Kelly's wavepool will run on the sun
When Kelly Slater unveiled his wavepool to the world in December, one of the frequent criticisms was about how much energy would be needed to power a commerical operation. The implication was that artifical waves powered by fossil fuels were an extravagance. Overnight, the Kelly Slater Wave Company has quashed those criticisms announcing its Central Valley California pool will be powered by the sun.
Businesswire is reporting that Slater’s wavepool will be “one of the first California businesses to partner with PG&E’s Solar Choice to go 100 percent solar, purchasing renewable energy with zero greenhouse gas emissions and lowering their carbon footprint.”
“We are committed to encouraging sustainable development at any site using our technology,” said Noah Grimmett, General Manager of the Kelly Slater Wave Company. “As part of this commitment, we are pleased that our first site in Central California is 100 percent powered by solar energy through PG&E’s Solar Choice.”
“This program allows Kelly Slater Wave Company to not only be a pioneer in wave technology," says Grimmett, "but also in supporting sustainable power initiatives as we act environmentally through an alternative to installing solar panels and fulfill our vision of building the best man-made wave.”
What this ultimately means is that Kelly is using energy produced from solar farms instead of coal produced energy. Not that he's installing solar panels on the site. It also means the strength or size of the wave won't be compromised because of the energy source, nor does it matter what time of day the wavepool is functioning.
The article also confirms that the Lemoore, California, pool will become a working wavepool - as opposed to a test site as some suspected.
Watch it one more time:
Comments
Wonder what the pricing difference is between the two? That still seems to be one of the major unanswered questions - how much will a wave pool like this cost to run? Because ultimately that's what will dictate the price of admission.
I can't see them just handing out info on internal costings and structures.
True. But then we surfers are a strange lot. We will happily pay thousands to travel to secluded locations in the search for that magic wave. They would obviously limit the number surfing at any given time, so you would be guaranteed to get some waves.
My only question is.....how big can they reproduce a wave that looks like that? Imagine pulling into a 12 foot wave that shape, and it just keeps going and going. However having seen the water cameraman standing in waist high depth, perhaps there would be some serious disclaimers to be signed before the masses would be allowed to destroy themselves.
Hmm PG&E seems to have a very chequered history to say the least .
this on beachgrit , in the name of Holy Slater , more marketing BS...
"Like in 1993, when they donated, via court order, $333 million, the largest direct action settlement in United States history, to residents of Hinkley, California after contaminating their groundwater with hexavelent chromium. How could they have known that storing toxic by-products in unlined pools would be bad for the environment? At least we got a Julia Roberts movie out of it.
Likewise the PG&E pipeline that exploded in 2010 in San Bruno, California, killing eight people. Sure, state inspectors had warned that the pipeline had faulty welds, and, yeah, PG&E subsequently increased pressure in the pipeline to meet demand, and yes, they were fined $1.6 billion in April of last year."
Holy Slater who are you really n bed with!!
Some credit is due for reducing the carbon footprint but how this place would ever cover costs or turn a profit is hard to imagine. Maybe with 20 condos as a surf resort!
Hey BB , what would be a guesstimate of a carbon footprint for all the Firewire and KSD boards going from Thailand to USA and Australia?
How do they calculate the CF
It is simply the total amount of greenhouse gases released in the production of something. Transport to point of sale should be included. My guess would be that imported boards would have a larger footprint but you need to be careful as there may be economies of scale in large production runs that save energy.
Its been discussed here before in regard to their timber tek range (link below) with both Mark Price CEO of Firewire and Michael Stewart from nonprofit Sustainable Surf contributing.
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2223...
Basically it weighs up, you also have to take into consideration with Timer tek and FST in my experience your going to get at least two to three times the life span out of the product LFT maybe double the lifespan if your lucky, in theory this means you consume less.
Like Mark says though if compared to a locally made eco friendly surfboard the local eco made one will obviously be out in front.
That vid never gets old.
Fully agree Indo.
Just rewatched it myself .
Only viewed it through the prism of the waves quality and its future potential previously, but it's actually a fun little session regardless.
Slater ripping.
Nothing outrageously groundbreaking, just ripping.
Love his understated power .
