Green Options

The U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that up to $32 million dollars of Recovery Act funding will be used to expand the harvest of hydroelectric power. “There’s no one solution to the energy crisis, but hydro-power is clearly part of the solution and represents a major opportunity to create more clean energy jobs,” said Secretary Chu.

Am I the only one who noticed that Sarah Palin has pulled a huge switchover when it comes to her take on energy policy?

Because it’s dramatic, and may presage the switch that I have been hoping for for a while: the divorce of the idea that a Conservative Environmentalist in politics is an oxymoron.

A UK engineer has invented a device that harnesses wave power to pump sea water uphill, from where it can flow downhill to create hydroelectricity, raising hopes of a cheap, abundant source of renewable energy.

In trials, the device, called the Searaser, has pumped water more than 160ft above sea level, using little more than the natural motion of the waves. There are now plans for a much larger version, capable of pumping to a height of more than 650ft.

Inventor Alvin Smith reckons that each full-size device would be able to pump enough water to supply electricity to 470 homes. He also calculates that a fleet of 43,000 could generate enough power for a staggering 20 million households.

The general reaction to Sarah Palin’s energy policy seems to have been that she’s a staunch supporter of the ‘drill, baby drill’ school of thought, with little real analysis beyond that.

No matter what new energy proposal someone makes, it’s bound to attract an outcry of NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard). (My recent post about the U.S. generating all the energy it needed via a 100-mile-by-100-mile solar installation in the Mojave Desert, for example, evoked some protest.)

So I thought it might help to pose the future-of-our-energy question in another way: What do I WIMBY? (As in, Want In My Backyard?)

OK, here we go: Following are photos illustrating several clean and/or renewable energy options that could help us curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Which ones would you be willing to view from your backyard as a tradeoff for a cleaner, brighter future? Be honest now: I’m asking literally if you would say OK if one of these was what you saw when looking out of the window of your home.

You may recall the opening scene in the James Bond Film, Goldeneye, where our hero sprints along the top of a dizzyingly high dam, bungee jumps to the bottom, and subsequently wreaks havoc on the top secret scientific installation within.

Some readers may be aware that the dam forming the backdrop to this daredevil scene, instead of being deep inside the former Soviet Union, is in fact located in the Val Verzasca in Southern Switzerland. Retaining over 100 million cubic meters of water, and generating 105 megawatts of electricity, the Verzasca dam is one of 527 hydro electric power plants which together provide more than 57% of the electricity consumed within Switzerland.

In the interest of bringing EcoWorldly readers first hand and up-close reporting on renewable energy I had originally planned to visit the dam this weekend in order to relate my experiences of bungee jumping off a 720 foot high hydro-electric energy installation. However, in the interests of meeting editorial deadlines I ultimately had to settle with a video from YouTube. It’s worth watching just to appreciate the sheer scale of this installation.