British Science Museum says that the programme is capable of generating as much as 5 million more litres of fresh water in a day. This new technology enables solar power to generate electricity as well as to purify water at the same time.

Out of several other programmes which are a current part of the “Water Wars” exhibition by the British Science Museum, ITN News has singled this one out and is also featuring an online overview of the same.

The European Commission is funding this programme under the EU, 7th framework programme and its studies were carried out in the Pentakomo village by the CYI (The Cyprus Institute). It submitted its final reports in June 2010 after the research for the same began in November 2008.

Mirrors placed at strategic locations lead to reflection and the focus of sunbeams on a central receiver’s surface, thus generating CSP. The receiver stores the energy after converting it from solar to thermal. Water is converted to steam by this thermal energy and steam in turn generates electrical energy when passed through steam turbines.

Simultaneously, the excess energy is efficiently used for water desalination through evaporation. Had it not been for this newly developed efficient model in the energy field, the surplus energy which is now used to desalinate water would have gone down the drain.

Project researcher Georgios Zittis said that this model exhibits the unique feature of producing water and electricity at the same time. Furthermore, it allows you to choose between water and electricity production and focus on the one which reports more demand at a given time. The two developments are extremely innovative and path breaking. He said that after the water is converted to steam, users can opt to either go ahead with the energy transformation or reserve the energy for the late hours.

Simultaneous occurrence of these two processes is the much-awaited solution for many scientists, as it is expected to solve crucial problems such as droughts and energy shortage on earth. According to ITN News, availability of more desalinised water all over the globe would result in more farm produce which in turn would take care of hunger issues.

A CYI source said that the Mediterranean region still lacks such a revolutionary invention and a technology full of immense promise. After reviews of its technology and checks to determine feasibility done over a period of two years proved that this programme was indeed doing justice to its costs, the government has approved a small-scale implementation of the project. The expenses to implement the plant on a full scale will be accommodated in its next budget, as a commitment by the government.

Source: Cyprus Mail

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The First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, declared at Edinburgh Castle that although the contract did not cover an exact rate, it is known that AWS has secured itself the equivalent of hundreds of millions.

Nevertheless, the chief executive of AWS, Simon Grey, informed The Herald that the startup had released new stakes and sold those of several minority shareholders to seal the deal, but he refused to specify the identities of these shareholders. Grey revealed to the media that a few of them left carrying hard cash with them. He added that this is possibly “a first” in the wave energy industry of the United Kingdom.

The Herald acquired some papers from Companies House that record a list of AWS’s stakeholders, which include Isleburn, Scottish Co-investment Fund, Shell Technology Ventures Fund, Tesus Energy and Credit Suisse Client Nominees.

Isleburn is responsible for manufacturing the wave power device of AWS and is functioning at Nigg yard on Cromarty Firth. According to the findings of The Herald, Grey is a stakeholder as well, but he is tied with a “golden handcuff” agreement that prevented him from quitting his current job.

With its headquarters situated at Inverness, the nautical renewable energy startup will boost its labor force from 14 to 30 workers to accelerate the enhancement of AWS-III – its “doughnut-shaped” machine that is designed for ocean wave energy conversion.

Paris’ Alstom has formerly supplied ScottishPower with turbines for its Whitelee and Clachan Flats wind energy plants, but the contract with AWS denotes the first wave power investment of this France’s leading engineering company.

In the previous year, a small-scale testing of a wave energy generator model was conducted in Loch Ness. Following Alstom’s “multi-million” endorsement, AWS will install and assess a full-scale, one-cell wave machine. Next, the startup plans is to introduce the model of a ring-shaped float (60 meters in diameter) equipped with twelve wave absorber cells and a generation capacity of 2.5 MW, which exceeds the typical wave-energy level.

The first wholly operational AWS-III is planned to be installed in 2014, offshore from Orkney. Eventually, the startup aims to dispatch its first four-device array into the territorial sea of Scotland.

