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A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
By Alyssa Ford, Utne
magazine, USA, July / August 2005
Why Alexander Gorlov's helical turbine should
help speed the demolition of dams
Hydroelectric dams kill fish, destabilize ecosystems, and make it hard
for river-dependent Native American tribes to get three squares a day.
Concerned activists, stymied by an unsympathetic Bush administration,
are swimming upstream just to get more "ladders" to help fish
navigate the locks. But according to OnEarth
(Spring 2005), a mechanical engineering professor at Northeastern
University in Boston has successfully tested a turbine so efficient in
generating energy that it could one day eliminate the need for these environmental
hazards.
OnEarth reports that professor Alexander Gorlov's helical turbine, a
device that's 100 inches long and resembles "an oversize beater from
an old hand-held mixer," can harness kinetic energy from any body
of moving water, including canals, open oceans, and rivers. So-called
free flow hydropower costs about $1,500 per kilowatt, roughly the same
as wind power, and the whirling turbines can harness up to 3,000 gigawatts
of power, which is 97 percent more efficient than any other current power
source. Preliminary tests also indicate that, given space, fish will swim
around the whirling turbines.
The Republic of South Korea installed a Gorlov turbine and plans to order
thousands more from a manufacturer in New Jersey, but the U.S. government
has not shown much enthusiasm for the invention, save for a research and
development grant in 1990. That's a shame, since there are many places
in the United States where an alternative way to generate hydroelectric
power could be beneficial. One is the Pacific Northwest's Klamath-Trinity
watershed, where, EcoNews (April 2005) reports, there has been a drastic
decline in the number of endangered wild salmon due to dam-related diseases
and low water flows.
Though the outlook for the Klamath River is grim (this year could be
one of the driest in the basin since 1961), there are plenty of forward-thinkers
who, like Gorlov, are working to make a difference. Nature Conservancy
(Spring 2005) reports that for the first time in more than 180 years,
the Neversink River in the Catskill Mountains is flowing freely. That's
because last October scientists and activists braved floodwaters to help
dismantle the Cuddebackville Dam, causing brook trout and American shad
to quickly swim some 40 miles away from where they had been trapped.
There's also a push under way to remove unused or crumbling dams. The
Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit American Rivers says that 60 dams were
removed in the United States in 2004, which is double the number demolished
in 2003. Most municipalities, understanding that dams often cost more
to repair than to destroy, have been eager to see them go. When the Embrey
Dam on the Rappahannock River was demolished in February 2004, onlookers
cheered wildly. It's a good guess that the newly freed fish were pleased
as well.
Tell me more
The Gorlov Helical Turbine
San Antonio-based GCK Technology owns the patent to the Gorlov helical
turbine. www.gcktechnology.com
Alexander's Marvellous Machine
OnEarth Magazine. http://www.utne.com/pub/2005_130/promo/11689-1.html
http://www.utne.com/pub/2005_130/promo/11689-1.html
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