Comment Well it's certainly better then what we have now.. (Score 1) 275
Most Power plants are close to some body of water, they draw in the water, de-mineralize it, deaerate it, add chemicals so that the ph level is about 10.5 or so, and add sodium phosphate. Unfortunatley the phosphate has a side effect. It's a chemical fertilizer and promotes alge bloom formation, but it's needed to keep undissolved solids from hardening and sticking to the inside of boiler shells and, well lets not get into that.
Anyway, for the most part, the blowoff from these powerplants are deposited back into whatever they are taken from, but, not before they undergo cooling and chemical treatment. This is obviously an expensive proposition. In canada they are required by law to keep their water till it returns to a cool state before putting it back into the sewer or lake, and many places have set up cooling ponds for just this. Now say they allowed the alge to bloom and harvest it from there, they would make up some of the costs of treating the water in the first place, which is VERY expensive, and it would have no immediate forseeable effects on the environment.
This would mean no more (or less at least) alge blooms in lakes and rivers as it would be harvested for cash and best of all, likley increase plant efficiency leading to us saving money (or maybe just more money for them =/ )
Anyway, for the most part, the blowoff from these powerplants are deposited back into whatever they are taken from, but, not before they undergo cooling and chemical treatment. This is obviously an expensive proposition. In canada they are required by law to keep their water till it returns to a cool state before putting it back into the sewer or lake, and many places have set up cooling ponds for just this. Now say they allowed the alge to bloom and harvest it from there, they would make up some of the costs of treating the water in the first place, which is VERY expensive, and it would have no immediate forseeable effects on the environment.
This would mean no more (or less at least) alge blooms in lakes and rivers as it would be harvested for cash and best of all, likley increase plant efficiency leading to us saving money (or maybe just more money for them =/ )
