Answer: It’s generally more efficient to have a single, larger generator at the bottom of the mountain than a series of smaller cascading generators. Here’s why: However, there are some potential advantages to a cascading system in specific situations: In Conclusion: While there might be specific niche scenarios where a … Continue reading
Category Archives: Water
Hydrogen Needed to Replace the California & Colorado Aqueducts
Southern California’s Water Most of southern California’s water is imported. The California Aqueduct delivers up to 4.2 million acre-feet, the Colorado River Aqueduct 3,069.6 acre-feet, and the Los Angeles Aqueduct 275,000 acre-feet, for a combined total of 4,478,069.6 acre-feet of water per year. Since 1 acre-foot = 1233.5 m3, 4,478,069.6 … Continue reading
Cost of Pumping Water in California
The cost to pump water over vast distances is enormous. For example, California’s State Water Project relies on a series of pump stations to carry water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the southern part of the state. The most powerful, Edmonston Plant, requires 14 gigantic pumps with a combined … Continue reading
Water, Hydrogen, Real Estate & the Dollar
Background It is indeed remarkable the propensity of our esteemed decision makers to ignore scientists’ warnings. Case in point, the March 1912 issue of Popular Mechanics correctly predicted that coal burning would accumulate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and cause a greenhouse effect. Did the industrialized countries heed? The answer … Continue reading
Accelerating Melting of Himalayan Glaciers
A study published in the journal Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed publication, revealed that ice in the Himalayan glaciers is melting at a rate 10 times higher than the average rate over past centuries, far more rapidly than glaciers in the rest of the world. All told, Himalayan glaciers have now … Continue reading
A California Template
January 22, 2017 Quotation ‘We have nearly 100 years’ worth of natural gas and more than 250 years’ worth of clean, beautiful coal.’ President Donald Trump The Situation California, long the nation’s trendsetter, is a land of extremes. It has the highest summit and the lowest natural depression in the … Continue reading
Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Bill
BackgroundThe Senate recently approved a bipartisan 1-trillion infrastructure bill that earmarked 8.3 billion for water projects in the drought-stricken West. Assuming the House concurs and the President signs it into law, the bill will appropriate 1.15 billion for improving water storage, transport infrastructure and projects to replenish aquifers, 1 billion … Continue reading
China’s Water Problem
On February 17, 2012, an article in the Shanghai Daily reported that 40 percent of China’s rivers are seriously polluted, two thirds of Chinese cities are “water needy,” 300 million people in rural areas lack access to drinking water, and 20 percent of rivers are too toxic to even touch. In response, … Continue reading