SD> You know what might be better and possibly easier to implement is wave
SD> power.  If there was a way to harness the wave energy from the sea
SD> during such storms and actually store all of that physical energy to
SD> electrical energy, that could be a massive boon for many areas to be
SD> well-served.
 
Things like that have been tried in East Anglia (UK) and failed for a number of
 reasons:
 
* The installation needs to be huge and could not satisfy environmental
  demands for benthic life
* The output never was high enough to cover costs ... at all
 
Another thing which has been tried is harnassing the power of tidal activity.
Basically it's kind of a turbine under water catching the tide in either
direction. As it is a near continuous production it has some merrits but also
was met by an environmental "no".
 
Something never tried is Foucault's pendulum, the Earth's rotation provides a
steady source of energy.
 
The question always remains: how does one tap it and how does one store it...
 
BTW, loved the pingpong-ball story.
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.99 SR41
 * Origin: Ceci n'est pas un courriel (2:292/854)