I think we've all seen some of the new tidal generators installed at various places around the world. It's a damn good idea as long as the ocean rolls in and out. Renewable energy, renewed four times a day. I won't make any jokes about gettin' energy from the ol' in-an'-out. Sure I won't...
Anyway, I was watching a show called "Road Trip: California's Corners" (DVD available) on one of my PBS stations last night, where Huell Howser is doing a series dedicated to finding the exact location of all five corners of my state, and they're not always right where they're supposed to be. His M.O. is to chat up the locals and see various offbeat spots of interest and find the corner via GPS in the last five minutes and plant a little Bear Flag. He was in Imperial Beach whilst looking for the southwest one.
What I found out, besides that the southwest corner of California is at the broken-down old border fence extending a few feet out into the Pacific through which Huell shook hands with a Mexican, was that tidal and wave generation is nothing new. I should have known.
It got me interested, so I googled up the Edwards Wave Motor that was installed on the Imperial Beach Pier in 1909 and discovered that various kinds of these things were all over the place. I discovered this fascinating article on some of the early experiments in this technology.
The upshot was that generally these contraptions didn't work and were dumped in the sea by storms that washed away the piers they were on.
The modern tidal generators rest on the waterway beds, pre-dumped so to speak, but they didn't have the technology to do that in the old days. Those old boys at least gave it a shot back in the infancy of harnessed electricity.
Interest in tidal generation waned for almost a century, but it's perked back up again due to the burgeoning realization ("Lights on in yer head, dipstick!") that burning fossil fuels and fouling the air just to boil water is no longer the best way to run your toaster.
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