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Monday July 7, 2008
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The search is on for greener methods of producing power. There is no all encompassing, magic-bullet-solution, but one answer might lie in a snake-like device suspended beneath the surface of the World's oceans. It's called "Anaconda" and the obvious reference to a large snake is not accidental. Funded by the U.K.'s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Anaconda is ready to go into small scale tests. There's promise, though it's not yet the real thing.
As the Earth orbits the Sun and the Moon orbits us, tidal forces tug at the seas which cover most of the Earth. At the same time, as the Earth's tilt relative to our orbital plane creates uneven surface heating, wind is produced. The real bottom line is, our oceans are always in motion. It's free energy that's been squandered. Harnessing it in a major way is only now close to practical and worth being considered.
Anaconda is closed at both ends and filled with water. Sitting just beneath the surface, its tether allows it to turn keeping it always pointed to the oncoming sea. I'll let EPSRC pick up the story.
"A wave hitting the end squeezes it and causes a 'bulge wave'* to form inside the tube. As the bulge wave runs through the tube, the initial sea wave that caused it runs along the outside of the tube at the same speed, squeezing the tube more and more and causing the bulge wave to get bigger and bigger. The bulge wave then turns a turbine fitted at the far end of the device and the power produced is fed to shore via a cable."
The first experiments will use a tube .25 to .5 meters in diameter. The hope is if that works, tubes as large as 7 meters in diameter and two football fields in length can be produced. Using mainly rubber and not metal, Anaconda is designed to be light and simple. In the ocean you want simple because maintenance will be an expensive and dangerous pain. The snake will be deployed in clusters of a few dozen per location, producing enough electricity to light 2,000 homes.
Anaconda will not be practical everywhere. In order to offset costs and be efficient strong motion, such as normally occurs on the West Coast of a continent will be necessary. In the US that means some of California and most of Oregon and Washington with Alaska and British Columbia thrown in for good measure. In the U.K. it's possible up to 20% of power could come from this sea snake.
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November 29, 2008 1:29 AM
Interesting concept for generating power without "ugly" visible above water structures. But will the ocean denizens appreciate them?
:) Sheri