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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 15, 2005, at 15:13:37
Most of our power supply is hydro-dams.
We have rivers right through the middle (lengthways) of the north and south island so we just dam it every now and then and sometimes make a bit of a lake too.But...
We do have times of year where we need to be careful about how much power we are using. We don't really have enough power, especially when the rivers are low.
But what to do about it...
Is verrrrrrrrrry controversial.At the mo. the power company wants to build some wonderful power pylons along a proposed route which involves putting up rather HUGE pylons right in the middle of peoples farms.
The farm owners are (understandably IMO) rather pissed. Just because there is no evidence that they cause harm doesn't prove that they don't. There is also the point that they are going to be an ugly eyesore.
Apparantly underground cables would be too expensive.
The worst thing about it... Is that the power plant that they are going to be connected to ISN'T EVEN IN OPERATION. Though the thought is that it will have to be if our power needs grow (as they are going to). Its a silly place to put a power plant anyways. Can't remember where it is - but coal needs to be transported there from a bit of a way away.
So the inevitable comes up:
Some american business person
Trying to convince us on the virtues of nuclear power...Hmm...
Nuclear power.
I'm not sure... I'm not sure...
But there is the worry that if we aren't nuclear free anymore then we don't really have that reason to say that nuclear weapons etc aren't allowed in our waters...I dunno.
Thoughts????????
Posted by eloaf on May 16, 2005, at 9:57:26
In reply to Power problems..., posted by alexandra_k on May 15, 2005, at 15:13:37
Where are you from Alexandral?
Posted by alexandra_k on May 16, 2005, at 18:08:56
In reply to Re: Power problems..., posted by eloaf on May 16, 2005, at 9:57:26
NZ
Posted by Eloaf on May 21, 2005, at 19:17:43
In reply to Re: Power problems... » eloaf, posted by alexandra_k on May 16, 2005, at 18:08:56
> NZ
In NZ are you allowed to run your own small hydro dam if you live on a fast enough flowing river? And then from there hook up to the power grid so you can seel the extra power you make to the electrical company?
Ive heard of people doing that here in the US buyt also ive heard the electric company dosent like people doing it because of course they dont get to make it themselves and charege you... It seems if the power grid was really efficient and folks who lived on rivers capible of small time hydro plants could hook up to the grid; there would be great progress there... From there if more wind was used and solar on top of peoples houses became a standard there would be no problem; Nz or US or anyother country wiing to put the effort in and make the change.
Damn imagine how many jobs that would create too do such a thing.
Aso there is some promise for geothermal power too that has been attempted verry little. Also IO hear tidal rythyms can produce a signifigant amoount of energy too.
Fact is the options are out there its just the effort to do them and make the change... Lots of big money would have to moove from where it is and people dont like that...
Posted by so on May 21, 2005, at 20:34:04
In reply to Re: Power problems..., posted by Eloaf on May 21, 2005, at 19:17:43
> > NZ
>
> In NZ are you allowed to run your own small hydro dam if you live on a fast enough flowing river? And then from there hook up to the power grid so you can seel the extra power you make to the electrical company?
>
> Ive heard of people doing that here in the US buyt also ive heard the electric company dosent like people doing it because of course they dont get to make it themselves and charege you... It seems if the power grid was really efficient and folks who lived on rivers capible of small time hydro plants could hook up to the grid; there would be great progress there... From there if more wind was used and solar on top of peoples houses became a standard there would be no problem; Nz or US or anyother country wiing to put the effort in and make the change.
>
> Damn imagine how many jobs that would create too do such a thing.
>
> Aso there is some promise for geothermal power too that has been attempted verry little. Also IO hear tidal rythyms can produce a signifigant amoount of energy too.
>
> Fact is the options are out there its just the effort to do them and make the change... Lots of big money would have to moove from where it is and people dont like that...Electric companies and industrial electric consumers alike have lobbied against and in some cases delayed implementation of mandatory net-metering and electric buy-back provisions in the US, but that's not the main barrier to small scale hydroelectric in the States.
The problem with small-scale hydro isn't so much the electric companies, but the US Corps of Engineers, which has authority over all navigable waterways in the US. Almost anything deep enough to wet your sneakers is navigable.
The problems aren't as simple as clean-energy, let-'er rip. Unless the dam is a run-of-river dam it can effect flows downstream, and most of the water rights in the US are spoken for, so people have to let it flow. Even with a run-of-river dam, there are ecological problems -- fish need to use the waterways, too, and if they can't get around the dam, or if they get ground to bait in the hydro-turbines, the dam has an adverse effect on the ecology. In most cases, a dam needs fall to make electricity -- that is, the water doesn't just go over a dam, it has to fall from some height to make turn the turbines with enough power to make electricity. So again, it requires altering the terrain in rivers or streams that have already been hammered by channelization, industrial or ag runnoff, silt or other non-point-source pollutants from parking lot and road runnof that can reduce oxygen content and increase dissolved solids.
In parts of the northwest US, debates revolve around decommissioning some mid-sized dams so Salmon populations can recover before some species go extint in some areas. Conservation would seem a viable alternative, but zoning commissions continue to favor land-use regulations that favor tax revenues generated from concentrated commercial centers, and public schools for whatever reason, continue to inculcate children with the notion that success is measured proportionately to capacity to consume, with little real education about how or why some people in the world use far fewer resources than do Western cultures.
Posted by alexandra_k on May 30, 2005, at 18:19:13
In reply to Re: Power problems..., posted by Eloaf on May 21, 2005, at 19:17:43
> In NZ are you allowed to run your own small hydro dam if you live on a fast enough flowing river? And then from there hook up to the power grid so you can seel the extra power you make to the electrical company?
Hmm. I don't know. I hadn't heard of that...
>From there if more wind was used and solar on top of peoples houses became a standard there would be no problem; Nz or US or anyother country wiing to put the effort in and make the change.Absolutely. Solar power would be pretty good over here (quite a bit of sunlight). Also: better insulation. Our houses aren't insulated very well because it doesn't get all THAT cold. But a lot of power gets wasted via heating.
> Fact is the options are out there its just the effort to do them and make the change... Lots of big money would have to moove from where it is and people dont like that...Yeah. They could make solar panels a requirement on building houses over a certain valuation.
If you are wealthy enough to build a half million or million dollar house then I think you should be obliged to make solar panels (or whatever) a requirement on building.
Same with new office buildings etc.
I guess it just isn't that important to people...
Posted by alexandra_k on May 30, 2005, at 18:20:11
In reply to Re: Power problems... » Eloaf, posted by so on May 21, 2005, at 20:34:04
Yeah.
Consumerism.
Yuk.
This is the end of the thread.
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