Drifting on the ocean’s surface, the AWS-III converts the undulating movement of the waves into electricity by powering several turbines in the machine. The forward-backward motion of the air that is being pushed inside by the waves is the force used to generate electricity.

Grey asserted that Alstom has selected AWS to achieve the status as “number one” in the wave energy industry following its achievement in attaining an unquestionable position in the hydro energy industry.

He emphasized that the supports AWS receives from both Alstom and the Government of Scotland will enhance the startup’s present achievements and will significantly stimulate the speed of the industrial advancement of their expertise. In due course, the deal will benefit the entire Scottish wave power sector.

Up to now, the startup has been relying on business, government and public entities to fund its research and expansion projects. During 2010, Scottish Co-investment Fund of the Scottish Enterprise and the Shell Technology Ventures Fund injected the company with a two million pound endorsement, whereas the Government of Scotland declared a 1.4 million pound investment from its Wave and Tidal Energy: Research, Development and Demonstration Support (WATERS) program. In the previous year, the Technology Strategy Board that operates under the supervision of the British Government offered a 350,000 pound endowment to the startup.

Source: Herald Scotland

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Mr. Woods acknowledge the talent of Mr. Morris and said that two heads are better than one. They are eager to make the best-out of our water sources of energy. He also said that two-thirds of our planet is made up of oceans compromising water and with such large energy reserves, we should develop methods to use it with up most efficiency. This would assure potential energy resources for future.

Mr. Morris praised his company EMEC by saying that EMEC have more marine energy converters connected to the by grid than most of its potential competitors. Moreover, EMEC has gained a vast amount of knowledge in its 8 years of experience of using marine energy sources with high efficiency.

It is also expected that this tie-up would also create a lot of jobs in the UK. Since research and tests are already being carried out, now, the same tests will be carried out in other countries as well and research sectors. This will expand in the years ahead. By 2020, around 10,000 new jobs are expected to be created.

EMEC is located in Orkney, Scotland. This site offered great benefits like grid connection, wave and tidal currents, harbor facilities and also, centre of excellence since local community is familiar with this project. The facilities at EMEC were expanded in 2010 and EMEC currently has around 11 projects in hand.

Furthermore, the current consumption at EMEC uses five cabled births at the wave site and seven at the tidal site. Also, new facilities are being developed to test newer projects at lower scales and less challenging environmental conditions.

While FORCE is located at bay of fundy in nova Scotia, Canada, which offers the highest tides in the world can harness around 2500 MW of energy, which is more than enough to satisfy the energy requirements of the surrounding area. FORCE is also addressing newer issues and has many interesting plans in its forecast like hosting tidal technologies in 2012, making a submarine cable.

This agreement will strengthen the developments of both the companies while bringing out the best in both the organizations. This will make research and application easier as well as more beneficial. The total project cost of this joint venture is expected to cross $ 100 million.

This partnership will also have knowledge sharing as one of its components. As more energy can be harnessed in a shorter time and with more efficiency due to leadership of both the companies in their own sectors. It is expected that soon we will move towards commercialization which would be beneficial to all.

Non renewable source of energy is getting depleted, but this shouldn’t be a problem as renewable power is paving the way, towards commercialization. So an ideal substituted is emerging.

Thus, this partnership is looked at, with hope and confidence. The two giants coming together will surely make an impact on the renewable energy market by harnessing an abundance of marine energy, in an ecological and efficient way.

Source: Click Green

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Background

Hydropower is a genuine technology which is also the biggest source of renewable energy. It is contributing to 20% of the global electricity production. Hydro-electric power-plants are of huge size covering large areas and do frequently require a significant capital investment. These power plants also affect the local ecology when the related dams are flooded.

Field of Invention

This kind of invention has a certain connection to a dam system where hydroelectric power is generated by channeling a hydraulic flow from an area which has water catchments into a hollow inflow column.

