UK's First Wave Farm Project Announced

[wet]

I can't speak on the pellet stoves, other than they burn earth-surface combustibles, which is better than fossil-fuel combustibles of the same type, in regards to atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Here's a paper on bio-fuels, with some comparative info. (sugar cane, Poplar, coal...)

Current Biology -- Somerville
DDeden

 

[wet]

A lot of Calif. water is recycled but not to the drinking stage. We water a lot of our parks and such with it.

One thing that really needs development is dry-rock geothermal. Geothermal plants are the most efficient, durable (over 100 years in the case of Italy) and environmentally sound power you can come up with. What's needed it some way of drilling to hot dry rock. Then, you pump down waste water that flashes into steam and is instantly sterilized and all the nasty industrial waste gets left at the bottom of a multi-mile deep hole. The steam drives the turbines, condenses and gets pumped back down the hole or spread on surrounding farms. And let's face it, we ain't never gonna cool down ol' Mama Earth!

I'm guessing that this is entirely different technology than whats in this article:
Geothermal Critique
written by someone keen on environment, space rockets, dolphins, etc.

Are these problems reduced in dry-rock geo-thermal? The wastes can't escape?
DDeden

 

[Oldsarge]

The plant he's complaining about is volcanic, not dry-rock. The Hawai'ian situation is unfamiliar to me but the California plants have been running for years and the ones in Italy for over a century. No health problems have been reported from either area. New Zealand, I believe, also generates large amounts of electricity geothermally.

 

[wet]

Ok thanks, sounds right. Dry rock is self contained AFAIK, only potential problem aside from the normal power plant situation would be earthquakes & tremors (we just had a 5.4 here in Humboldt County offshore the other night). A quake close by wouldn't necessarily mean a big problem, but the potential for a local disaster would be there, due to high-pressure waste strream - groundwater contamination from faultlines and busted piping. Generally a low risk, I'd guess, long as it was well monitored.

DDeden