Advice for Mayor Newsom in the Battle over San Francisco Tidal Energy

Here.

Excerpt:

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's philosophy. In 2006, city officials announced that they wanted to build turbines under the Golden Gate bridge to capture energy from tidal currents. At the time, they expected up to 38 megawatts (enough for approx. 38,000 homes). But now a new study by URS, an engineering firm, is saying that there would actually be just 1 or 2 megawatts produced at a cost of many tens of millions with high yearly maintenance expenses. "Power generated from the tides would cost between 80 cents and $1.40 per kilowatt hour, according to the study." For comparison, the Bay of Fundy has about 300 megawatts of potential.

Mayor Newsom has been recently quoted as saying: "I don't care about the arguments against it. I care about the arguments for it. I am going to find a way to make it happen." Granted, maybe he knows something that the public doesn't know, and if that is the case he should make that information available.