XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com   
      
   Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)  wrote   
   > Rod Speed wrote   
   >> Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)  wrote   
   >>> Rod Speed wrote   
   >>>> Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)  wrote   
      
   >>>>> As for solar, you run into the power storage problem.   
      
   >>>> Yes.   
      
   >>>>> Need super-batteries.   
      
   >>>> No, pumped water works fine.   
      
   >>> Still a problem in places where you don't have enough water,   
      
   >> Not with national grids.   
      
   > Even with national grids to an extent.   
      
   No.   
      
   > Switching over   
      
   There is no switching over, solar is just put into the grid   
   when more is generated than is being used in the solar site.   
      
   > and transmitting power long distances   
      
   Power isnt transmitted over long distances,   
   it in fact stops the transmission of some of   
   the power over some of the distance when   
   the solar is used locally by other than the   
   solar generating site.   
      
   > has a number of challenges inherent in it.   
      
   Very practical to deal with tho.   
      
   The main problem with solar done like that   
   is that it isnt necessarily as cheap as getting   
   the power from the best of the non solar   
   power generation systems.   
      
   >>> Salt water's nasty on most machines,   
      
   >> Not if they are designed to handle them.   
      
   > Few are really designed to handle it, though.   
      
   Those that use sea water are.   
      
   >> Ships handle it fine.   
      
   > Actually, they don't.   
      
   Actually, they do.   
      
   > Salt water is a terribly destructive substance   
      
   But it is completely routine to use materials that are   
   not destroyed by it.   
      
   > and the cause of the majority of maintenance costs in marine fleets.   
      
   That is just plain wrong. In spades with the systems that are   
   designed to not be destroyed by sea water in the first place.   
      
   That isnt always done with ships, because they are often   
   replaced for other reasons so there is no point in using the   
   most resistant to corrosion approaches with most of them.   
      
   > It eats away even the best ships without constant maintenance,   
      
   Bullshit with the best of the metals and plastics.   
      
   > and I was talking about turbines -- moving components, not just solid   
   > hulls.   
      
   And yet there are plenty of tidal power systems that do not need constant   
   maintenance because they are designed properly in the first place.   
      
   > Moving components and heated salt water usually means destruction of the   
   > components.   
      
   Not when they are designed properly in the first place.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)