What is Digg?93 Comments
- avengingturnip, on 07/12/2008, -1/+29It is a heat pump system that uses ocean water.
- ExRe, on 07/12/2008, -1/+23While they are at it, why not setup some nice geothermal power plants? They could run the entire state on geothermal easily.
- AlexWiggy, on 07/12/2008, -22/+42The women can now open their legs and blame the smell on the AC.
- inactive, on 07/12/2008, -4/+23The saving of a kilowatt hour through efficiency has the same impact on the reduction of carbon emissions and imported oil as one created by a renewable energy system.
- Rikkochet, on 07/12/2008, -0/+18I have absolutely no idea what way to digg that.
- spankee666, on 07/13/2008, -1/+19I wonder how they're ensuring they don't munge up their system with animals and debris from the sea or over-heat the water and kill the sea life in the area.
I know that Chicago no longer allows buildings to be cooled by the Chicago river because it ends up heating the water too much and kills the fish and plants.
Please no jokes about nothing living in the Chicago River. - emjaymj, on 07/13/2008, -0/+16He's basically saying that making our fossil-fuel systems more efficient would have the same effect on emissions as switching some to renewable resources. I'm having a lot of difficulty understanding his point though because sooner or later we'll have to virtually eliminate our dependence on oil.
- itsradBrad, on 07/13/2008, -0/+16I was eating a sandwich at the time so I went with down.
- Buelldozer, on 07/13/2008, -1/+13You are what's wrong with today's "green" movement. You're opposed to making a situation better because it isn't a perfect solution.
It's thinking like yours that keeps us from progressing. It's people like you who will fight to keep a nuclear power plant from being built even though you KNOW it's going to mean more coal being burnt.
In this particular case I'd say that the risk of harm to a few sea critters in a localized area FAR outweighs the continual pumping of pollution into our atmosphere as we generate electricity to run air conditioners.
Now, please go kill yourself before you infect anyone else with your stupidity. - Haax, on 07/13/2008, -3/+14Can someone translate this?
- ExRe, on 07/13/2008, -0/+11Everyone who thinks this could affect global oceanic temperatures is a moron.
Do you have any idea how large the oceans are? They are estimated around 1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 liters or 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons.
Doubling the average temperature of 1 trillion liters would only raise the average temperature by something like 0.00000008% (correct me if that math is off). - Buelldozer, on 07/13/2008, -0/+11I'm REALLY doubting that this plan is going to cause more than a localized disturbance in the ocean temperature. Even more I'll be willing to bet you any amount of money you can afford that this will put less heat into the ocean than the lava running down into the water does!
- inactive, on 07/12/2008, -1/+12that is so logical it's amazing
- crapmatic, on 07/13/2008, -0/+10In, straight in.
- yahaira, on 07/13/2008, -1/+11cause it's effing hot and humid
- barfooz, on 07/13/2008, -1/+11Did anyone actually read this article? The article says that they are taking 45º water from 1600 feet underwater and pumping it up, then returning it at a shallower depth where the water is warmer. With limited use, I can't see how this would have anything but a negligible impact on ocean water temperature.
- kizzyle0508, on 07/13/2008, -3/+12What i don't understand is why people who live in Hawaii need to go inside ever
- dsenman, on 07/13/2008, -0/+8We have office towers downtown here that are cooled by sea water - and have been that way for over 20 years. I'm relatively surprised this is considered "new". or that people aren't doing it already.
- emjaymj, on 07/13/2008, -1/+9Don't worry kiddo, you'll find out when you're old enough.
- agreenall, on 07/13/2008, -0/+8'Just plug it in and the commando 8 does the rest... 12,000 BTU's'
- dchu, on 07/13/2008, -3/+10already being done in toronto, by enwave corp, office building and condos enwave.com
- inactive, on 07/13/2008, -0/+7The big winners: the plumbers who will have to lay down an entire new network of pipe to get the cooled water to all the buildings.
- NightRiderkami, on 07/13/2008, -0/+7I wonder what ecological effects this will have, if any.
- cratedriver, on 07/13/2008, -0/+7Much like the system already in place in Toronto.
http://www.toronto.ca/environment/initiatives/cool ... - joegibes, on 07/13/2008, -0/+6So... You're saying it's a series of tubes.
- DiggzDE, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4mmmm. Salty.
- ashfish, on 07/13/2008, -0/+4Ah, and now you get into the bureaucracy of Hawaii and the Hawaii Electric Co. They have no plans to expand their geothermal operations and because just the research to find a proper site is so expensive, on top of building the actual plant there's not a lot of private interest in it. We have one geothermal plant on the Big Island that could be used for 100% of the Big Island's electricity needs, however we don't want to switch 100% to any fuel source. However we are actively encouraging our state and country councils to move forward in renewable energies since imported oil is so costly to get out here. I was afraid that this wouldn't go through because they were having some problems with the funding when they were first talking about this but I'm so happy that its finally firming up over there. Hopefully the Big Island will be next as our deep water is so close to shore.
