Renewable energy and water resources

[Gurdur]

I've made a new category in my blog, "Green Techno", which I will use for blog entries on new and interesting developments in renewable energy, water management and so on, and I've put in a first entry into it describing a new invention that may well interest you, a wind-turbine that collects water from the air.

[retrow]

There are numerous ideas that have been toyed with in the recent years.

My favorite so far has been the Solar Thermal generating station near Seville, Spain. Apart from being completely self sustaining (even reuses its boiler water) barring input in the form of hot sunrays, it has a magnificent architecture and looks like a thing from a sci-fi novel.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6616651.stm

Originally Posted by From BBC Article

It is Europe's first commercially operating power station using the Sun's energy this way and at the moment its operator, Solucar, proudly claims that it generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of electricity without emitting a single puff of greenhouse gas. This current figure is enough to power up to 6,000 homes.

But ultimately, the entire plant should generate as much power as is used by the 600,000 people of Seville.

Using renewable energy that pumps power into the national grid is a remarkable feat!

ETA: Fixed image links.

[retrow]

Another heartening story I heard on Public Radio the other morning was from Perth, Australia. In midst of a drought, the city has turned to desalination of sea water to provide for its urban comforts. Where do they get the massive amount of electricity required to pump and filter all the water from? From a wind turbine farm!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=11134967

Environmentalists in Perth balked at the idea of using coal-fired plants to provide power for the one here, forcing the Water Corp. to find a non-polluting, renewable alternative. It found that alternative — wind energy — near the town of Cervantes, a three-hour drive north of Perth.

A perfectly executed plan, one that beats drought and avoids pollution.

[Master Taran]

There is a working prototype in use in the USA.

http://www.power-technology.com/projects/victorville/

[Gurdur]

You read about it first on the HH!
The HH: for self-help and for mutual help;
the place where people come to be interested and interesting!

[Goldie]

Originally Posted by retrow

There are numerous ideas that have been toyed with in the recent years.

My favorite so far has been the Solar Thermal generating station near Seville, Spain. Apart from being completely self sustaining (even reuses its boiler water) barring input in the form of hot sunrays, it has a magnificent architecture and looks like a thing from a sci-fi novel.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6616651.stm



Using renewable energy that pumps power into the national grid is a remarkable feat!

ETA: Fixed image links.

AMAZING!
Not less than an hour ago I saw that thing on the History channel...re: inventors The electricity wars ie... Edison, Westinghouse and Tessla
Very cool. uh.... hot.....hot and cool.

[Gurdur]

The wind-turbine for gaining water from ambient air is called unofficially the "Whisson Windmill", after the inventor, Dr. Max Whisson, an Australian, and officially (on his website, which itself is named Water Un Limited) called the "Max Water". It condenses water from the ambient air by using circulating refrigerants; apparently he was inspired by a beetle called Stenocara, which is in common speech named the Namib Desert Beetle (i.e. living in Namibia), of which Wikipedia has to say:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The Namib Desert beetle dwells in one of the most arid areas with only one and half inch (40 mm) of rain per year, and has developed a unique technique to survive by obtaining water from early morning fogs. It drinks by the means of its own bumpy back surface, which provides for accumulation of water droplets of fifteen to twenty micrometers in diameter.

[Jinx]

This is a similar idea that I've been interested in for a while...

[Goldie]

Originally Posted by Gurdur

The wind-turbine for gaining water from ambient air is called unofficially the "Whisson Windmill", after the inventor, Dr. Max Whisson, an Australian, and officially (on his website, which itself is named Water Un Limited) called the "Max Water". It condenses water from the ambient air by using circulating refrigerants; apparently he was inspired by a beetle called Stenocara, which is in common speech named the Namib Desert Beetle (i.e. living in Namibia), of which Wikipedia has to say:

There is a desert mouse/rodent that does the same thing with it's fir/hide. Way cool!

[Shake]

Originally Posted by Master Taran

There is a working prototype in use in the USA.

http://www.power-technology.com/projects/victorville/

That is very cool! Any more power on the grid from renewable sources means less burning of fossil fuels (or even nuclear fuels) and all of their drawbacks.