Challenges in Ocean Energy Utilization
Ocean is a reservoir of energy. It is not only pollution free but also renewable, sustainable and long-lasting than any other known source of energy. Development of suitable cost effective technologies for power generation from different forms of ocean en
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Challenges in Ocean Energy Utilization S. Neelamani
Abstract Ocean is a reservoir of energy. It is not only pollution free but also renewable, sustainable and long-lasting than any other known source of energy. Development of suitable cost effective technologies for power generation from different forms of ocean energy (like wave energy, tidal energy, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, Marine wind power, Power from marine currents, Marine biomass, Salinity gradient, etc.) is challenging. Three to four decades of R & D works around the World improved the hope for technical feasibility of ocean energy conversion. Increase in the cost of fossil fuel is indirectly supporting more focused research on ocean power plants. It is hoped that more pilot plants will be installed at various oceanic locations in order to understand and solve the challenging technical problems, which may lead to commercial exploitation of ocean energy. Construction of structures and systems for ocean energy conversion is prohibitively expensive. Different methods are developed to reduce the cost of construction like, impact force reduction techniques, new materials for longer life, etc. This chapter discusses the different forms of ocean energy, physics of energy conversion, and the technical challenges involved in the technology development.
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Introduction
Reducing the impact of climate change on various issues like sea level rise, ozone depletion, more frequent hurricanes, ocean acidification, severe rainfall and droughts etc., has become a daunting task of all the countries all over the World. It is possible, only if the greenhouse gas emission is reduced significantly. Hence it is urgently needed to move towards green power from natural renewable resources
S. Neelamani (*) Coastal Management Program, Environment and Urban Development Division, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Safat 13109, Kuwait e-mail: [email protected] Mu. Ramkumar (ed.), On a Sustainable Future of the Earth’s Natural Resources, Springer Earth System Sciences, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-32917-3_17, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
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like solar, wind, ocean etc. Ocean is one of the pollution free and inexhaustible sources of energy. The R&D is in progress around the World for the development of technically feasible and economically viable methods to convert the various sources of ocean energy into usable form of energies. Commercial production of tidal power was started at few places around the World. Experiments with mini Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems were also carried out by few countries. Few wave energy pilot plants were built and studied. Mini-Commercial OTEC and wave power plants at few places around the World are expected to be installed in the near future. World population is expected to reach ten billion during 2050 (http://www. treehugger.com/World-Population-Growth-2050.JPG). The World’s energy demand also is expected to increase from 15,000 to 27,000 GW by 2050. Renewable energy from the Ocean can suppo
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