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Headline

Are wind subsidies a price worth paying?

Comment

It completely mystifies me that tidal power doesn't receive the priority it deserves as a source of reliable energy. The old adage 'time and tide wait for no man' declares the truth. Tides are predictable, reliable, and the energy available is easily determined. Tidal turbines are much smaller for a given power output and fluid velocity, since water density is over 800x that of air. The wind energy industries keep reaching for larger and larger turbines, requiring huge amounts of resources to build and maintain. Doubling the size of a turbine requires 8X as much in material, and 8X the expenditure of energy (and CO2 generation) as a baseline size. I'd love to see some real comparisons between the overall energy bill required to build and maintain a tidal turbine vs a wind turbine of the same power output.

Posted date

2 May 2012

Posted time

3:52 pm

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The Engineer May Digital Edition

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Forward-looking flying car specialist Terrafugia has unveiled a new autopilot-equipped STOVL concept which it says could be on sale in 8-12 years. But will the science-fiction staple of the flying car ever take off?

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