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Is blue the new green? Wave power could revolutionize the renewable-energy game
https://www.salon.com/2016/08/27/is-blue-the-new-green-wave-power-could-revolutionize-the-renewable-energy-game/[font face=Serif]Saturday, Aug 27, 2016 03:30 PM EDT
[font size=5]Is blue the new green? Wave power could revolutionize the renewable-energy game[/font]
[font size=4]There's enough wave energy in the oceans to power the world, and scientists are finally close to harnessing it.[/font]
Diane Stopyra
A 30 MegaWatt "wave farm" of Pelamis Wave Energy Converters (Credit: Business Wire)
[font size=3]Unless you’re a surfer, a sailor or the owner of beachfront property during hurricane season, you probably don’t spend much time thinking about the power of waves. That may be changing soon.
Like a large, slowly building swell miles from shore, the wave-power revolution has quietly and gradually gained momentum. And this month it began the crest: The Department of Energy announced it would allocate as much as $40 million in funding to develop of the nation’s first open-water wave-energy-testing facility in a location to be determined.
When it comes to tapping the commercial viability of this renewable resource, we could be on the cusp of a tidal change. For decades wave energy has lagged behind wind energy and solar, in part because harnessing it is so complex. It involves a number of factors — the speed, height, direction of a swell and the intervals between swells — and more variables equal higher costs.
Additionally, harnessing wave power involves installing costly equipment in a corrosive and treacherous environment. Then there’s the challenge of transmitting that energy from offshore to the power grid. These realities have scared away many would-be investors. Regulatory hurdles have put off others: In 2008, what would have been the first commercial wave-energy project in the country was nixed by California’s Public Utilities Commission, which said the technology was too new to be trusted.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=5]Is blue the new green? Wave power could revolutionize the renewable-energy game[/font]
[font size=4]There's enough wave energy in the oceans to power the world, and scientists are finally close to harnessing it.[/font]
Diane Stopyra
A 30 MegaWatt "wave farm" of Pelamis Wave Energy Converters (Credit: Business Wire)
[font size=3]Unless you’re a surfer, a sailor or the owner of beachfront property during hurricane season, you probably don’t spend much time thinking about the power of waves. That may be changing soon.
Like a large, slowly building swell miles from shore, the wave-power revolution has quietly and gradually gained momentum. And this month it began the crest: The Department of Energy announced it would allocate as much as $40 million in funding to develop of the nation’s first open-water wave-energy-testing facility in a location to be determined.
When it comes to tapping the commercial viability of this renewable resource, we could be on the cusp of a tidal change. For decades wave energy has lagged behind wind energy and solar, in part because harnessing it is so complex. It involves a number of factors — the speed, height, direction of a swell and the intervals between swells — and more variables equal higher costs.
Additionally, harnessing wave power involves installing costly equipment in a corrosive and treacherous environment. Then there’s the challenge of transmitting that energy from offshore to the power grid. These realities have scared away many would-be investors. Regulatory hurdles have put off others: In 2008, what would have been the first commercial wave-energy project in the country was nixed by California’s Public Utilities Commission, which said the technology was too new to be trusted.
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5 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Just a few weeks ago I got out of my adorable hovel and for the first time I saw fields of what looked like solar panels. I asked the guy driving. Yup!
And now this. 