This innovative creation of the century is based on the basic principle of hydro electric production, which you can be seen in conventional dam constructions. This type of construction uses Pelton turbines, Francis turbines and Kaplan turbines. Small sized Micro hydropower system, that produces less than 100kw are very cost effective. They can be used to produce renewable energy in small village areas close to rivers or streams.

Comparative advantages of the Invention

The present hydroelectric dam takes water into a pipe and changes static hydro energy into hundreds of MW of strong hydro energy. The dam does it by rotating a turbine as well as generators, whereas the uniqueness of the inflow dam column is to take the flow of water into each column and convert hydro energy into electric power in the small capacity of tens of kW.

Some other benefits as compared to conventional dam-based and tide-based hydro electric systems are as below:

Flexibility of design: This system is very flexible in size; configuration also can be manufactured and installed, operated in one model for various sites with less investment.

Scalability of the units: Numerous units can be laid on the same site for accurate or scalable function thus covering only a tiny surface area.

Natural force is used: The system is still using water, gravity and natural water pressure. It does not depend on waves and currents.

Portability of the system: The system can be easily installed, serviced and finally removed without any help severe ecologically damage to the infrastructure as well as the dam.

An uninterrupted operation: Setting up of a network is very easy as it can use different inflow Dam units. In addition, the system can be maintained on a unit per unit basis, without having to interrupt the whole system in case unit needs maintenance.

Maintenance cost is less: Its maintenance cost is very low.

Proven realizable technologies: It is an approved technology which is used without bypassing any engineering or physic principles. You can also say that, there is no technological complication linked with this specialized hydro-system.

Source: Eco – Business

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Skysail, a German company, has been Cargill’s choice in teaming up for the development of the aforementioned 3,400-square-foot kite for the ships.

According to Cargill’s Head of Ocean Transport G.J. van den Akker, when sailing conditions are ideal, the use of the kite could help significantly reduce the use of fuel.

Akker claimed, 90% of global trade of physical resources is being transported through the shipping industry. He further stated that in this world filled with limitless resources, environmental awareness is a very sound business judgment.

If the kite’s potential would be fully utilized, the atmosphere would be free of approximately 100 million tons of carbon dioxide coming from the German vessels’ emission which is, more or less, 11 percent yearly.

Ocean Power Technologies, a British wave energy company, has revealed a new innovation of power source, in the form of buoys, intended to provide energy sufficient for 150 homes.

The company declared that this technology was operational in the United Kingdom while in the United States, off the coast of Oregon, progress is under way in the implementation of the said wave technology.

Source: UPI

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Ian Marchant said to the Scottish Press and Journal newspaper that Scotland is ideally position to exploit renewable sources of energy.

He claims that the expertise that has expanded through offshore during the recent 4 decades has fostered unique expertise placing Scottish offshore energy experience ahead in the field.

He says that this know-how is transferable. Scotland can easily transfer its expertise to other countries, including the rest of UK.

MR. Marchant says that there is great scope for the renewable industry. Transferring know-how can create thousands of clean-tech jobs. He also claims that “It doesn’t take rocket science to see that Scotland’s on and offshore renewable resources can be translated into energy flows of European significance,”

In addition, a reported issued by Friend of the Earth stated that Scotland can end its dependency on typical thermal power by 2030. The emergence of innovative UK producers like Rapid Electronics is providing innovative energy-saving technology. Energy-efficient technology help Scotland to go to a further step towards the growth of their renewable industry

Source: Rapid Online

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Aguçadora Wave Park is the world’s first industrialised wave farm, and it is situated in Portugal close to Póvoa de Varzim. The farm has been operating since the 23 of September 2008. The plant does currently have 3 Pelamis P-750 machines which can produce a capacity of 2.25 MW. However, the wave farm is expected to be expanded in its second phase from 2.25 MW to 21 MW of wave power. This will be derived from using additional 25 Pelamis machines.

