bkdelong

With all of the talk of NOLA and surrounding areas being absolutely demolished I can't help but keep thinking what an awesome opportunity for renewable energy solutions this is. Solar is a given - stick panels wherever possible. For an area that gets a lot of storms and wind, why not stick a few Wind Farms both off the coast and inland in various areas?

For an area near the Mississippi and other Rivers as well as the Gulf of Mexico, it is ripe for hydroelectric power plants. Why not also make use of the hydrothermic vents in the Gulf tho, at the moment, they may be too deep.

Turn this important, needed area for oil refinery and shipping into a shining example of clean, renewable energy.

As this is a brainstream of mine, it needs a token "crazy idea". Has anyone thought about using lightning as a renewable energy source? Or do we simply not have the technology to withstand and hold lightning charges yet? I mean, it can't be any worse than calling "nuclear waste" a result of a "clean energy" solution. I mean, what would happen if we relied solely on Nuclear energy? Where would we keep all the waste without effecting the environment, people who currently live in desirable dumping locations, and simply leave those sites be for hundreds of years?

This got sparked as I was trying to come up with a solar/wind solution to keeping various gadgets from flashlights to iPod shuffles to digital cameras charged while headed down South without relying on power needed for relief efforts.

NB: Like any good BrainStream, this is mostly editorial rather than factual otherwise it would be filled with links.