Also digging the lack of anxiety in his style outside the competition vest. A lot less harried than most pros surfing in front of a camera.
And his Stoke.
And, let's face it , the wave is amazing.
Hard thing surfing. The pointy tip of the capitalistic thrust. Big problems.
Pricks didn't get the bits for the camera there quick enough. Great life driving for a fast freight company. Discount wars. Take a pay cut... or... hey... see that new study, they finally figured out that sitting fucks ya back up mate. What time do you finish your shift mate, Yeh we can do sessions at 8.30pm... or 5am, your choice. Its best if you don't sit though, and every few hours...
Take a panadiene forte and get back to work ya lazy prick... I'm not paying you to fuck'n...
Somebody's gotta man the factories, make all the bits, or push the buttons. Chips, nuts, bolts, bits of this and that, keep the vans and cameras running. At a discount, bargain price too... profit... fuck'n buoy broke down now.
Who's fueling the jet, looks fuck'n hot out there... they reckon its 38 plus. The slack fuckers better be carefull with the boards too.! Great job, they got it good. Jetstar, yeh screwed it down to rock bottom... free bintangs too...
Cutting staff, you'll have to work longer double up shifts, well combine positions, increase productivity... they're trying to make me pay you, but we'll get around that.
Competition is hot... gotta make cuts... pull ya fingers out...or we'll get 'em serviced in Mexico...
Imagine if all the little overlooked, forgotten nuts, bolts, cogs quit... fuck this we'll go surfing! Fuck'n pricks are taking our waves... get back to making solar panels and fuck'n resin and jets, ya slack shitheads!!! Fuck... someone spewed in the fuck'n hand basin... where's the fucking cleaners...
Then of course the fuck'n boats are comin. Money grabbin' pricks. Yeh, great system, capitalism. Built some nice churches too. Works well... like low fat, all natural snakes.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=indigenous+rock+art&biw=1252&bih=604&...
These guys were time rich. They look healthy too. 60,000 years! You know what they say, 'time is money'! Try telling the courier driver that.. let alone the person mopping up the spew... or pushing the bintang buttons...
They haven't got two cents to scratch their arse!!! Backwards bludgers... fark... they cancelled me discount flight... where's the bar...
Great the news is on... not this bullshit... bomb the cunts!!! Fuck this, send em back where they came from!!! Fark... the stupid cunts lost me boards... and now the fuck'n camera's down...
Meanwhile on the North Sentinel Islands... backward cunts...
Capitalism, works great... the thrust, switched to autopilot, no stopping it now. Hello... listen you... I been waiting on the line for half an hour... can't you speak English... I already told the last idiot that... hurry the fuck up... I got a plane to catch, its a full moon...
So you spend 18 hours a day telling people the " correct" ( not NATURAL) way to lift pieces of cast iron inside an artificial cave under fluorescent lights and surrounded by man made reflective glass.
Wearing expensive shoes because Lifty's feet are too tender to endure the harsh rub of the linoleum floor.
All for a few coins.
And you wish to belittle those beholden to modern lifestyles that are removed from nature and you resent the encroachment of capatilism.
How's that working out for ya ?
Are you feeling belittled little blowy? Don't blame you. Bit too much truth for ya... mmmmmaaayyyteee... have another bintang... someone will clean up after ya yobbo.
Sounds expensive to me. Sorry if this derails this thread somewhat but I was speaking to one of the guys who is heavily involved in the wave garden project, we spoke about kellys project and he wasn't that afraid about it (I say afraid because its how I thought the wg crew would react) , he admitted it looked amazing but said that the wg project could produce that and more. He said it was simply a matter of lifting the floor of the dam and upping the power .....haha, maybe some uranium needed.. I asked how difficult it would be to lift the bottom of the dam he said its a time factor which lead him straight away to Kellys pool, time was / is his biggest enemy. He said they take up to 25 minutes to create a wave and are still scratching their heads on how to get more bang for your buck (could be propaganda, I know)
Cut a long story short, he wasnt fazed in the slightest and actually welcomed the new pool, what I got from the conversation was that the wave garden crew are still a long way ahead in terms of a finished product than the slater pool. Its should be an amazing next decade or so with this technology, Bodes well for getting rid of a portion of the crowds in the lineup these days...maybe.
