TIME: A Spanish Island's Quest to Be the Greenest Place on Earth

[marmar]

A Spanish Island's Quest to Be the Greenest Place on Earth
By Lisa Abend / El Hierro


At the moment, the project that will transform the future of El Hierro doesn't look like much more than a hole in the ground. Or two, to be exact: one on top of a mountain, another smaller one down below, and in between, a long stretch of pipeline tinted the same color as the scrub that grows so abundantly on this volcanic island. But when this innovative wind-power system goes online at the end of 2011, it will turn El Hierro, the easternmost of Spain's Canary Islands, into the first inhabited landmass in the world to become completely energy self-sufficient. And that's just the first step in a plan that may make the island the most sustainable place on Earth.

Sound ambitious? Consider the source. El Hierro is located over 750 miles (1,200 km) from the Spanish mainland, and its stark, volcanic landscape harbors no coal or fossil fuels. Fresh water is scarce, and for electricity, its population of 10,000 has long depended on the diesel brought in weekly by tanker. Which is why, some 25 years ago, the islanders began thinking about ways to convert to renewable energy, using the two resources that they actually have a lot of: wind and water. Now, with oil supplies dwindling worldwide and the Fukushima disaster offering an all-too-present reminder of the perils of nuclear energy, El Hierro's hydro-eolic plant looks positively prescient.

"At first, it was simply an issue of becoming more self-sufficient," says Tomas Padrón, president of the Island Council, whose role is similar to that of a mayor's. "We were completely dependent on outside deliveries and could be cut off at a moment's notice. But then with the global-energy crisis, and climate change, and everything else that's happened, we've realized it has a lot more value."

The future power station is at once a marvel of engineering and remarkably simple in its design. Five windmills on the northeastern end of the island will power a pumping station that, when the wind is blowing, will drive water 2,300 feet uphill, from a small, 5 million-cubic-foot (150,000-cu-m) reservoir down by the shore to a larger, 19 million-cubic-foot (550,000-cu-m) reservoir snuggled into one of the island's volcanic craters. When the wind abates, water from the top depository will be released, along 1.8 miles (3 km) of mostly camouflaged pipes, into the bottom one, and the pressure of that falling water will drive six hydraulic turbines. In other words, El Hierro will combine the two resources in which it abounds to deliver a continuous supply of electricity, no matter the weather. "If we don't want to depend on fossil fuel, we have to have steady input and output," says Gonzalo Piernavieja, director of research and development for the Technological Institute of the Canaries, which designed the plant. "And the only way to do that is through massive storage. In this case, we're using nature's gifts, wind and sea water, for storage." ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2067716,00.html#ixzz1L6yGlcao

[NV Whino]

1. This is very cool

Not every place has the resources to go so totally green, but almost every place can do something. A combination of these technologies is the answer.

[Odin2005]

2. Cool, and very pretty place, too, going by the pic.