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domwild
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Joined: 16/12/2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 873

Posted: 03:22am 12 Apr 2010

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KarlJ,

In the 1930 Germany still had a democracy and to get the unemployed from the depression years into work the duly elected governments of the world decided on huge infrastructure projects, like the Hoover dam in the USA. In Germany it was the autobahn construction at the time. Guess who voted against the projects: The nazis and the communists! Why? The unemployed will vote for any extreme party, which promises salvation, so the idea was to keep the number of unemployed up.

After the nazis came to power, they claimed the autobahns as their achievement.

Living next to a polluting quarry in the Perth foothills I am "green" and for RE but not to the extent of banning most developments including nuclear, which have led to the greens being called the new communists.

The idea of storing the nuclear waste for the world and charging plenty is appealing but wait for the protests at Fremantle harbour. After birds fell out of the sky in Esperance due to lead inhalation, the lead is now transported in sealed bags but there are still protests.

Thanks, Gordon, for the turbine name. The heads for the Peltons must be huge because we are looking at distances from mountain lake to valley floor in Austria.

Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up.

Winston Churchill

KarlJ

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Joined: 19/05/2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 1178

Posted: 06:26am 12 Apr 2010

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Dont think you would bring it ashore at Freo, perhaps somewhere in the middle of no-where, plenty of places along the coast and a dedicated rail link to move it from there.

Yanks do it in trucks but of more risk there than trains.

All rather a moot point as after it has been vitrified or made into Synrock its unable to just flow into the dirt if a spill were to occurr.

As you suggest education is the problem "Nuclear waste" =close ears on rational thinking and protest instead.

K. Rudd has floated the idea but will be a few more elections yet before we see an operational power reactor.

Luck favours the well prepared

domwild
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Joined: 16/12/2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 873

Posted: 10:49pm 12 Apr 2010

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Downwind,

Biofuel is an excellent idea. Albany (WA) has a chip mill where my bluegums are chipped. As there will be an iron ore mine nearby, the idea was floated to get the power for the mine from biofuels. Was considered too expensive. But to the credit of the authorities, the local processed sewage is pumped to a bluegum plantation rather than into the bay the whalers and the Anzacs left from. A tidal power station was knocked back for the Kimberley region with its 30 foot (10 m) tides. The USN has a sub base in Exmouth and a VLF transmission station for the subs. If you hold a neon tube during transmissions under the aerials it will glow. The diesels there are the largest in the southern hemisphere. Exmouth was offered free US electricity (wate) from there but declined; suspect national pride.

Karlj,

Overseas nuclear waste may end up in Freo but I just heard the NT gov. has decided on a nuclear waste dump. Presently there are protests in Darwin as it is considered to be a sacred site. Our medical nuclear waste has to go somewhere.

Glenn,

You wanted to hear about members storing surplus power in storage dams and some of us are going off topic - apologies!

Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up.

Winston Churchill

KarlJ

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Joined: 19/05/2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 1178

Posted: 06:22am 13 Apr 2010

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Sorry my bad.....
I thought that was the My 2 cents idea.
of course it was Glenn's 2C not ours!
been a good thread though.....

largest tides in the world, 10 freakin metres not to mention perfect geographical formations to actually utilise it.....

Crying shame

Luck favours the well prepared

VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539

Posted: 02:48pm 13 Apr 2010

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Hi All
Water has a lot of energy but we don't have enough of it to be practical, the only one I have seen that worked ok was at mount buffalo in Victoria it was driven from a lake on top of the mountain that filled a storage pond 2500 feet above the hydro turbine a 3 foot diameter pelton wheel the water feed was through 5 inch bore casings welded together, a major project, the water couldn't be shut of or it would blow the pipes out.
It was originally set up as a gold wash plant but that was closed due to damage from the silt getting into the river, it ran water for a number of years until the guy who owed the farm decided to use it to produce electricity.
It ran a 100 KW alternator with ease using a series of jets for load control.
I saw it in the mid sixties as I made some parts for him to alter the governor system. It may be still going and if so would be a real goldmine with the REC feed in that's around now.

My grandfather made an undershot water wheel 8 ft in diameter in a concrete race with only 20 ft head in the creek behind the house on the farm, it ran there for over sixty years it had a 32 volt generator that powered the house lights and fridge and also pumped water to the house garden. It got washed away about ten years ago in a big flood.
These things work if you have a good consistent supply of water but he cost of doing it with tanks and pumps doesn't seem practical to me, it would be cheaper to have extra batteries i the system, but not as much fun.

Also the Whivenhoe dam near to my place has a peak load system consisting of a dam that they pump full overnight ad use during peak load during the day, don't know the capacity but it is big, uses low head turbines as only 30 meters of head.

All the best

Bob

Foolin Around

KarlJ

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Joined: 19/05/2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 1178

Posted: 03:46pm 15 Apr 2010

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Well said Bob
agreed
Time to buy a property with a huge dam ontop of a 2500' hill......

dont think he would be eligible for the FIT but RECS as you say probably worth lots!
doh!

If it was 60's could be up for a new pipe by now with corrosion.....

Luck favours the well prepared

VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539

Posted: 12:13am 16 Apr 2010

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Hi Karl

Next trip down there I will go and see if it is still working, if they are power savvy they should have kept it going. The pipes where half inch wall thickness so would take a while to rust away, was already more than 50 years old when I saw it and no corrosion problems then, the only thing was they tried to turn it off without opening the diverter valve at the top and blew several lengths of pipe.

Unfortunately there isn't many places like that in Australia.

All the best

Bob

Foolin Around

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