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March 6, 2008
Gavin Newsom Pushes Discredited Tidal Power Boondoggle
The point of government-imposed environmentalist measures is for insidious bureauweenies to increase their power and to posture. Whether they do society any good is doubtful but irrelevant. San Franfreakshow provides a case in point:
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday he still wants to submerge giant turbines below the waters of the Golden Gate Bridge as a way to generate energy for the city, despite a study that recently concluded the idea would cost tens of millions of dollars and is not financially feasible.
A study paid for by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission found that the turbines would cost as much as $15 million each and $750,000 a year to maintain. Though the technology would make it possible [to] create power by harnessing tides in the bay, the small amount of power the turbines would generate does not make paying the hefty price tag worthwhile, the report concluded.
Newsom, however, said the findings won't deter him from pushing ahead with the idea.
Other bureauweenies had better climb aboard this extravagant boondoggle — or else:
The mayor's push to drop turbines below the bridge became part of the recent controversy surrounding the high-profile firing of San Francisco PUC General Manager Susan Leal, who said she backed away from the proposal when she received the results of the study commissioned by her agency. City Hall insiders said her disagreement with Newsom over the future of tidal power was part of the reason Leal was ousted from her job late last month.
Since Newsom wasn't interested in the results anyway, they might at least have shown the taxpayers a little mercy by not wasting money on the study.
The San Francisco PUC spent about $150,000 on its study, which concluded that a tidal power project in the bay would not only be expensive to build and operate, but the limited amount of power it would generate would also be expensive. Power generated from the tides would cost between 80 cents and $1.40 per kilowatt hour, according to the study. Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s commercial rate for power, for example, is 12 cents per kilowatt hour.
Maybe raising the price of energy by over 1000% is part of a clever scheme to save the polar bears by repressing human activity levels.
On a tip from V the K.
Posted by Van Helsing at March 6, 2008 7:50 PM
Comments
Put all the homeless bumbs in SF on treadmills and require that they walk so far before getting handed thier social payments.
Posted by: Oiao at March 6, 2008 8:44 PM
Chase the money gtrail. Dollars to donuts, that putz Newsom will be getting something in return.
Posted by: Brooklyn Red Leg at March 7, 2008 5:06 AM
"San Francisco PUC General Manager Susan Leal, who said she backed away from the proposal when she received the results of the study commissioned by her agency."
There should be an award for the victims of "Moonbattery", you know... those who exercise caution, risk assessment, and actually do and read study results and make decisions based on common sense only to be fired by a moonbat mayor!!! Are there any intelligent people in the Bay Area? If there are, they certainly aren't running things.
Posted by: HoosierArmyMom at March 7, 2008 7:37 AM
Geez that guy's got a microphone complex.
Posted by: Farmer Ted at March 7, 2008 7:43 AM
Harnessing tidal power is still an interesting possibility. It needs to have more research done before it's a feasible option.
It's nowhere near ready for commercial use, but we shouldn't discount the possibility that someday it can provide useful power at a reasonable cost to install/maintain/operate.
Today is not the day though!
Posted by: J the C at March 7, 2008 8:20 AM
