Eco Geek

New website with some uplifting content: EcoGeek.org [And look in the center column for a list of related web-sites.]

Finavera Renewables has just successfully deployed its second generation AquaBuOY, a wave generation plant that weighs nearly 40 tons and is 75 feet long. Only about ten feet of the device shows above the water. As the buoy rocks up and down in the surf, it generates power with an internal generator.

That power can then be shipped back to shore via an underwater transmission cable. The bouy’s huge size allows it to harness a great deal of the moving water’s massive energy. No word, however, on how much energy each of these will produce. But, as with wind and solar, wave power only has up-front costs. Once the project is in place, the “fuel” that creates the power is free.

Finavera alraedy has about 250 megawatts of wave power planned or under development in America. The AquaBuOY 2.0 wave farm off the coast of Oregon could be underway as soon as 2010.