- jm1234567890, on 07/13/2008, -5/+9But then we heat up the oceans?
- lennybird, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3emjaymj, I wish you were running for president.
- cambob76, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Sweaters make people warm, stupids.
- HappyScrappy, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Yes, the pumps will take energy, yes the energy might come from a oil or coal plant. But it will take less energy than otherwise would be used to cool the buildings, and that energy would come from coal or oil plants too.
So the net result is that the coal and/or oil plant will need to produce less energy and thus will pollute less. - ashfish, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3And in addition to those above comments, lava gets poured into our ocean, I think the critters around here can handle it.
- synarchy, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Sounds like they scared the crab to death.
- diggydougie, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3All this does is move heat around. Unlike air conditioning which (usually) runs from petroleum and heats the planet.
- inactive, on 07/13/2008, -0/+3Judging by the amount of seawater and the ability it has to stay cool, I'd say at MOST we would see a few degrees at the shoreline if everybody switched to water cooling. Deep-ocean would not change at all.
The sun is the main source of heat. - pyehac, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2The same reason why convertibles has retractable tops: to protect us from the elements. It does rain here (and sadly, when it does, people don't know how to drive)
- RoboRay, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2I was blown away when I moved back to Oahu last year after living on the mainland for several years, and found that the wind turbines on the northern tip of the island were all gone. WTF?
- Zebceponaf, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2actually we don't. We all live in and work in large empty fields and lots with no chairs.
- barfooz, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2LIMITED use being the operative word. Or perhaps you'd prefer that those coal power plants continue to feed standard air conditioners?
- ashfish, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2Yeah its progress is like anything in Hawaii, go forward half a step, go back five, go forward another couple steps, find some bones on the property...
- emjaymj, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2We'll never be able to be 100% sure about the effects of ANYTHING. I guess there's no reason to even attempt making progress then...
- mafax, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2This has been done in some resort in the Maldives! Six Senses Soneva Gili Island Resort!
- no1digger, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2One of my relatives works to implement green/energy-efficient heating and cooling, and has successfully put one of these types of systems in place along the SF waterfront. It's a pretty interesting (as well as promising) technology. Glad to see it's catching on.
- ashfish, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2I think they have filters on the pipes preventing anything big from getting through. I can't find any real details on the process from any of the deep water bottling companies here so I can't say for sure. And I would think that since they're pumping it back to a shallower level and have a diffuser that it would help with ensuring that there isn't any damage to the marine life in that area. It looks like since they have all of their funding in order now their Environmental Impact Statements can be completed and we'll soon find out if its going to be feasible. Though it looks like these guys know what they're doing with their operations in Sweden, Canada, and in other parts of the US. Here's a more detailed story: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story ...
- ashfish, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2It is for Hawaii because we import 90% of our fuel. So to us this is HUGELY goundbreaking, but I'm sure it doesn't seem as cool to those who don't have the same energy issues as we do.
- anarchyx34, on 07/13/2008, -1/+3This idiot thinks the ocean is going to get hot from cooling down some office buildings. LOL.
- rotundo, on 07/13/2008, -1/+3women don't smell unless there's something wrong -- but a lot of people on digg wouldn't know that
- rotundo, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2You don't have to heat up the whole ocean, just change the local temperatures. It is quite possible that a poorly designed system could wreak havoc on sea life. And before someone says "who cares about that" remember that we rely on them for food, and an unhealthy shoreline can become a harbor for organisms which are dangerous to humans.
That said, the article points out that the designers are aware of these issues and managing the temperature of the returned water so as not to disturb the ecosystem.
Please don't freak out that everything we do will destroy the world. Likewise, don't freak out that nothing we do will destroy the world. It's about knowing the issues at hand and addressing them with a sound plan. - HappyScrappy, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2My uncle cools his house in South Carolina with a closed-loop system that circulates water through the arm of the ocean his house abuts.
I think that pumping seawater through the system is risky, even if it isn't contaminated with kelp or animals, the salt is corrosive. A fresh-water closed-loop system might be a better idea. - diggydougie, on 07/13/2008, -0/+2Here's the problem with this system as I see it. Water is very heavy. So pumping up the cold water takes a lot of energy just like the current systems do. Now if the water were taken up and discharged from the same depth, but separated so that discharge won't just warm up the intake, the pumps would only need move the water rather than lift if. Kind of like a weight on a pulley. If you are just lifting a weight on one side it's hard work, but if you have equal weight on both sides great weights can be moved with little effort.
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