Cempaka Maritime, Marine and Fisheries: Salt could shake up world energy supply

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

(Live Kryon Channelings was given 7 times within the United Nations building.)

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Salt could shake up world energy supply

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

TOFTE, Norway (Reuters) - Only up to powering light bulbs so far, "salt power" is a tantalizing if distant prospect as high oil prices make alternative energy sources look more economical.

A view of an industrial estate at Tofte near Oslo, Norway, March 2, 2008, where
state power group Statkraft will build an experimental "salt power" plant in 2008
(REUTERS/Alister Doyle)

Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water -- one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake -- are due on stream this year and may point to a new source of clean energy in estuaries from the Mississippi to the Yangtze.

The experiments, which seek to capture the energy released when fresh and salt water are mixed, build on knowledge that has been around for centuries -- in one case imitating the process of osmosis used by trees to suck water from their roots.

Although they are far from being economically viable, if eventually successful they might help a long-term quest to diversify away from fossil fuels such as coal and oil, widely blamed for stoking global warming.

"We might well be able to find new promising solutions such as generating power naturally from osmotic forces occurring when salt and fresh water are mixing," Norwegian deputy Energy Minister Liv Monica Stubholt said in a speech earlier this month.

And rivers flow around the clock, an advantage compared to variable wind or solar power.

Oil, currently trading not far from a record $112 a barrel, is forecast to peak this year as a U.S. slowdown reduces demand, but analysts polled by Reuters in February still saw the average price above $80 in 2010.

The U.N. Climate Panel said in 2007 energy sources such as waves, tidal power or salt are a long way off -- unlikely to make a significant contribution to overall power needs by 2030.

WARMER ESTUARIES

The science at the heart of the projects is the fact that when salt and fresh water mix at river mouths, they are typically warmed by 0.1 degree Celsius (0.2 Fahrenheit). Dutch scientists say such energy at all the world's estuaries is equivalent to 20 percent of world electricity demand.

The plants may support hopes the technology can overcome hurdles, the most significant of which is poor cost-effectiveness of the membranes used in the process.

In Norway, power group Statkraft, which says it is Europe's top producer of hydro and wind energy alongside Electricite de France, is building a test plant costing $20 million.

"Ours will be the world's first saline power plant based on osmosis," said Stein Erik Skilhagen of the state-owned company.

The plant, at Tofte on the Oslo fjord, will have output of up to about 5 kilowatts -- enough to run household appliances such as washing machines or heaters or a few dozen lightbulbs.

The Dutch Centre for Sustainable Water Technology (Wetsus) will also in three to four months start a pilot "blue power" test at IJsselmeer in the Netherlands, from where water flows into the sea.

"At the start, it will be on the scale of 100 watts...but we aim at this salt factory to obtain 1-5 kilowatts within one year," said Jan Post, a researcher at Wetsus.

LIGHTBULBS TO POWER PLANTS

The Norwegian and Dutch plants use different systems but both depend on membranes placed between the salt and fresh water, which are currently prohibitively expensive and highly energy-intensive to produce.

"The Achilles' heel for this process is that there is no commercial membrane," said Menachim Elimelech, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at Yale University in the United States. "It's not even close to being economical."

The membranes are similar to, but thinner, than those used at many desalination plants, when sea water is pressed against membranes that allow only fresh water through in a process known as reverse osmosis.

Makers of membranes such as General Electric, Dow Chemical, Hydranautics or Japan's Toray Industries focus most on membrane technology for desalination -- a market growing by about 15 percent a year worldwide.

Ellen Mellody of GE Infrastructure, Water and Process Technology said the company has "an aspirational goal" of producing fresh water from salt through membranes at a cost of 10 cents per cubic meter, down from 70 cents to a dollar.

Asked about prospects for a separate market for power-generating membranes, she saw one "potentially, but not for about 5-10 years".

The Norwegian project will include 2,000 square meters (21,530 sq ft) of plastic membranes, through which fresh water will be sucked into salt water by osmosis.

Osmosis' power was shown in 1748 when French physicist Jean-Antoine Nollet put a pig's bladder filled with alcohol in a trough of water. The bladder swelled and burst -- the more concentrated liquid draws pure water into it.

At Tofte, the power exerted by salt water sucking in fresh water is equivalent to water falling 270 meters in a waterfall. The only emissions are brackish water.

Unlike the osmosis of the Norwegian system, the Dutch scheme captures salt particles which give off electrical currents.

Yale's Elimelech said a full scale plant would demand membranes covering perhaps 100 acres, at risk of damage by pollutants dissolved in the river or the sea.

Also, filters have to be in place to avoid sucking in fish and there are environmental concerns about drawing water away from estuaries, perhaps threatening plants and creatures in the area.

"The membrane is the challenge," agreed Skilhagen. "In tests we have come over three watts per square meter (of membrane), but we have to reach five. When we do that it will be industrially interesting."

The Dutch project is close to producing two watts per square meter of membrane. "In theory, both techniques use the same energy source and you could in theory get the same amount of energy out," said Sybrand Metz, project leader at Wetsus.

The Dutch government, utility Eneco and Redstack research group are also making a feasibility study of a plant on the Afsluitdijk dam between the IJsselmeer and the Wadden Sea, with a 10-50 kilowatt installation to be built that could lead to a 200 megawatt capacity if it works.

"Membrane-based technologies are voracious energy consumers," said France's Veolia, which runs huge desalination plants. It wants to cut energy consumption of membrane desalination by 80 percent over 15 years.

-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on:

http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/

(Editing by Sara Ledwith)

Blue energy: water power