The Ocean’s Power:

The Ocean’s Power

Nowadays the buzz words of the energy industry are “renewable energy“. Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. As you might have noticed some of the afore mentioned resources come from the Earth’s biggest natural resources, the Oceans.

Oceans can produce different types of energy, including thermal energy from the sun’s heat and mechanical energy from the action of waves and tides. Public and private institutions around the globe are investing big bucks to harness this energy resource in ways that are safe, sustainable and environmentally safe.

The U.S. Department of Energy, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has announced a joint research to study the potential environmental impacts of harnessing energy from the oceans. The research will also develop techniques and regulations to support the responsible sitting and permitting of offshore wind energy facilities and ocean energy generated from waves, tides, currents and thermal gradients.

Speaking on the matter the US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said:

“The nation’s oceans represent a major potential source of clean renewable energy, and the Department of Energy is committed to developing the innovative technologies that will harness that potential,”

As afore mentioned there are many ways to generate energy using the oceans like, tidal, waves, offshore wind farms. But without doubt the most innovative and eco-friendly one is OTEC or Ocean Thermal Energy Conservation.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature difference that exists between deep and shallow waters to run a heat engine. As with any heat engine, the greatest efficiency and power is produced with the largest temperature difference and up until now this was the biggest challenge for OTEC. But recent developments in efficiency of heat exchange assisted by modern designs performance can reach theoretical maximum efficiency making OTEC a viable and efficient renewable energy resource. For detailed information on OTEC please read: Ocean Thermal Energy

As you can see there are many ways to harness energy from our oceans but we must do it in a responsible way without affecting the ocean’s eco-systems.

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