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hopefully the last thing I blog about areating the gulf of mexicoExecutive summary: runoff control is unworkably complex. Aeration will increase the capacity for life of the ocean, especially with all the free fertilizer that washes down from the agricultural regions. I think the end game of lots of independent wind-powered buoys is the eventual way to go, and I am shocked that I haven't read anything about the possibility of aerating hypoxic zones in the alarming news about them. On the way there though, a land-based station that pumps bubbles through big hoses to some bubble stations a few miles out from the beach (I don't know how far, but far enough out to do something. Ten miles? Twenty? Fifty?) would demonstrate the concept without the security-against-vandals problems, and without the establishment-unfriendly implementation of a large decentralized architecture. Compressed air works well as a mechanism for storing power. Apparently some wind farms use compressed air as a power storage buffer. Compressing air with wind makes sense. A small wind powered air compressor would be a welcome addition to the roof of any establishment (a mechanic's shop, for instance) that uses pnwumatic tools already. Attaching a pneumatic motor to a generator gives you compressed-air to electric power conversion when needed. It seems that a plan to "save" a hundred square miles that has been within the gulf of mexico dead zone every year recently by setting up five hundred aerating stations within the area would cost, hmm... four thousand dollars per station times 500 stations is two million dollars well within the budget of a government.
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text orignially entered 2008-10-05 - 6:51 p.m.