SFist Tonight
Week Around the Ists
SFist Tonight
Using his inner Poseidon powers, Mayor Gavin Newsom promises to harness the fury of the sea for energy before he leaves office. At least on a demonstration basis, that is. (First that bizarre brussel sprouts garden patch in front of City Hall, now this. The science fair-ification of San Francisco is most amusing, isn't it?)
All part of his wind-and-sea energy plan, Newsom declares from high above:
I don’t want to leave office — and I have to at a certain point — without having a pilot demonstration project actually in the water, generating electricity ... I'm not leaving this particular office, even if it means running for Contra Costa supervisor, until this is done.
(Oh, snap on the Contra Costa bashing, Gav. Awesome.)
San Francisco will start to test Ocean Beach's wave-power potential (which, as any well-worn surfer can tell you, suuuucks) later this month.
In related verdigris news, our SUV-driving, fire lane-parking Mayor accepted an award from ICLEI today (for, ahem, the city's effort to combat climate change), citing that San Francisco has reduced emissions by 5% since 1990.
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He truly is a renaissance man!
How does he do it?!
Hey Gav,
Contra Costa has far surpassed SF, you could never get a job there. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Hey Don't forget the homeless before you leave office (or should we say... get booted out of office!
I continue to be confused by how becoming a Contra Costa County supe would not be a departure from 'this particular office'. Does anyone know what either a) I'm misunderstanding, or b) Newsom actually intended to say? My guess is that he meant to say something like 'I'm not running for Governor/President/Pope until X.' But perhaps he's just revealing the secret Contra Costa cabal that runs San Pancho behind the façade of City Hall.
OK - I think everyone was on board with the idea of capturing tidal energy under the bridge, but there is going to be significant opposition to installing machines in the waves out at Ocean Beach. The sand bottom waves that thousands of surfers (yes, it is that popular now) use for recreation at Ocean Beach require the free flow of sand up and down the beach to form. Putting any substantial and permanent construction in the middle of that will disrupt the natural flow of sand up and down the beach and will more than likely completely eliminate one of the main surf recreation resources in the area. History has shown there have been countless marine construction projects (breakwalls, marinas, etc.) around the world that have completely ruined nearby surf resources. How would you like it if they put an oil well in at Dolores Park that turned all the grass brown and smelly so that you didn't want to go there anymore? You have to understand that it takes a very rare combination of bottom contour, swell window, and wind conditions to create a surfing wave so that the majority of the coastline is not even surfable. There are many miles of beaches around here that are completely devoid of rideable surf due to bottom contour issues and these areas should be explored for wave machines, but not at Ocean Beach which is one of the most viable surf resources in the area.