rotation of the earth itself.

You don't gain something without losing something else. It is easy to figure out what you can gain. But it is harder to figure out what you will lose on the side.

For years, the greenies have us think that the dirtiest form of energy is nuclear, on which the movement was founded.

Now, some greenies have started to consider nuclear as the cleaniest form of energy. Isn't that ironic?

I have said this many times and I will say this once again: hydro is among the environmentally dirtiest forms of energy.

[CBS240]

Nuclear energy is the cleanest form of energy and very plentiful if it is maintained properly. Unfourtunately if it is not, the toxins released can be very dangerous, expensive to clean up and have long lasting ill effects on the environment.

[runebivrin]

It's probably just me, but I can't help thinking "Pacman"...

Rune

[rfbrw]

Originally posted by CBS240
Nuclear energy is the cleanest form of energy and very plentiful if it is maintained properly. Unfourtunately if it is not, the toxins released can be very dangerous, expensive to clean up and have long lasting ill effects on the environment.

No matter how well maintained, the power plant still produces unpleasant waste products that have to be dealt with and you can't ship all of it to Sellafield no matter how keen the UK is on being the world's nuclear nightsoilman. There is also the issue of decommissioning old plant.

[Bizarroterl]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...32866?v=glance

Read this book before you come to any conclusion on nuclear power. It's not a matter of what is safe and what isn't. It's a matter of what is safer and in what context.

Interesting fact - Burning coal puts more radiation into the atmosphere that nuclear by far.

It turns out there are risks to all facets of power generation and non generation. Only by being educated on the topic can we make an educated decision on what method is the best solution.

[KBK]

"Kids growing up in areas damaged by radiation from the plant have a higher IQ and faster reaction times, say Russian doctors.

They are also growing faster and have stronger immune systems.

Radiation from the Ukrainian Chernobyl plant swept the globe and affected more than seven million people.

Professor Vladimir Mikhalev from Bryansk State University, has tracked the health of youngsters growing up in areas hit by the fallout since the 1986 accident.

He compared their mental agility and health to those in unaffected areas and found they came out top in tests."

It's always been a science fiction truism, and it has likely been proven to be correct. We evolve in fits and starts. hard events, force quick turns/change in evolution. Comfortable days are for the birds.

A quote for the biblically minded: "And he shall come from the East."

[rfbrw]

Originally posted by KBK
[B
A quote for the biblically minded: "And he shall come from the East." [/B]

And there's me thinking that glow was a halo.

[ghudnub]

I have worked as an operator in Nuclear Power for the last 15 years. The future of the industry has never looked more promising than it does today.

There are inherent dangers, poor designs, poor decisions by operators, but the plants in the US were designed and built with some pretty old technology. They are unecessarily complicated, and just like the Navy nuclear programs, we have learned from past mistakes.

Imagine the next generation nuclear plant. Completely passive safety systems, operator error (TMI) completely removed as a consequence by design. No greenhouse emissions, no global warming contribution.

There will be a time in the future (sooner than later) when spent nuclear fuel will be economically reprocessed. Spent fuel is nowhere near as scary as Hollywood or Fox News would have everyone believe. As usual with the media, if it isn't sensationalized, then it isn't worth reporting.

I wish everyone in the US knew the industry the way I do...we'd have broken ground on new plants years ago.