The Motion Of The Ocean : The Intersection

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Chris Mooney is a visiting associate in the Center for Collaborative History at Princeton University and the author of three books, The Republican War on Science, Storm World, and Unscientific America.

Sheril Kirshenbaum is a marine biologist and author at Duke University. Sometimes she's a classicist, radio jock, or congressional staffer. Never sure what's next, she continues to enjoy the journey. For more information, visit her website.

The Motion Of The Ocean

Category: Energy
Posted on: September 23, 2008 11:24 AM, by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum

tidal%20power.png Over at NexGen, this week's question asks about the likelihood of embracing tidal power: a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into electricity. Basically, we're talking wind turbines located where there's strong tidal flow. Sounds clean, and heck, I sure do like the ocean... but uh, I just don't see this becoming a major contender in our alternative energy future.

My full post is now up outlining many reasons why...

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Comments

Hi. One application of tidal/wave power that seems very sensible is having buoys with (Gorlov?) flow turbines at the mouth of bays, which convert the energy to pushing accumulated estuarine silts out to the ocean so they don't choke boat harbors, rather than using huge dredge barges to scrape out the channels and destroying the local marine ecosystem.

Posted by: DDeden | September 23, 2008 4:08 PM

Windmill-like turbines underwater, pffft.

What about wave energy converters such as the Anaconda?

Posted by: TomJoe | September 24, 2008 9:04 AM