tagged w/ Green Power
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"Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest – built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced – are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the region's electricity grid says there's an oversupply of renewable power at certain times of the year.
The problem arose during the late spring and early summer last year. Rapid snow melt filled the Columbia River Basin. The water rushed through the 31 dams run by the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency based in Portland, Ore., allowing for peak hydropower generation. At the very same time, the wind howled, leading to maximum wind power production.
Demand could not keep up with supply, so BPA shut down the wind farms for nearly 200 hours over 38 days.
"It's the one system in the world where in real time, moment to moment, you have to produce as much energy as is being consumed," BPA spokesman Doug Johnson said of the renewable energy.
Now, Bonneville is offering to compensate wind companies for half their lost revenue. The bill could reach up to $50 million a year.""Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest – built with government subsidies and... more
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Wave Power For Africa
by Andreas S.September 7, 2011
The Oelsner Group, the company that built South Africa’s first, and as yet only, commercial wind farm near the West Coast town of Darling, is planning an ambitious 750 megawatt offshore wave energy project in the same area.
The amount of electric energy that can potentially be derived from the waves that continuously pound our planet’s oceans is enormous and has been estimated at as much as 2700 gigawatts. But for a number of reasons, wave power is lagging far behind solar and wind as a source of green, renewable energy. If companies like the Oelsner Group have their way, this situation will change in the not too distant future.
Technologies of various design have been developed to capture the energy contained in the rise and fall of ocean waves and converting it into electricity. Currently, the majority of the existing wave power installations around the globe are experimental or demonstration plants.
Experiments around the world
The world’s first experimental wave farm was opened in 2008 in Portugal, but it was closed down for financial reasons only two months later. Today, an experimental wave farm is in operation off the coast of Western Australia. In Scotland, the first phase of a wave power plant was launched in May last year and a so-called wave hub, with an eventual capacity of 20 to 40 megawatts, is proposed for the north coast of Cornwall in England.
The coast of South Africa, especially its West Coast, has been identified as an area of great wave power potential. The highly energetic wave regime of the region is largely related to its proximity to a major storm-generation zone in the South Atlantic. Professor Deon Retief, a respected local marine engineer, believes that, at a “very conservative” estimate, some 8,000 to 10,000 megawatts of electricity could be generated along the west and south coasts of the country’s Western Cape Province. Tapping this huge amount of energy could help South Africa reduce its almost exclusive dependence on climate changing coal-fired power stations.
Energy that never stops
One of the main advantages of wave power over solar and wind energy is that waves keep going 24/7 and although they vary in intensity depending on weather and season, wave conditions tend to be much more predictable than the sun and wind. There are some potentially negative impacts as well, of course. These include possible noise and visual pollution and as yet largely unknown impacts on water flow, sedimentation and marine flora and fauna.
The Oelsner Group’s proposed South African wave energy project is based on a home-grown design developed at the University of Stellenbosch, known as the Stellenbosch Wave Energy Converter (Swec). It consists of partially submerged v-shaped collector arms with a capacity of 5 megawatts each.) On completion, the wave farm would include 150 such units, installed about 1.5 kilometres from the shore in a line stretching for a distance of some 40 kilometres parallel to the coast.
Huge issues to resolve
A number of hurdles still need to be overcome before the project becomes a reality. Some consider the technology still too immature and comparatively expensive for commercial deployment. At the very least, South African government regulations, which do not make any provisions for wave power at the moment, need to be negotiated, environmental impact assessments need to be carried out and, above all, funding needs to be secured. An initial demonstration plant is expected to cost about R100 million ($14 million) and the project as a whole is estimated to require around R15 billion (more than $2 billion) in total.
Realistically then, it looks as though it will still take some time for South Africa’s first wave power station to come online. Better late than never, I guess. Despite the South African government’s supposed commitment to renewable energy, its actually implementation in the country – blessed as it is with extraordinary solar and wind resources – has been painfully slow. So any progress (even a promise of progress) in the development of local green, clean energy has to be welcomed.
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Andreas is a book shop manager and freelance writer in Cape Town, South Africa. Follow him on Twitter: @Andreas_Spath
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/wave-power-for-africa.html#ixzz1XMr6I4M4Personal message Hello,
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Only four more weeks till June 12th and the worlds largest naked parade! This will be my fifth year of participation. Last year, I didn't get home till three days later .
http://chicagonakedride.org/Only four more weeks till June 12th and the worlds largest naked parade! This will be... more
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A recent New York Times article reveals that some of the greenest technologies of the age, from electric cars to efficient light bulbs to very large wind turbines, are made possible by an unusual group of elements called rare earths. And the world’s dependence on these substances is rising fast. The Times says these elements come almost entirely from China, from some of the most environmentally damaging mines in the country, in an industry dominated by criminal gangs.A recent New York Times article reveals that some of the greenest technologies of the... more
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A little prairie grouse could give the wind energy industry big fits.
Should the lesser prairie chicken become listed as threatened or endangered — and it’s close now — there would be significant restrictions on companies hoping to plant towering turbines across a five-state region believed to have some of the nation’s best wind energy potential.A little prairie grouse could give the wind energy industry big fits.
Should the... more
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Chicago (IL) – Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greenest of them all? Yes, you have read the headline already and Intel can tout that no one else in this country buys more green power than the chip giant. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the nation’s top 50 purchasers are buying more than 11 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) that would be produced from the electricity use of more than 1.1 million average American homes.Chicago (IL) – Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greenest of them all? Yes,... more
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Researchers at the University of Southampton in England are testing a giant snake-like rubber tube designed to harness the power of waves. Dubbed the “Anaconda” after the South American snake, these simple, inexpensive tubes would produce clean, affordable energy from the world's oceans. If deployed according to current plans, each Anaconda tube could produce enough electricity to power 2000 homes.
The Anaconda is a joint project funded primarily by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPRSC). The original design and concept of the Anaconda was formulated by physicist Francis Farley and Rod Rainey of Atkins Oil & Gas but the testing is being performed by fluid mechanics and ocean engineering groups at the University of Southampton. Manufacturing rights belong to CheckMate SeaEnergy, a subsidiary of the CheckMate Group, formed specifically for that purpose.
Good Green News!Researchers at the University of Southampton in England are testing a giant snake-like... more
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Some of the 87 people living on the Hebridean island of Eigg are planning to hold parties to celebrate the fact they will finally be able to use electric toasters and kettles.Some of the 87 people living on the Hebridean island of Eigg are planning to hold... more
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NEWPORT, Ore. Chris Martinson and his fellow fishermen catch crab and shrimp in the same big swell that one day could generate an important part of the Northwests energy supply. Wave farms, harvested with high-tech buoys that are being tested here on the Oregon coast, would strain clean, renewable power from the surging sea.
NYT Video: http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=2e942993f3f6bb942002d07aea062b4b143a6757NEWPORT, Ore. Chris Martinson and his fellow fishermen catch crab and shrimp in the... more
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