Is Ocean Power a Viable Energy Source?
Tuesday February 12, 2008
As any surfer or sailor will tell you, the ocean’s waves and tidal currents pack a considerable wallop. So why not harness ocean power—which is not unlike the power of rivers that drive hydroelectric dams or the wind that drives wind turbines—to make energy that can light homes or power factories? It turns out that ocean power could be a viable source of renewable energy. Learn how a few pioneering companies are researching the use of ocean power. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Comments
You state, “When that water flows back out to sea, its energy dissipates and, if we don’t use it, it’s simply spent.”
Due to the law of conservation of energy, this statement can not be true. The energy is currently doing something, whether the wave action is aerating or warming the ocean or something else, I don’t know. My questions are: what is the energy currently doing? What happens when we siphon off some of energy to do something else? and how much of this redistribution of energy would have to occur to adversely affect natural cycles of the ocean?
It seems like we have been inhabiting the earth long enough to know that nothing is free and that, as Newton said, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” I’m not against utilizing the ocean for energy, it sounds like a great opportunity. However, we need to be thoughtful about how we develop our new energy technologies and consider how truly sustainable they are. Whenever we come up with a new energy source we have to ask “what happens when we take it to scale?” In the case of wave or ocean thermal energy, is there a threshold where we could disrupt critical energy cycles that the ocean needs to support life or affect the weather? I have no idea, but it seems like we should think about it before we do to the ocean what we have done to our atmosphere.
Have there been any studies on this?
Thanks.
the oceans have something like 11,000x more energy story capacity than the atmosphere. We have windmills all over the palce and it doesn’t effect the weather, so harnessing the oceans shouldn’t be a problem in that respect.
Off shore installations may serve as a nidus for coral reef growth, so could serve a benefit.
Installations could pose a minor problem for navigation; not a big deal.
There’s always the aesthetics. Do you prefer a coal burning plant on land to a clean installation off the beach?