Today’s Republican included a story about sea power. Using the strong tidal currents off the Maine coast can produce power for less than the cost of coal and oil. In Maine’s Western Passage in Passamaquoddy Bay, the tide rises and falls 20 feet, the greatest tidal change in the US. Underwater turbines can produce electricity without the political fallout, since nobody can see them churning away down under water. We might be seeing them in the years ahead. Cost is a big deal, since so many environmentally sound ideas just don’t make the calculator cut.
Last night we watched 60 Minutes segment on another new way to get energy. In Alberta Canada they are heating up shale and dirt and getting thousands of tons of oil. It takes a lot of energy to get the oil, and leaves terrible waste behind, but the oilmen say they plant trees and cover it all up after they are done.
We’ll see many more of these kinds of new ideas in the years ahead. Clever ideas that might help solve the problem of our need to drive, heat and cool so much.
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