By Susan Kraemer •
September 4, 2009
Only after I snoozed my way through high school science class did science become more compelling than science fiction.
Back then, there was just no compelling reason to pay attention. Just a browzy fly buzzing in a smelly boring lab full of long agreed-upon dull principles that were really neither here nor there. In those days there were no colliding continents or hydrothermal vents or extremophile lifeforms. We looked to sci-fi for that.
Who knew that our planet would soon be busting at the seams with 7 billion of us. That our fossil fuel use would threaten our survival with climate changes — on a level unseen on the planet since Cyanobacteria made it safe it for oxygen-breathers 4 billion years ago.
Or that we would not only discover vast strange heat sources under the ocean but that we’d actually consider mining these hydrothermal vents for renewable energy: That was the sort of story you’d only find in science fiction back then.
But yet, here we are. This is not science fiction:
By Tina Casey •
July 4, 2009
Is the world ready for another ambitious ocean power program?
Blue Energy Canada Inc. and World Energy Research are moving quickly in that direction. After signing a memorandum of understanding last month, the two companies just announced a formal agreement to build a 200 megawatt, half-billion dollar commercial tidal power project based on Blue Energy’s Davis Tidal Turbine. Meanwhile, DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been quietly working the other end of the scale to develop buoy-sized ocean power generating equipment.
By Reenita Malhotra •
February 27, 2009
At approximately 7:00 AM PST tomorrow, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will announce the development of a large scale wave power project off the coast of San Francisco. The project promises to bring wave energy and jobs to the Bay Area.
By Matthew Phelan •
February 20, 2009
The data comparing VIVACE to conventional power sources has to be seen to be believed.
By Ariel Schwartz •
November 24, 2008
Tidal power is already on its way to becoming a viable energy source, but a University of Michigan engineer believes that slow-moving ocean and river currents could also be renewable energy providers.
By Joe Mohr •
May 26, 2008
Picture a kelp bed on the ocean floor swaying in the current.
Done?
Now picture an underwater field of bioWave turbines (pictured to your left) doing the same. But, unlike the kelp, supplying one half megawatt of electricity. (In kelp’s defense, it does provide oxygen, food, and a place for the elusive leafy sea dragon to hide.) Using habitat inspired and environmentally friendly design (biomimicry) the team at BioPower Systems have designed, and are now testing, the bioWAVE and bioSTREAM devices. Devices that sway in tune with the oceans currents while producing clean, renewable energy. The Australian company has also focused in minimizing the environmental impact of each device as not to upset the ocean’s many delicate ecosystems. Or, as their website puts it:
These systems will reside beneath the ocean surface, out of view, and in harmony with the living creatures that inspired their design.