Wave Power in the United Kingdom

The 20th February 2007, the Scottish Executive announced its will to provide funding to marine power in Scotland. They are going to produce a wind farm which is expected to become one of the world’s largest wave farms, with a total capacity of 3 MW. This energy will be generated from 4 Pelamis machines.

There is another wave farm named as Wave Hub, which has been set to be established in the north coast of Cornwall, England. The project was accepted for funding in June 2007. There are already four operators interested in setting up wave power devices up to a capacity of 20 MW.

Wave Power In U.S

There are currently no large wave farms in the coasts of America. However, the President of Trade Association Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition says that there is a total wave power potential of “252 million megawatt hour a year” off the coast of the United States. There hasn’t been a steady step taken to develop wave farms but there are indeed lots of research and investment being provided by the federal for the field.

The largest national utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric Company did the 18th of December 2007 pronounce its will to buy power produced from waves. This was singed under some of California’s renewable energy restrictions. In the state of California, utility companies are required to produce 20 percent of their total electricity supply from renewable energy sources as per this year (2010). The law is likely to be enforced during the years to come to maybe 40 percent by 2020 and henceforth.

A total of $200 million in federal funds was provided under the Marine Renewable Energy Research & Development Act of 2007. The fund is meant to scrutinize the potential of wave energy technology for the period 2008 to 2012.

America’s Department of Energy (DOE) is also responsible for providing a $50 million of fiscal funds for research, development, creation and commercial application of so called ocean energy. For the year 2008, there were 14 institutes that received fiscal allocation. The appealing institutions were:

1. Oregon State University
2. University of Hawaii.

Some ocean energy projects initiate in America can be found at the coastline of California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York. Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company of Seattle is the company which has applied for the development of these wave- at the Federal Energy Regulatory commission.

You might want to read: World’s Largest Wave Power Station Being Built In Sweden

Source: Wikipedia.org

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1. Hydro Power

Hydropower has been used for years. Countries like Canada and Norway depends heavily on hydropower. However, hydropower is limited to certain regions and there need to be large-scale potential to make it efficient. In the world’s agenda of expanding renewable energy sources hydropower might not be considered as fashionable as wind and solar energy. In the Caribbean, there is a potential for hydropower but the cost is too exhaustive.

2. Geothermal Energy

Earth’s inner temperature is roughly 9000 degrees fahrenheit. The temperature slowly decreases as we move nearer to the surface. However, the variation of temperature below the surface does exceedingly fluctuate. Geothermal energy makes use of this particular heat. Rainwater sips into the crust of the earth and this water is converted into hot stem. In some countries like in Iceland the water comes back to the surface in hot springs and geysers.

With solar energy the key is to tap into the unlimited sunlight striking earth’s surface. However, for geothermal power the trick is to find suitable regions to drill. There are mainly three ways that hot water can be converted into electricity. The first method would is to use a steam generator to convert steam directly to electricity. Nonetheless, water at a temperature of 300 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit can be converted into electricity through a Flash Power Plant. In such a system hot water is practically flashed into steam. The third method would be where the water temperature is roughly below 220 degrees fahrenheit, and a Binary Power Plant is used. In such a plant hot water is used to heat fluids, which have a lower boiling point to produce steam. The water, once used is re-fed into the heating source under the ground.

The actual capacity of geothermal power plants is above 9,000 MW. The cost of generating energy from geothermal sources is similarly to wind energy. Recently, a study carried out by MIT reported that in the US alone the capacity of geothermal energy could be increased to 100,000 MW. However, such an expansion would require an investment of approximately one billion dollars.

Geothermal energy can definitely turn into a major source world’s energy supply. A positive advantage of this source of energy is that geothermal power plants can also adjust the supply of energy to requirements. It is thus considered more reliable and consistent. This is something both solar and wind energy cannot ascertain.

Moreover, in the Caribbean, at Lesser Eastern Antilles there is a great potential for geothermal energy. In Guadeloupe, there is already a 4 MW plant established since 1984. There has also been extensive research carried out in Dominica, St. Lucia and Montserrat. In the Caribbean region Dominica is an appropriate region for geothermal energy.

