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| Intelligent energy designed for intelligent life In the new world of power shortages, global warming and terrorism there is a growing need for a more flexible, multi-sourced and intelligent global energy system. Today, our high energy civilization rests on an immense global infrastructure of facilities for extraction, transportation, processing, conversion, transmission and final use whose replacement value costs at least $10 trillion in current monies. 80 million barrels of oil and 280 billion cubic feet of natural gas -- every day -- keeps the world running. And every drop of oil that can be pumped out of the ground is. In fact, for every two barrels of oil currently being consumed only one new barrel is being discovered and that has been going on for twenty years. In response, Big Oil plans to spend 2.5 trillion dollars on more exploration while many western governments plan to invest billions to expand their nuclear and coal industries. But every day we save energy and search for new power sources Planet Earth’s 200 million square mile surface captures about 100 billion horsepower of the sun’s energy equal to 37 trillion kilowatts annually or 4, 000 times the amount of electricity used by all humans on the planet. If we can convert only a quarter of one percent of the Sun’s energy hitting the planet into electricity we can power the entire world with renewable energy. Bourne Energy, an alternative energy start-up based in Los Angeles, has developed a new source of power which can be best described as “Liquid Solar Power.” Winds generated by the solar heating of the earth pass over the oceans transferring energy to the waves. This energy transfer concentrates the energy from the initial solar power level of about 1 kW/m2 to an average wave power level of 70 kW/m of crest length in certain coastal areas of the United States, Europe and Asia. This figure can rise to an average of 170 KW/m of crest length during the winter and to more than 1 MW/m during storms. Bourne has successfully completed tank testing a scale model of its OceanStar (OS-1MW) ocean energy harvester which is designed to be cost-competitive, self-contained and highly scalable. The OS-1MW is designed to pump energy on shore to existing electrical power grids. The technology, machinery and manufacturing system are patented by Bourne Energy. The OceanStar project represents four years of research, design and testing and includes optimizing the structure of the wave, refining the hydraulic response of the device, developing an efficient energy absorber for variable speed and extreme stresses, developing an efficient power transmission system, optimizing design for assembly manufacturing and reducing the energy component of construction, maintenance and operation. Bourne foresees this century will continue to be dominated by fossil fuels. But the current fossil fuels centralized high energy intensive power generation will be increasingly augmented during this period by a growing network of low power alternative energy sites. Solar energy will be built in high sun areas; wind generators in high wind areas; biofuels used in agricultural intensive areas; dams in local rivers as well as ocean power systems placed along the coastal areas. Eventually, one day there may be no need for the drilling rigs, pipelines, tanker fleets, fuel trucks, refineries, coal mines, generator plants, steam towers, nuclear power plants, uranium ore mines, tailing hills, slag pools, uranium reprocessing and enrichment plants, cooling pools and waste storage sites necessary for our current energy system. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Construction News :: home page |