OCEAN-BASED ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
I believe our location and proximity to the oceans provides Shelburne County with an enormous energy self-sufficiency advantage over in-land locations.
This should not be surprising..... In most societies, location is a major determinant of energy options. In the past, traditional sources of energy such as fossil fuels provided the most advantage to societies that either had the fossil fuel nearby and/or societies close to suitable harbours for importing energy. Proximity to hydro sources provided an alternative traditional source of energy.
In the 50s, 60s and 70s, the economics of nuclear power plants drove developers to focus on facilities that could serve relatively large markets that were close by. They were more successful in some locations than others.... The proposed size of nuclear facilities and NIMBY tensions were and continue to be the primary deterents to nuclear power development.
The relatively recent push to develop sustainable energy sources has seen the re-development of hydro sources of energy .... as well as increasng efforts to develop wind, tidal, wave and biogas sources of energy.
* And.... in my view .... Shelburne County's future energy develoment needs may be met by.... near-shore wind and wave sources...... as is now occurring in Denmark, the UK, Portugal and other locations ... (See http://www.pelamiswave.com/ for more on commercial wave energy and a site in portugal.)
For more information about ocean locations and energy development from the ocean.... take a look at: http://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/index.php/Tidal-Energy/What-is-Ocean-Energy.html . I think the Ocean Energy Council's review of the costs of ocean-based energy development options and their comparison of costs for land-based energy alternatives is a compelling argument for ocean-based energy options.
While the bay of fundy may have tidal power potential..... my review indicates that in Shelburne County, wave power may be the answer.. and ..... the prospects for more immediate results are better. (There may also be some potential for biogas and better management of hydro power potential in Shelburne County.)
Moreover, given our location and present ship and boat building/repair facilities and expertise, the prospect for manufacturing jobs associated with the construction of wave machines and windmills throughout the County looks promising too.
Did you know that the present cost to NSPI of producing and transmitting power to Shelburne County is amongst the highest in the Province?
Folks, did you know that the production costs per kwh of existing wave machines appear to already be competitive.....?
AND .... did you realize that the shape of Shelburne County and the location of its populations along the coast would appear to provide numerous options in Shelburne for the future deployment of wave machines near-shore in Shelburne County.
And so dear reader..... location appears to favour us again.... providing Shelburne County with what appears to be a perfect location for near-shore wave and wind energy systems... as well as the perfect location for manufacturing the energy sytems of the future for shipment to other markets around the world!
A PERFECT COMPLEMENT .... to our marine industry base!
Gee folks.... looks like our glass isn't half full.... our cup verily runneth over .... already......!!
For more information about ocean locations and energy development from the ocean.... take a look at: http://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/index.php/Tidal-Energy/What-is-Ocean-Energy.html . I think the Ocean Energy Council's review of the costs of ocean-based energy development options and their comparison of costs for land-based energy alternatives is a compelling argument for ocean-based energy options.
While the bay of fundy may have tidal power potential..... my review indicates that in Shelburne County, wave power may be the answer.. and ..... the prospects for more immediate results are better. (There may also be some potential for biogas and better management of hydro power potential in Shelburne County.)
Moreover, given our location and present ship and boat building/repair facilities and expertise, the prospect for manufacturing jobs associated with the construction of wave machines and windmills throughout the County looks promising too.
Did you know that the present cost to NSPI of producing and transmitting power to Shelburne County is amongst the highest in the Province?
Folks, did you know that the production costs per kwh of existing wave machines appear to already be competitive.....?
AND .... did you realize that the shape of Shelburne County and the location of its populations along the coast would appear to provide numerous options in Shelburne for the future deployment of wave machines near-shore in Shelburne County.
And so dear reader..... location appears to favour us again.... providing Shelburne County with what appears to be a perfect location for near-shore wave and wind energy systems... as well as the perfect location for manufacturing the energy sytems of the future for shipment to other markets around the world!
A PERFECT COMPLEMENT .... to our marine industry base!
Gee folks.... looks like our glass isn't half full.... our cup verily runneth over .... already......!!
31 comments:
Thanks for an interesting topic to mull over. The "WSJ Blog - Making Waves 09 Jun 09" shows the pros/cons of such a project.
Looking forward to your take on Mini-Power Plants designed by scientists at Los Alamos Nat. Lab. - no moving parts/no meltdowns. Now that's something to think about! ~S.F.
As that glass spills over hope we catch some of the positive things to help our town pull out of nosedive !!!!!!!!!
More action is needed now not just words by good thinkers !
Keep researching and do not be so selective..............
WIND TURBINES are big,costly machines.
They only need 6 mph of wind to work.
They do not have to be near the ocean. Upper OHIO could work. There is no one there to be bothered by the noise they make.
If Shelburne owned 10 big turbines, those 10 would produce all of the Municipalities' electrical needs.
They could borrow the money, the turbines would pay for them self, and eventually the electricity they make would be free.
No,nothing for electicity will ever be free. To maintain,buy new parts and workers for upkeep would be a part of expected continued expenses.....COST OF LAND TO INSTALL THE TURBINES ????????
More research is needed.
Wind farms have been built all around the world, more are being built everyday. They would not be building all of these wind farms if they were not profitable.
That is just it they are profitable.
A wind farm will pay for itself in less that 10 years. After that the wind farm makes money. People have jobs, because of the wind farm.
Land is cheap, look at the mink farm land deal 300 acres $66,000.
7:34-whitherindustrialwindpower.wordpress.com
This is an interesting site - shows what Germany and U.S.A. have experienced with wind farms. ~ S. Fry
some links to information about CO-OP WIND FARMS and other reasons to build a wind farm here.
1. highsheldonwind.com/benefits/index html This web site tells about how a wind farm is making a town money, everyone in the town benefits from the wind farm. New jobs were created, and they built the wind farm.
2. ruralmissouri.org/06pages/06DecWind.html This web site tells about how a wind farm benefits a rural Missouri community.
3 positivepowerco-op.com/about/ppcabout.htm This web site tells about a company that helps people build not-for-profit wind farms.
4. endlessenergy.com/windenergy.shtml This web site tells about the economics of wind farms
5. westmill.coop/westmill_home.asp This web site tells about a community owned wind farm in England. On the Westmill web site page "About us" it says "Westmill's success has demonstrated that ordinary people can co-operate to achieve what politicians talk about."
6. rockportwind.com/ This web site tells about a small wind farm, 4 turbines, that produce enough electricity to power an entire community
7 windcapitalgroup.com/ This web site tells about many of the benefits of wind farms
8. canren.gc.ca/default_en.asp This is the Canadian Renewable Energy network web site
9. neb.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rnrgynfmtn/prcng/lctrct/crrntmrktcndtn-eng.html <<< This web site tells about the cost of electricity in Canada
10. davidsuzuki.org:80/Economy/Environmental_Performance.asp This is David Suzuki telling about Canada's renewable energy efforts. This is MUST READ web page
11. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Germany This is www.wikipedia.com and what they say about wind power in Germany. Germany has a goal of 100% renewable energy, Wikipedia offers more information about wind power in other countries too . Spain for instance is a world leader in renewable energy.
12. ecoaction.gc.ca/ecoenergy-ecoenergie/power-electricite/index-eng.cfm This is an important link, This is a Government of Canada web site promoting wind energy construction. There is money available.
8:54 Thanks for all the "pro" websites for further info. ~S.Fry
Someone out there put good money where the most promising outcome can help town folks and the county citizens now,please.
Such detailed research should encourage those with funding power to get involved immediately.
Are the right people with clout getting these great ideas ?!
When you go to the Shelburne Municipal web site you see banner picture of a house and some wind turbines. Maybe that is a picture of a future scene around here.
The electric bill for street lights is about $200,000 a years. The Municipality should put up a wind farm that generates that much electricity. It would take 10 years, but the wind turbines would eventually break even.
Why else would there be wind turbines on their web site? www.municipalityofshelburne.ca
The majority of us practice the 3 R's and reduce would be a first step in street lighting... I can think of four (4) street lights in my area that could be removed today and wouldn't be missed. That would be a lot cheaper and would do away with wind turbine's noise and visual pollution!
Sorry The Municipal web site changed, it's banner, the wind turbines are gone, now there is a farm tractor, not many farms in Shelburne.
The last Committee of the Whole minutes was June 8, Guess they took the summer off.
This is an interesting story about a wind turbine http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/02/ski_resorts_toe.html
I wonder how many town folks who are gung-ho for wind turbines would cry NIMBY when faced with having them erected near their homes. Don't count on your country cousins/bumpkins welcoming them to their peaceful and scenic acres! I for one don't look forward to seeing them in my neck of the woods. ~ S. Fry
Upper Ohio, the turbines could go way up the Ohio Road
The horizontal wave turbines, referred to in this blogspot, would surpass wind turbines in Upper Ohio. Inland turbines can't rely on erratic wind conditions and they're more difficult to manage. Mountain tops and coastlines are their prime locations.
Pubnico Point's (coastline) 17 wind turbines have had gearbox problems and weren't achieving long term projections as of 2007. There were only 4 full times jobs at this farm as of 2007. Check out the financial side of things when Crest Street sold out to Aquilo LP, ULC, Juno Beach, FL in April 08. I couldn't find anything on Aquilo's 2008 Annual Report regarding Pubnico Pt. That would be an interesting article for our local weekly to pursue! I'm still wondering how the D'Entremont family are faring... ~S.F.
Hfx. Herald 12 Sep 09 Re: Nuttby Mountain (location Cobequid Area) rights bought from financially strapped Earth First by NS Power for $450,000 (cash/shares). Erecting 22 wind turbines (2.05 megawatts ea.) to serve 15,000 homes - "estimated" cost for construction $120 million. Hmmm, wonder who is going to foot the bill for this, and also wonder what state-of-the-art carbon scrubbers are fetching these days. ~S.F.
I am the one infavor of wind power. I find it very difficult to find good data about wind farm's success.
When the wind blows from the north, Ohio would be a good location, I think so anyway. Reid's Hill north of 103 would be OK, as a high location and near the coast. Birchtown near the auto junk yard is also a high location, and no one living near by to bother.
But who is going to build on. Another question that is hard to get an answer to is. How much does one big turbine cost ? How long before a turbine breaks even ? I cannot get an answer ? from someone with real experience.
links about turbines
A list of projects http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca/ecoenergy-ecoenergie/power-electricite/projects-projets-eng.cfm
this page shows how much money was given toward wind projects http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca/ecoenergy-ecoenergie/power-electricite/contribution-eng.cfm
Jim Kimbrell
Jim, If you want to learn about the pros and cons of wind farms just google: windfarms pro cons. It's good to see both sides of an issue!
7:50 - Ohio has a prevailing westerly and is one of the calmest areas of the county... Take a walk on the Tobeatic sometime - windy in town and calm inland... Also has more thunderstorms which would mean more lightning strikes on those turbine blades...Est. cost of erecting one turbine - $5-6 million not including land...
"Blackout Britain Warning" This headline made the UK dailys the first part of Sept '09. There's a danger of blackouts by 2012 due to the EU demands for removal of a large percentage of coal fired power plants from electrical grids. Here's hoping NS Power are improving maintenance standards on their transmission lines, and investing in CO2 scrubbers and Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) systems. Long live Cape Breton's black gold or we may find ourselves freezing in the dark! ~ S.F.
Sawdust burning furnaces at one time were used in place of coal....
Thoughts about that ,please.
Sawdust ? What about peat ? or dry cow droppings ?
Why a mink farm, why not grapes? and wine ?
The mink farms' driveway is in a POOR location, try driving toward Shelburne, at highway speed you come over a small rise and there you are, a mink truck coming out onto the 103. Soon with all the driveways on the 103 the speed limit will have to be reduced. Good planning someone!!!!
Eureka! A biogas project using mink dung - then both sides would be happy.
A bio-gas generator, good idea,
you can't get one around here.
no one knows how to install one
Check out the latest from the UN's World Climate Conference in Geneva, Sept 2009, that MSM has totally ignored. Prof. Mojib Latif lead author for UN's IPCC concedes earth hasn't warmed for a decade and we're probably entering a cooling period. Another inconvenient truthism, from a respected, peer- reviewed scientist that the media has conveniently ignored. ~S.Fry
Even if the climate is not changing. I think it is, Have you seen the Al Gore movie?
Sustainable energy is a good idea. If a wind turbine could work for 50 years, How long would it take for a turbine to pay for itself ? 10 years ? 15 ? Is there someone who knows from first hand experience.. There is a turbine owned by NSP near Clair. What data is avaiable on that turbine ? Clair did a big study on energy. Why do a big study and not implement anything ?
Jim Kimbrell
Today you've got to be asking yourself what's going on, when you have Obama addressing the UN members with his, "Climate change is an irreversible catastrophe if not addressed...", while the UN IPCC lead author Prof. Latif recently disputed all previous warnings about warming temps. and said computer modelling was to blame for the faulty data. Seems like the GW/CC fallacy is coming to an end. Let's see how the carbon commodity hedge funds fare over the next few months. Surely not signs of another monetary crisis - with green industry stocks going down the tubes worldwide. ~S.F.
Wind energy is cheaper but not free. Most machinery require 11/2 times the original cost to maintain them during their life span.
Pubnico I am told has already spent mega bucks in maintenance.This is the reality of machines.
Be careful where you obtain your data.
On Global Warming: If they cannot forecast next Thursday's weather what makes anyone think their take on the clomate 100 years from now is accurate!/?
If we did'nt waste so much energy we would be in a better position.Maybe gas and electricity should be rationed to put controls in place.
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