3. Tidal Energy

The ebbs and odds of tides have been present for as long as we know. However, it is only recently that scientists are harnessing energy from it. Tidal energy offers a consistent source of energy, but it is complex to harness electrical from waves. One option is to create “tidal Barrage” this is a method that is extremely difficult and might even cause alteration to currents. Thus, it can likely cause severe ramifications on our ecosystem. The potential of tidal barrages is high so it is essential to discover and research more on the technology.

The next possibility is to use offshore turbines, which uses the same basic technology as windmills. The only different is that they are established underwater and do not use the wind but the tides as a source of energy. This technology causes no harm to our ecosystem. Yet, the cost of these offshore turbines is high. In the Caribbean, the potential for tidal energy is immense.

4. Biomass Energy

Biomass is an ancient source of energy; wood used to cook food is an example of biomass. The significance of wood as a source of energy is declining. The dwindling of wood is not leading to the demise of biomass, there are other solutions disposable. Processed sugar cane known as bagasse is burnt to generate power. There are many waste substitutes available for the production of energy.

Another process is to convert plants and animal waste into bio-fuel like methanol, ethanol, natural gas or oil. The various sources of this energy can be corn stalks, seaweeds, manure, wood chips and other waste products. However, burning these bio-materials leads to emission of greenhouse gases.

5. Energy Conservation

The largest consumer of electricity is lighting. It represents around 12 to 15 percent of the total level of carbon dioxide emission. The solution brought forward is energy saving lamps (CFL’s). However, these lamps aren’t perfect wondrous lamps; they are made of poisonous phosphor and mercury. The LED lamp is claimed to have a longer lifetime. However, their lifetime is only tantamount to that of the CFL’s.

A Dutch hi-tech company, “Lemnis Lighting” created a new lamp known as the Pharox. This LED lamp is known to have an exceptional lifetime of 50,000 hours. A traditional (incandescent) light bulb has a lifetime of 1,000 hours and CFL’s lamp 6,000 hours. The Pharox lamp uses a very low voltage of only 3.4 watt in comparison to 6 watts for a CFL and 40 watt for the contemporary incandescent bulb.

Large-Scale Energy Conservation

In fact, if all American households would substitute 4 incandescent light bulbs with Pharox lamps the total energy saving per annum would be 22 billion kWh. The Pharox lamps would reduce carbon dioxide emission by 347,000 tons through their lifetime. According to John Rooymans, CTO of Lemins claims that the decrease in greenhouse gases would be equivalent to planting a total of 507,000 trees. The company is gradually increasing its optimum production capacity to meet current demands. The Pharox lamp has been available in the Caribbean since 2008.

Other technologies to save energy are refrigerators and washing machines. For instance, in the western world energy efficient refrigerators are sold. Refrigerators are classified according to energy efficient indexes. The most efficient refrigerators are represented by A++ with an index of 30. The cheapest refrigerators are less efficient and classified as (G) with an index of 125. This means that the cheaper refrigerator consumes more than 4 times the energy of the A grade refrigerator. In Europe category D, E, F and G are banned. It is vital to use energy efficient appliances as a principle to reduce energy consumption..

Conclusion

Green energy is present world-wide. There are short-term and long-term options available in relation to return on investment. Moreover, in the Caribbean, most of the alternative sources of energy are applicable. The most promising solution for the short-term is solar and wind energy. They are the most affordable solutions; wind energy first and Solar energy second. Utility companies are likely going to expand the size of wind energy farms via the large-scale windmills.

Source: Tech With Us

Read Part 1: Renewable Energy Options in The Caribbean

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The question clinging in our mind is certainly – How can that be possible? The key solution is in the scale of solar, wind and water projects. There is also a need for strong political will to enforce such an advent to occur.

