Ed Sayre doesn’t like to look at things as “waste.” He prefers to look at possibility instead.
Sayre is a Los Gatos resident with 40-plus years of developing and building jet engines, space propulsion systems and nuclear power plants for General Electric. He offered his thoughts on the California Nuclear Green Farm as the May 20 speaker at the Campbell Rotary Club.
According to Sayre, the nuclear farm would be the most efficient way to provide California with environmentally clean energy and fresh water, securing the economic and social well-being of the state at a relatively low cost to the economy. The farm would also increase food production while reducing California’s carbon footprint.
The basis of the 50-year plan begins by putting nuclear power plants up and down California’s coast, using the Pacific Ocean as a resource. Desalinization plants would process seawater, using it to power and cool the 12 nuclear reactors on the farm.
“We’re looking to produce 1.5 million gallons of freshwater a day. That’s a pretty high target, but it’s possible,” Sayre said.
Hydroponic farms, used to grow produce, herbs and plants without soil, would be built around the desalination plants. Surrounding the hydroponic farms are aquatic farms.
The idea is to have the collection of farms circle the nuclear power plant in the middle. The farm would resemble a series of concentric circles.
Sayre said other countries such as Germany, France and England use hydroponic farms, and Japan is in the midst of doing developing its own.
“There are about 30,000 acres of hydroponic farms worldwide, but only about 800 acres in California,” he said.
Sayre said the waste from the hydroponic farms could be used to provide feed for the aquatic farms, and the waste from the aquatic farms can be processed to make fertilizer for the hydroponic farms.
“It’s not really waste,” Sayre said. “It’s an asset.”
Sayre estimates that the world’s aquatic farms will one day overtake cattle ranching in food production. He said it requires 7 kilograms of grain to produce 1 kilogram of live weight for cattle, compared to the 2 kilograms to produce the same live weight for fish. Producing a ton of grain requires 1,000 tons of water, Sayre added.
Sayre admitted his idea is up against tough competition from the oil industry.
“Fossil fuels account for 96 percent of the world’s commercial energy,” he said.
He noted how California was on the track to building nuclear power plants in the late 1970s but slowed on the initiative.
“If we kept it going, we would be in very good shape today,” Sayre said.
The Campbell Rotary Club hosts a speaker every Tuesday on topical issues at its luncheon program at EMQ Children and Family Services, 251 Llewellyn Ave., 12:15-1:30 p.m. The public is welcome to join.