Ricki Yasha TarrAug 18, 2024
I was doing some reading about these power generating ocean buoys, and it's interesting to see all the complaints that pop up any time someone tries to make a new way to capture energy. Suddenly, people really care about the environmental impact of these methods, but never ever in comparison with coal and oil.
I still hear naysayers about solar panels, despite the fact that GPS and the International Space Station has used them for decades.
They really care about the migration patterns of Ducks when we start talking about wind power, but get an Oopsie about a massive oil spill.
Loss of life is very important for alternative methods, but no discussion about the impact when it comes to oil drilling and coal mining.
The fact of the matter is even setting aside the environmental impact, coal and oil are finite resources. Of course, we should care about the impact of how we produce energy, but we have to stop falling for false equivalency. Everything will have a downside, but we can address those issues and still move forward.
Show threadRicki Yasha TarrAug 18, 2024

In case, you had an interest in the kinds of things I was reading about:

https://www.popsci.com/technology/buoy-wave-generator/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-31/wave-power-generator-supplying-king-island-with-electricity/101282070?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web

Huge 60-foot-tall buoy uses ocean waves to create clean energy

CorPower’s C4 prototype just completed a successful six-month test run off the coast of Portugal. Here are the results.

Popular Science
Show threadseachangedAug 18, 2024

@RickiTarr

Looks like each buoy, when about 20000 of them are deployed, can provide energy at a cost of $33-$44 per megawatt-hour, almost as cheap as wind.

It's a hard article to read, as it continuously confuses power and energy.

I wonder what a typically deployed array of these things would do to the power spectrum of waves on a shore. There are paradoxical mechanical concerns for sessile life, and wave and surf action have consequences for water oxygenation:

https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/article/how-do-wave-dynamics-and-water-flows-affect-coral-reefs

How do wave dynamics and water flows affect coral reefs?

Understanding what aids or degrades these sensitive ecosystems can help focus conservation efforts on the reefs most likely to survive climate change.

Stanford University School of Engineering
Show threadneoluddite
@seachanged @RickiTarr Thanks for providing such a clear example of the problem. What does an oil spill do to the wildlife you're worried about?
Aug 18, 2024 at 10:17pmWeb
Show threadJohn L. AlfordAug 19, 2024
@neoluddite
Show threadseachangedAug 19, 2024

@neoluddite @RickiTarr

There's a difference between a bad-faith argument between a pro-oil paid shell, who knows that every kilowatt hour of solar panel installed is a hit to the bottom line of barrels of oil ..

.. and a technology huckster using the horror of an oil spill or a nuclear process accident to deflect due process environmental impact investigation.

A non-binary approach is usually the best, so you can see tradeoffs.