Really? So why haven't they done just that yet?
Snowdonia instagram in comparing to Slaters pool say they can really only ' fine tune' what they already have.
Not sure Ben, i only spoke with him for about 15 minutes (Thought it might add some interest to the discussion) , but he was very confident they could pull it off.
Sounds to me like all of the pools are going to have the same problem of the after wave chop.
wave garden seem to have got the balance pretty spot on for selling waves to the mainstream but kelly hasnt. It seems like kelly and the gang got so excited by what they created they couldnt help throw the video on the net, vanity is a strange beast.
Does that include the balance for an extended unscheduled maintenance shut down @ Snowdonia? And the fact that Kelly hasn't sold any waves, only released a video, very similar to what wave garden we're doing with their prototype in Spain.
It didnt take them long to open after the videos started, how long till slater opens his?
Wait... what?? The first videos by wavegarden were online over 5 years ago but Snowdonia only just opened last year.
I'm not sure I'm understanding any of the points you're raising.
Righto, I guess seeing videos of all sorts of surfers riding waves 5 years ago, I thought they were open.
Absolutely stand corrected. What will be interesting is seeing how long it takes slayer to open his.
FL, well, the first instance I can find of Wavegarden was this article from April 2013. That's almost three years ago.
"Andrew Ross is Wavegarden's Australian partner, his company has secured the exclusive rights to the product here. "Only a rare few of us have ridden the wave," he said of the San Sebastian complex, "but this is going to completely change people's views about what is possible with a wave pool.""
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2013/04/05/wavegarden-about-bl...
First video is at the bottom of this next article, which came out in June 2013.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2013/04/05/wavegarden-about-bl...
The main global sound heard after Wavegarden opened Snowdonia was the sound of a tyre deflating as the hype dissipated in a massive puncture of underwhelm.
The overwhelming sentiment: yeah, I'd surf it if there was nothing else around.
As per CM, this Wavegarden video was uploaded 5 years ago.
Probably shouldnt have compared the two at the moment as they are two different beasts entirely, what I found interesting was the confidence of one of the players when he said they could do something very similar to slaters. Could be propaganda I guess.
But like Free highlighted, this thing might be a sell-out in the same proportions as evil witch Gidget. It's not good for surfing's soul - surfers who ride Cloudbreak and Sunset Beach know this.
Nah, I was pointing out the ironic contrast between your opinions and your actions.
BTW You'd better have a word with a few black elders mate.
They may have evolved over 40,000 years to be In perfect symbiosis with their environment, but their legs look a bit too skinny to concur with the perfect opinions regards leg strength that you've developed over the last 40,000 seconds.
You're bullshitting again blowjab, it shows that you are feeling belittled... again. Take it out on the 'eavy bag... huff and puff and blow down some bintangs at it... again... mmmmmaaaayyyteee...
No bullshitting Lifty, it's true mate.
You're living a lie to yourself.
Deifying the blackfellas naturalist existence cause you've built a castle of sand with your delusion to yourself that man needs to be inside a box , clench - jaw lifting and grunting his way through 4 hours of self flagellistic , impractical and unnecessary exertions to physically thrive in life.
All you've got to do is keep moving.
You've just got to look at the blackfellas to know that.
If you'd rather Spend 3500 hours a year inside your sweat box in the hope that you'll prevent an incident that may ( or may not ) ever occur, then knock yourself out.
But please don't post up your thoughts on how the world has sold its soul to technology, consumerism, rejection of natural order and conditioning while doing nothing but promoting the same .
All sermons delivered fresh from the least natural environment the world has ever known - the modern gymnasiam.
Spare us, and yourself .
Please.
PS . I'm not little Blowin.
I'm just right Blowin.
Gyms, weights regimes and supplements are for vain, vacuous minded parrots with little or no self esteem.
Go for a walk On the beach, a swim in the ocean , climb a tree or a hill.
Breathing fresh air and feeling the sun, wind and rain in your hair and on your skin.
That is all you, I and anyone has ever needed.
60,000 years can't be wrong.
BTW....aye is the agreement a pirate makes to his captain.
Eh is the word an Aussie uses to inflect implied agreement .
But keep trying Lifty.
