4 ms·
This is a fun concept with potentially even more interesting consequences. Using the ocean as a giant heatsink would result in a water temperature slightly high
by _wmd 10y ago
This is a fun concept with potentially even more interesting consequences. Using the ocean as a giant heatsink would result in a water temperature slightly higher than elsewhere, I wonder if over time it would suffice to attract the attention of non-local aquatic life, or affect the migratory habits of the existing species
- Scaevolus 10y agoPower plants already vent excess heat into rivers and oceans. Changes in temperature are usually bad for aquatic life, unfortunately. :-( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_pollution
- ryao 10y agoThe same effect occurs when getting into a hot car. You gasp for air.
- thephyber 10y agoNuclear power plant water exchangers in both California and Sweden have attracted blooms of jellyfish[1], who then clogged the heat exchangers and caused the power plants to cut power output to mitigate the efficiency loss. [1] http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/jellyfish-shut-down-massive-nuclear-power-plant http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/jellyfish-shut-down...
- baking 10y agoLooking at this more closely, it would seem that the primary test they were doing with this was the effectiveness of the external heat exchangers. They had one rack consuming 27kW maximum, but they had 5 large external heat exchangers (of two different designs) and all kinds of external tubing and valves to manage the cooling fluid flow. Seems like overkill unless they were running tests on the effect of different operating temperatures on biofouling and vice versa.