In last November issue of Scientific America, an article was published on “A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables”. The magazine did earlier in December 2007 publish a similar article on a solar grand plan. The plan gave the schedule for solar energy to provide approximately 69 percents of the electricity that would be required by the American population by 2050.

The recent research carried out was conducted by Professor Mark Z. Jacobson from Stanford Civil an environmental engineers and Mark Delucchi from University of California-Davis. They came to the conclusion that clean energy will be having a fruitful future. It was even proclaimed that a fossil-powered future would not make economic sense in the upcoming years.

The authors pinpointed strong reasons why renewable energy would take the upper hand in the years to come. First, technology required to turn the world’s supply of energy totally green is already available. Moreover, the total cost of producing and transmitting alternative sources of energy will be less than the cost per kwh for nuclear or fossil-fuel power. It is expected that with a shift towards clean energy, the global energy demand would also fall with approximately 30 percent. This would be a result from more refined and energy efficient technologies.

The study projected that 16.9 TW (terrawattts or trillion watts) of energy would be required to power the world by 2030. Today, the world’s demand for energy is 12.5 TW.

However, based on Jacobson-Delucchi’s plan, the demand for world energy would decrease to 11.5 TW. They support their case by giving an example of electric cars, to show how electrification is more effective than conventional energy combustion.

For a car to move, roughly only 17 to 20 percent of the energy of gasoline is used. The remaining is wasted in terms of heat. On the other hand, electric cars use up to 75 to 86 percent of the electricity, simply to produce a motion to the vehicle. This is a classic example of energy efficiency.

The up-front cost to revolutionize the 100 percent renewable plan will require at least $100 trillions of dollars invested in only constructions over the two decades to come. This does not include any investments in transmission and R&D., Nonetheless, there are several benefits. It would practically eradicate greenhouse gas emissions.

It is being suggested that the investment would pay for itself through the sale of electricity and energy. They also highlight that not investing in clean energy could turn out to be even more costly. New coal plants would have to be set up, which would equate to an estimated amount of $10 trillion and rampant cost would be fostered in terms of health, environmental and other externalities. The cost of NOT investing in renewable energy might be much higher than the investment cost itself. Investing in renewable energy might thus be the only wise option.

Today, renewable energy is already taking some stance in global supply. However, according to the plan solar, wind and water energy must provide:

1. Wind Energy 51%.

Wind energy would have to supply 51 percent of global energy demands. This would require that at least 3.8 million new wind turbines are erected worldwide. Today, less than a percent of 3.8 million turbines is operating.

2. Solar Energy 40%

Solar energy would have to supply 40 percent of world energy demands. There would be a drastic need to install 89,000 photovoltaic installations as well as Concentrated Solar Farms, where each farm would have a capacity of at least 300 megawatts. Nowadays, roughly less than one percent of the target has been reached.

3. Water energy 9%

Water energy would have to meet 9 percent of the earth’s power needs. This would call for the development of water technologies. It would include 490,000 tidal turbines, 900 hydroelectric plants and 5,350 geothermal plants. Nowadays, 70 percent of the hydropower goal has already been met. However, for geothermal energy roughly only 2 percent of the expected 5,350 plants are available. Lastly, for tidal turbines less than a percent of 490,000 has been established.

The researchers say that fossil fuel transportation can be superseded with batteries. They also affirm that resources are widely available; Land for solar and wind farms; water for tidal, geothermal and hydroelectricity.

The quantity of renewable energy we are actually reaping is:
1. Wind energy 0,02 TW
2. Solar 0,008 TW

Government Framework to Support 100 % Renewable Economy
- Remove subsidies for Fossil Fuel, like tax benefits given for extraction and exploration of fossil fuels
- Implement Feed-in tariff (FIT) schemes covering the cost of producing electricity as well as the price of electricity.
- Impose tax on the use of fossil fuel, due to their environmental damage.
- Prevent misguided promotion of renewable energies.
- Increase government and private investment in transmission systems
- Establish smart grid systems to monitor power consumption during peak and off-peak hours.

