Only *NOW* do the Japanese people learn that they didn't need nuclear for CO2 reductions.

[kristopher]

12. The "Seatwirl" has a very, very limited future as a device to harvest wind.

Their website has no technical information so its storage capabilities cant be evaluated, so it may have some potential to store energy from horizontal axis wind turbines, but its vertical axis design means it is dead in the water as a device to harvest wind.

The problem is related to both 1) how high you can lift the blades into the airstream and 2) how large of an area the blades can harvest energy from. The altitude is critical because the force is a cube of the wind speed and even a hundred feet higher makes a big difference in total yearly output. The area is also important because you can go much, much larger with a HAWT than with a VAWT.

1) The power output of a wind generator is proportional to the area swept by the rotor - i.e. double the swept area and the power output will also double.
2) The power output of a wind generator is proportional to the cube of the wind speed - i.e. double the wind speed and the power output will increase by a factor of eight (2 x 2 x 2)!
...

Power = 0.5 x Swept Area x Air Density x Velocity^3

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Calculation-of-Wind-Power.htm

The barges are a practical way of moving offshore wind into deep water where the big challenge is anchoring. The ocean bottom drops off dramatically there and it is extremely rocky. They have very little near shore shallow water like the East Coast of the US.

One of the best renewable resources is geothermal. Iceland, another very volcanic mountainous island, gets 81% of its energy from geothermal and hydro.