San Francisco submits permit app for wave power project
By Darren Murph 
posted March 2nd 2009 8:43AM
posted March 2nd 2009 8:43AM
posted March 2nd 2009 8:43AM
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Putting waves and energy together makes me think of that lame show I used to watch on Nickelodeon, Rocket Power.
Or was it spelled with 2 t's?
You are just jealous you couldn't rip that hard and get a life lesson out of it. /sarcasm I have heard many debate if it is even viable we shall see. I have an image in my head of someone watching TV then the lights go out, then they come back on, then they go out again, then they come back on of course everyone will be acting like Peter did in Family Guy when Brian tossed the television into orbit around him.
heheha...awe...hehehe...awe
@Tarnation:
They work and are pretty viable, and have been used in several european countries already. There's a lot of untapped power out there
The problems are mostly in materials science issues: The incredible power of waves means that the devices must be designed to withstand massive pulling/wrenching forces lest they be broken by a strong wave or storm. The second problem is that of corrosion, whatever material is chosen must be able to work underwater in a salty ocean for many years without corroding to the point it ceases to move, breaks, or otherwise is compromised.
Rocket Power was awesome.
Popularizing the verb "beef" as in "I totally beefed it."
That is social significance.
finger shake !!
*woogly woogly woogly ** ;P
is it another "innovator" project that has been used for years in Europe?
Sometimes american scientist do the same that tv executives :stealing programs from Europe and from the bbc.
I hear america even once stole a baker's dozen colonies from some european country.
Oh snap! Europe blows! Yay America! America = awesome technology and internet porn. Europe = two world wars and creepy S&M freaks.
Europe invented porn AND the internet.
By years do you mean less then one? The world's first commercial wave farm opened in 2008 at the Aguçadora Wave Park near Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal. It uses three Pelamis P-750 machines with a total installed capacity of 2.25MW. (From Wiki)
I thought the internet was invented by Al Gore
Leave it to Gavin Newsom to continue making waves..
Sorry, couldnt help myself
Ooh 100 jobs (maybe). Stop the Presses!
Yeah, the lesson is: Never try!
No, the lesson is: try harder.
Yes, I agree.
Don't forget all the people working at traditional power plants/companes that will lose their jobs.
Zero Sum Game FTW!
For reference, 1 megawatt powers a little over 80 four-person households.
So this solution would power over 800-8000 homes completely. Or, 0.42% to 4.2% of San Francisco's current-day population.
Let's get to work!
My previous comment supposes this generates 10-100 megawatts per year, by the way, and not per month or somesuch, though that would be awesome.
A 'megawatt per year' is a nonsensical unit. Megawatt is a unit of power, not energy.
I don't know what the average generation of wave energy is like (the '10-100' is probably the maximum power, i.e. if the waves are just right, with the 10 or 100 bit depending on how many/what type of units they build). Let's assume it's like wind farms, i.e. in the 30% range. At 100 megawatts max and assuming average 30% would generate enough energy for somewhere around 30,000 homes in the West Coast region, according to this link: http://www.utilipoint.com/issuealert/print.asp?id=1728 (note I just stole their example and tweaked it slightly to account for the slightly different power usage from their chart).
So no it won't power all the homes in SF, but possibly somewhere in the 15% range (if they go for the biggest project), which is not to be sniffed at. If they had capacity factor estimates, or recent power usage estimates specific to SF, you could do a more accurate guess.
Despite the fact that megawatts/year does not exist, the average person uses just under 12 kilowatts. 15% of SF is wildly off-figure.
Why do they have to submit a permit to the federal government? Just fucking do it.
Chris,
You'll have to submit a permit to the government to plant trees on your own land...or even pee very soon. They won't let anything go - um - un-passed - that could be taxed.
Re. the wave power...regardless of whether or not you understand that there is - at best - no conclusive evidence on global warming (at least not unless one is standing behind Al Gore) this is a technology which should be pressed forward full speed ahead. As long as there is a moon, there will be waves we could make power with.
Yeah because San Francisco gets waves like the one pictured...
not quite... head over to areas near Ocean Beach though and the undertow is incredibly powerful... Turn the picture upside down for better accuracy.
I think this was one of the original Transformers plots. The Decepticons were causing tidal waves to create energon cubes and the coastal cities got wiped out in the process..
20-25 years ago? I dunno...
This using the big tidal flux at the Golden Gate will generate a lot of power.
Oh my god. If only we could tap the brain power of those who post in these forums. Then we'd really have a dead end fix for global warming.