We're all proud of your progress and hoping it will all come together for you in the end.
PPS...You don't have to hate on Kelly's wave just cause it's a right.
I'm sure you could go right, might be a little daunting at first but all it takes is the courage to have a go.
Love and best wishes
From The Blowin
Sounds like more 'eavy bag reflexin' bullshit blowjab. People ask for help. Even on here. If I can, I do it for nothing. I admit it all comes at price, surfing costs more though, I admit that. Best we acknowledge the truth, its the only way to start. Always someone has to pay for our capitalism. In the background, slogging their lives away, doing it on the cheap, for our discount fares, discount whatever... discount yobbos... bintangs? You know I had you at blax blowjab. Problems. Scenes in the desert, you know that son, it was never good to you... son... never for you barefoot in the desert, no good bullshitting about it... claimin' stuff again lil' blowjab. Classic though... blowy...we??? That's funny, heard it plenty, knew it would come son... no biggie... totally predictable, but still funny... squwark on your own two feet blowy... the numbers won't help you ... mmmaaaaayyyteee... aaaayyyeeee...
Blowin, I raise a protein shake with my tanned and sculpted upper arm in salute to your riposte(s) above.
Particularly:
"And you wish to belittle those beholden to modern lifestyles that are removed from nature and you resent the encroachment of capitalism"
Some may think that Gary is all muscle (it's easy to make that mistake, just look at me), but I've gone a few rounds with the ol' dictionary back in the day.
More philosophically: People ask Gary for help all the time too, Uplift - Optimal shades of spray tan, how deep the arm holes should go in their singlets, the acceptable amount of coconut oil to apply before going to a wedding. In these areas, my superior knowledge and insight is appreciated by the masses.
When I get called out on areas that may be outside Gaz's areas of expertise, I generally try not to devolve into fits of aggressive accusations so as not to devalue the areas in which Gaz can truly Make A Difference.
Anyway, are there some good cliffs around this Blax place you talk of? I don't mind a bit of hangliding when I get the chance.
'Blowin, nostrils flared and drippin' I try to raise a protein shake with my tanned and sculpted upper arm in salute to your riposte(s) above. But, faaark, me fucked hips collapse under the weight, and me toothpick pins snap... and I'm layin' on the floor twitchin' an' choking in proteen'
Come in Gaz you know I'd love to help.
'Agressive? Poor Pete... he never had much to work with did he Gaz!!! If only he knew the 'trainin' that went on in the powder room. He doesn't like that shit.
Back to smashin' and crackin' and bashin' an gruntin' and snortin' at the 'eavy bag, with ya mmmmmmaaaayytee, Gaz, working that reflex jabber... poor Pete. He doesn't like that shit Gaz.
Capitalism never worked Gaz, still doesn't. Relies on someone missing out. On inequality. Its snowballing out of control... oh shit sorry gaz shouldn't have mentioned snow... ya right mmmmmaaaayyyteee...
Reciprocity worked wonders though, a record that's never been matched. Don't keep fearing the truth Gaz.
Even from video's comparing what I've seen of wave garden(which you would assume is good footage) and Kellys wave its like comparing a surf board made from a tree log by kids in the jungle to a modern surfboard.
I havent surfed wavegarden or been there in real life but a guy that has been there and surfed it said it look ten times better in videos and in reality is its a gutless piece of fat crap that breaks fairly close to the structure.
Now even if Kellys wave is only half as good as it looks, i couldn't imagine people bad mouthing it too much.
For sure Indo. Despite the detractors, that last wave a 7 second tube to pull in again for another 17 seconds (and they were legitimate tubes imo) is pretty special. Who knows how it will go but in the here and now KS must be feeling pretty chuffed.
I'd assume it'll be powered by renewables, yeah?? Pmsl.... That was a given right? Or did it only become an issue when people started digging?
I check the KS wave over and over and then think about Free's Gidget sellout comparison and my Sunset session and Free surfing Cloudbreak and Uplift training hard to push the limits in big waves - Give me Sunset Cloudbreak and pushing the ocean limits over not real wave and over PNG waves as well.
Great, valid points there blowin. As usual, jealous old biff tannen is shown to be the bullshitter and liar that everyone knows he is... No credibility whatsoever.