Think back to the many days you have spent at the beach. Remember how at some parts of the day the water would be high up on the beach and at other points it would be very low. This is because of tides which are caused by the moon. While tides occur gradually over the course of a day the energy used to push all that sea water up the beach and then pull it back down is rather great. Engineers have found a way to harness this energy through enormous underwater turbines that are driven by the tides surge and eventual retreat. The turbines capture the energy from both low and high tide and send it to shore via an underwater cable. This type of technology can provide a lot of energy in bursts when the tide surges and retreats but cannot provide a steady amount of energy. Tides are also easily predictable so you will always know how much energy is going to be produced but often this can’t keep up with ever changing energy trends. While France, Canada, and Russia have utilized this technology for many years it has not taken off. However, I see a big future for tidal power because of the vast amounts of ocean and growing need of green technology. This technology has no emissions and has minimal impact on the underwater environment. I look forward to possibly seeing this technology utilized in the future with wave farms and/or solar islands.
Below is a little video showing how this technology works.
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I have never heard of tidal power before but I agree that it seems, if scientists can find a way to keep the energy steady, this would be a great way of going green specifically since there are not any emissions.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of this new techonology before. As we discussed in class, it will be interesting to see if our government can overcome its "capitalist" approach on these types of issues and choose "greener" technology instead of keeping the politically powerful oil and coal companies happy.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of tidal power before I read this post. I think it is interesting and a resourceful way to harness energy. However, along with the problem of cost, I think that the United States has been hesitant to utilize this and other types of green technology due to the fact that many people will be out of jobs.
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