Electric Josh

Monday, April 15, 2002

Two pieces of news on the oil-burning front.

The first is that NASA claims to have found that a whole bunch of loose hydrogen is buried in the ground under about half of the Great Plains. Fuel cell junkies and geologists rejoice. (Link from slashdot)

The second is that there's a serious proposal afoot to stick a ton of windmills in the water off Cape Cod. (Link from the New York Times) One isn't quite sure what to think about the fact that the windmills will sort of dominate a noticeable chunk of Nantucket Sound (and what happens when the shoal they want to build these things on starts to shift?), but it's a pretty cool idea. (I actually think they should build these omnidirectional windmills that don't need to point in any particular direction, but I haven't been asked. Ah, now I learn they're called "vertical axis windmills." Makes sense.) Updated later: the company is called Cape Wind.

Note that neither combusting hydrogen nor spinning wind turbines generates any carbon dioxide. Nor does either one require stable autocracies and military presence across the Middle East. Neat! #