There’s a fascinating story out of the Bellingham Herald (based in Washington state) about fiberglass and industrial power generation via the power of the ocean. It outlines a project to put two hydro-electric turbines 200 feet deep in the Admiralty Inlet. Slated to be complete by the summer of 2013, it calls for the use of giant fiberglass and steel turbines to be installed in Washington’s famous Puget Sound to meet the state’s mandate to generate 15% of its power from renewable resources.
In charge of this massive project is the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Even though the project is being made to meet Washington state’s renewable energy mandate, it has broader applications:
If the project succeeds, scientists say, the potential for tidal power is huge. Twenty-eight coastal states consume 78 percent of the nation’s electricity, and 52 percent of the U.S. population resides in coastal counties.
Even though there are many positives coming out of the project and research behind it, there are some problems, as well. Hydro power is expensive and unreliable based on the state of technology today. Turbines break down regularly. And they may have ecological ramifications on local fish.
Regardless spending time and money on new power generation ideas—rather than refining our use of fossil fuels to extinction—seems like a good practice. There’s literally only so much fossil fuel in the ground. The oceans, if we take care of them, will last forever.
