doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (04/01/85)
> There is only ONE renewable energy resource on this planet: Solar Energy.
Not quite. I'll grant that direct solar and indirect solar (oceanic
temperature differences, nuclear fusion, wind, etc.) are the largest
energy sources in which the entropy is beyond our control. But there
are others. One which comes to mind is gravitational, available
indirectly in tides. Another is from the rotation of the earth. Some
of the wind power could be considered indirect rotational energy.
--
Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!dougwetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (04/04/85)
You could also consider wood as a renewable energy source, right? I would hate to have to go in that direction though. I like tidal action as an energy source for coastal areas. Then again, how about wave action along the shore? For smaller uses, the wind is a renewable energy source. How about a large fan on the front of your car? Use batteries to get going and then use the fan to recharge your batteries. How about deep well thermal energy? They use it in California to generate power. Dig a VERY deep well, pump water down, get steam back, turn a generator. Simple,huh? Instead of great big power plants, how about small, self contained, local units to serve an small area using one of the energy sources above? In order to cut down on the use of non-renewable resources, we should perhaps localize using available resouces which do not pollute or use that which we are losing. There are all kinds of ways to produce smaller amounts of power. We should be using them where they are available, thus cutting down on their (not their, the) use of giant producers. I'm just a dreamer who wishes for a windmill. CHARGE!!!! T. C. Wheeler
mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (04/05/85)
>> There is only ONE renewable energy resource on this planet: Solar Energy. > >Not quite. I'll grant that direct solar and indirect solar (oceanic >temperature differences, nuclear fusion, wind, etc.) are the largest >energy sources in which the entropy is beyond our control. But there >are others. One which comes to mind is gravitational, available >indirectly in tides. Another is from the rotation of the earth. Some >of the wind power could be considered indirect rotational energy. >-- >Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug Still not quite! Tidal energy is misleading in two ways: (i) it subtracts from the rotational energy of the earth and of the earth-moon system, slowing the earth and driving the moon away, so it isn't "renewable". Once the Earth stops, it stops. (ii) The height of a tide depends on resonance between the 13-ish hour forcing function and the bays in the coastline. If their surge resonance is around 13 hours (or a subharmonic?) the tides will be high. Lowering the Q of the resonance by taking work from the tide will to some extent lower to tide in question, (usually -- I expect you could find situations where the resonant frequency was such that a tidal power station might actually raise the tide height, but that's speculation). Both of these effects are very small, so the "not quite" is really "almost". Wind power is really direct solar power, just as is power derived from burning biomass. -- Martin Taylor {allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt {uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsri!dciem!mmt
seb@ahutb.UUCP (s.e.badian) (04/05/85)
REFERENCES: <608@vortex.UUCP> <491@spp2.UUCP> <706@mhuxt.UUCP> <2085@sun.uucp>, <477@terak.UUCP>, <1172@pyuxa.UURe: renewable energy There's an added advantage to localized energy production. You don't have to haul the coal, or oil, or whatever to the far reaches of the universe. Seems like a lot of energy must be used to haul all that crude from Saudi Arabia to New Jersey, and then on to the rest of the Northeast. Same argument can be said for coal burned in the eastern part of the country; most of it comes from out west in South Dakota, or Montana, or one of those other ex-Carboniferous Period seas. Why do you think there are few small power plants that use local resource to their advantage? Economy of scales? Not enough money in it for the big utilities to research and develop it? My college drilled for gas on college property while I was there. They even found some, and have been saving quite a bit of fuel with the natural gas they pump out of their own well. It's not a lot of gas, but it's enough for pay for the drilling. Why don't more private parties research this kind of thing? Sharon Badian ihnp4!hocsd!ahutb!seb