New Vivace Energy Technology Harnesses Vortex Hydro-Energy
December 6, 2008
There’s a natural phenomenon that occurs in large bodies of water that engineers have been battling for years. It’s called VIV (vortex induced vibrations), and it’s what allows schools of fish to swim so fast. It’s strong enough to have destroyed the Narrows Bridge in Washington State in 1940 and the Ferrybridge power station cooling towers in England in 1965. So, researchers began to wonder whether they could harness this power to produce energy – and ‘Vivace’ energy technology was born.
From Inhabitat:
Rather than suppressing VIV, Vivace actually creates and then harvests energy from VIV, and it does it all using slow water currents, a previously untapped source of sustainable energy.
Most of the water that covers 70% of our planet flows at less than 3 knots – too slowly to harvest its power using current technology. Wave and tidal turbines require an average of 5 or 6 knots to operate efficiently, as does the timeless watermill. But Vivace, the technology being developed by Dr. Michael M. Bernitsas at the University of Michigan, is designed to operate at currents of less than 2 knots, opening up a world of possible applications from river power and dam replacement to perpetually powered ocean sensors, uninterruptible power for vulnerable coastal facilities, and the supply of electricity to offshore facilities.
Though the current setup doesn’t resemble a school of fish, Dr. Bernitsas says it will eventually. Right now, it looks like a ladder with sliding rungs. Those rungs actually oscillate up and down on springs when the ‘ladder’ is placed in a slow-moving current, creating mechanical energy which is then converted to electricity. The cost, estimated to be about 5.5 kilowatts per hour, is competitive with other forms of renewable energy technology.
This is pretty fascinating stuff. According to the Vortex Hydro Energy website, vortex-induced vibrations were first observed 500 years ago by Leonardo DaVinci in the form of “Aeolian Tones.” Vivace takes the ‘problem’ of VIV and turns it into a clean, sustainable way to power our communities. It will be really interesting to watch new technologies like this evolve.
Link [Inhabitat] + [Vortex Hydro Energy]
Google Considering Wave-Powered ‘Data Barges’
September 20, 2008
Google may be moving their data centers offshore (and toward green), if the patent they applied for is any indication. It seems as if they’re seeking to cut power costs and avoid paying property taxes by placing their supercomputers on barges anchored 3-7 miles offshore, where they would use wave energy to power and cool the computers.
The Times Online has it:
In the patent application seen by The Times, Google writes: “Computing centres are located on a ship or ships, anchored in a water body from which energy from natural motion of the water may be captured, and turned into electricity and/or pumping power for cooling pumps to carry heat away.”
The increasing number of data centres necessary to cope with the massive information flows generated on popular websites has prompted companies to look at radical ideas to reduce their running costs.
Data centres consumed 1 per cent of the world’s electricity in 2005. By 2020 the carbon footprint of the computers that run the internet will be larger than that of air travel, a recent study by McKinsey, a consultancy firm, and the Uptime Institute, a think tank, predicted.
Technology experts dubbed the offshore data barges ‘a computer army’, drawing reactions across the web with titles like, ‘If Google was Iran, wouldn’t we be scared right now?’ A lot of questions have arisen about the idea, including the fact that 7 miles offshore is within the jurisdiction of many states, the fact that security could be an issue and that having the exclusive right to attempt such a thing would prevent other companies from achieving similar carbon-cutting progress. Google has refused to clarify the plan, saying they often file patent applications on ideas that may or may not ever become reality.
Seems like a pretty smart move to us. If, as noted by The Times Online, the carbon footprint of these supercomputers could outweigh that of air travel, something should be done about it now, and the idea of using wave power is pretty innovative.
Link [The Times Online]
Can a Power Company REALLY Be Carbon Neutral?
March 31, 2008
Yes, it can be done, and a New Zealand power company has been doing it for more than a year.
Meridian Energy generates around a third of New Zealand’s total energy demand (approx 12,000 GWh) exclusively from wind and hydro sources. The company has a history of advocating a carbon credit marketplace.
But not all New Zealand state-owned enterprises can boast the same carbon neutral certification.
Solid Energy is the largest coal mining company in New Zealand, and also state owned. It’s the company, I’m ashamed to say, that dig up and export New Zealand’s coal to be burned in China—and the ones that intend to create a new open cast mine in Happy Valley.
It sounds like a terrible place for a coal mine—even though I’m not certain what or where Happy Valley is (but then, what do Americans know about New Zealand really, except that it’s where the Hobbits live?). Before we all get too happy about this, I should note that Meridian Energy is carbon neutral in large part because they operate nine hydroelectric projects—big dams, that is, of the sort that would be considered an environmental disaster if they were under construction today, but are somehow okay if they already exist.
Meridian Energy also operate wind turbines—like the one in the photo above, in Wellington—on a really large scale.
Link [Worldchanging]
Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons
