Could Floating Wind Farms Power the Planet ?

[RAnDOOm]

Is this the future of electricity generation ?

Scientists believe that wind farms in the North Atlantic could provide enough electricity to power the world.

Floating wind farms could one day help to provide the majority of the world's power, that is, at least, according to a new paper published this week which claims that ocean-based wind farms are capable of producing three times as much electricity as land-based sites.

Until now, wind turbines placed at sea have had to be anchored to the sea floor, but with the advent of floating turbines it will become possible to place much larger wind farms further away from the shore.

One of the plans considered for the study describes a wind farm covering 70,000 sq km of the North Atlantic with the capacity to power the entire United States for ten months of the year.

Set up enough such sites, scientists argue, and it may even be possible to power the whole world.

The first ever floating wind farm, which is known as Hywind, is currently being constructed off the coast of Scotland and is set to begin commercial production before the end of the year.

Capable of generating electricity for 20,000 households, the project, if successful, could pave the way for much larger floating wind farms in the future and offer a means with which to replace conventional fossil-fuel based power plants with renewable energy on a much wider scale.

"This is an industry in its birth stage," said study co-author Ken Caldeira. "It really does look like the open-ocean environment can sustain a lot more power generation than on land."

"But making these technologies cheap enough to compete will be challenging."

Full article here: https://www.seeker.com/earth/energy/floating-wind-farms-in-the-north-atlantic-could-power-the-world

[Ensign_Steel]

I'd put my money on molten salt thorium reactors. Cheaper than coal, more efficient than current nuclear power plants, a shit ton safer than pretty much anything we have now, we can use the nuclear waste we have now in the reactors and they can be used to desalinate sea water and to capture Co2 from the air and use it to make fuel usable in petrol cars we have now. The nuclear waste that they produce is minuscule and thorium is readily available anywhere. The reactors can't really be used in the production of nuclear weapons, which is one of the main reasons this technology didn't get continued support in the 60's.

The first company will start producing reactors in 2018 and the first ones should be available for sale in 2019.

[RAnDOOm]

19 hours ago, Ensign_Steel said:

I'd put my money on molten salt thorium reactors. Cheaper than coal, more efficient than current nuclear power plants, a shit ton safer than pretty much anything we have now, we can use the nuclear waste we have now in the reactors and they can be used to desalinate sea water and to capture Co2 from the air and use it to make fuel usable in petrol cars we have now. The nuclear waste that they produce is minuscule and thorium is readily available anywhere. The reactors can't really be used in the production of nuclear weapons, which is one of the main reasons this technology didn't get continued support in the 60's.

The first company will start producing reactors in 2018 and the first ones should be available for sale in 2019.

That is interesting. Gonna do some reading regarding it.

Thanks for the tip. 

[Ensign_Steel]

This video should be a cool starting point.

 

Also, I'd like to thank you @RAnDOOm for these science posts you make. Personally, I really like them and find them fascinating!

[RAnDOOm]

Nice! Gonna watch it today.

Thanks mate! 

[Humledrik]

Main thing stopping this is the petroleum industry!
Now even China is starting to muscle in on wind turbine production so it's definitely here to stay.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2017 by Humledrik

[Ensign_Steel]

32 minutes ago, Humledrik said:

Main thing stopping this is the petroleum industry!
Now even China is starting to muscle in on wind turbine production so it's definitely here to stay.

 

 

Of course! The absolute best way of generating power would be to get it seemingly 'free' without relying on natural resources. Renewable energy sources are most definitely the right thing and thus the future, but it might still be very far in the future until they are efficient enough to provide for the world's needs. Countries that have tried to replace their energy production with solar and windmills end up using a shitload more of coal because they don't produce enough power yet.

That's why we need thorium right now (and also the reason I brought it up), so that the reptile-people (cold, emotionless, unable to feel empathy for anything, only thinking of themselves... you know, like reptiles?) of the oil, coal and other fossil fuel industries don't fuck everything up and kill every living being on the planet before that day comes.

Hmm, the fact that thorium could radically lessen or kill off the need for oil completely could have been one of the reasons the US thorium reactor project was killed off in the late 60s and buried away until it was declassified in 2002.

Good to know that China is taking up the fight for wind turbines! I'm sure they will greatly speed up wind turbine improvements and innovations!

China is also one of the leading countries when it comes to thorium reactor research! Although, the way things are going right now, Indonesia seems to be the first country to actually start producing reactors with the company ThorCon.