The report claims that the greatest hurdle is to ensure the political will for the above measures to be taken. The next obstacle is the limited availability of materials. Some materials are scarce and others are subject to price manipulation. Some of the rare-earth materials like, for example, neodymium is necessary for wind turbine gear boxes. The neodymium is most concentrated in China.

There are many countries that might be trading Middle Eastern oil for the key materials. Therefore, most manufactures are trying to construct gearless turbines, to surpass this dependency on particular raw materials.

The photovoltaic solar cells do also have some rare materials like amorphous, cadmium telluride, copper indium selenide/sulfide and crystalline silicon. Moreover, for electric cars the restriction of lithium and platinum needed for batteries or fuel cells are present.

Jacobson & Delucchi are aware that their plan is still only a theoretical possibility. The more realistic goal that they have in their mind is to reach 25 percent of renewable energy by 2025. Thereafter, the final goal of 100 percent renewable will be met only by 2040.

The world’s energy requirement can be supplied solely by renewable sources of energy in 20 to 30 years. However, it would require aggressive policies. It is also likely that fossil fuel such as oil to reach depletion limits soon. This would positively force further efforts for a renewable economy. It is certain that the complete replacement of fossil fuel can take half a century to realize. But, it is a sure bet that one can make.

Sources: Solve Climate and Scientific America

Related Article
Australia Will Be Unable To Reach Projection of 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2020

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If ever you would come across a surfer to discuss the energy of ocean’s waves you would be surprised. The ocean is unlike rivers where massive energy is produced from hydropower dams. The ocean provides with tidal current what can provide an infinite amount of energy. There are always waves; only the magnitudes of waves alter.

Ocean Power – Harness or Waste It

The concept of using ocean energy was explained by John Lienhard, a mechanical engineering professor from University of Houston. He said that repetitive cycle of the moon creates a gravitational pull that propel tons of water to move towards land. However, the endless tons of water do eventually flow back. The energy is spent uselessly as it dissipates back to the huge oceans.

There are actually three basic ways to generate energy from the sea. These are through tidal power, wave power and ocean water temperature variations; known as “ocean thermal energy conversion.

According to Energy Quest, an educational website of the California Energy Commission, the sea can be harnessed for energy in three basic ways: using wave power, using tidal power, and using ocean water temperature that varies in a process called “ocean thermal energy conversion”.

1. Ocean Tidal Power
Tidal energy uses the high and low tides to harness energy more directly. For instance, conventional hydropower stations in dams operate using the same methodology. There are already large oceanic tidal power farms in France and Canada that are providing energy to the population.

2. Ocean Wave Power
Wave power is harnessed through the movement of waves. The ups and downs of waves can for example be used to create air pressure that is driven up in pipe to spin a generator. Nowadays, some small-scale ocean-wave power systems are used to provide electricity to warning buoys and lighthouses.

3. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
This particular system tries to produce energy through the differences in temperature of water in the deep and on the surface. The variation in heat is expected to be used to produce energy. There is a test station that has been erected in Hawaii with the objective to one day make this technology more effective. It is expected that one-day OTEC technology will be able to produce a significant amount of energy.

The Perspective of Ocean Power

Many experts propose that ocean energy is better than wind energy. It is suggested that less turbines will be required to produce energy with water, as the water’s natural density is much more intense than wind energy. The cost of harnessing ocean energy is now radically expensive. Knowing that ocean technology is mainly in an infant and experimental phase of development its cost is likely to fall once it becomes popular. In the near future, analysts are forecasting that ocean power will account for at least 2 percent of the energy needs in U.S.

Many companies are specialized in the field of ocean power technology. In Sweden, we have” Seabased AB” and at Long Island City, New York, a company named “Verdant Power”, is expanding tidal energy supply in New York’s East River.

Ocean energy is an emerging field that is lagging behind the renewable agenda of many countries. However, it might likely surface as pioneer to save land by substituting wind farms to tidal energy.

Source: Environment/About.com

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