Wave power to be put to use in California
It looks like California could be getting at least some of its electricity from a decidedly more environmentally-friendly source relatively soon, as Pacific Gas & Electric has announced that it's teamed with Finavera Renewables to put a so-called "wave farm" into use off the coast near California's Humboldt County. That will apparently generate 2 megawatts of electricity and offset some 245 tons of carbon dioxide annually, although not before 2012, when it is "ideally" set to be put into motion. Helping the farm churn out all that electricity is Finavera's Aquabuoy (pictured at right), which drives an underwater piston as it bobs up and down that, in turn, pressurizes a chamber that cranks a turbine to generate the power. What's more, as CNET reports, if the initial deployment proves successful, Finavera says it could eventually crank things up to a full 100 megawatts, while still keeping the farm within a few square miles on the sea.
