| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Drilling for Gas Isleworth/Brentford | |
| Posted by: | Lorne Gifford | |
| Date/Time: | 14/04/15 10:01:00 |
| Hi Raymond Absolutely - a fundamental requirement in engineering is always to try and pull an idea or design apart; to question every aspect and assumption and to improve on weaknesses. Wave power I don't like because even more than wind, waves are unpredictable (cannot guarantee power generation). Also the force exerted by waves increases at a cubed rate with their height, so very big waves are incredibly destructive. Putting power generating equipment in the wave zone doesn't fit well with ensuring it a long life. Tidal power though is as near perfect an energy source as you can get. Guaranteed to peak twice a day, courtesy of the moon, guaranteed to never exceed a calculable maximum, and given than water power is 1700 times as dense as wind power, you can design compact and finely tuned generating equipment. Oh, and the Anglesey Firth and Pentland Firth have such a good tidal resource you could almost be forgiven thinking god is British. There are even 410kV power cables connecting them to the grid (thanks to the nearby nuclear power stations). Tidal power is one of those technologies that I believe has a great future. |