There are over 50 methods of capturing wave power, and San Francisco officials are looking at all of them. Their quest is to light up San Francisco with power generated by ocean movement near the famed Golden Gate Bridge. The city's tidal energy project hopes to produce at least 10 megawatts of energy, with a potential of producing up to 100 megawatts.
Methods under consideration include capturing energy by "pitching" devices, "over topping" devices, "oscillating water columns" and "heaving" devices. Some methods even desalinate as they generate. Some serious obstacles stand in the way, the largest being that other alternative energy methods can run less than half the cost of sea-power, but the general sentiment for the tidal project remains positive.
San Francisco's political leadership, particularly mayor Gavin Newsom, is at the forefront of a number of other ambitious green initiatives.
And there are already results: the city's solar generation has increased fivefold since 1990, and greenhouse gasses have been reduced by 6 percent.
Questions can be sent to Jim Parks at jrparks@mac.com. To find out more about Jim Parks and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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