Journal 11, June 21

The Ocean Working For Us

NASA, among many other developers, is building prototypes that could eventually save society thousand of dollars a year. Continuous research has shown that turbines placed deep in the ocean darkness or in other heavy flowing water supplies could potentially produce enough electricity to power a couple thousand homes each. The idea is essentially the same as that of a wind farm out in the middle of now where except this time the wind mills are under water, making them hydrokinetic energy producing water turbines. The way these turbines operate is by being placed in an area that catches the roughest ocean currents, tides, and waves and uses that force to transmit electricity through underwater cables to the land. This idea is highly correlated to that of hydroelectric plants which use the pressure of the water once it is released from the dam to turn the turbines. The only difference here is that hydroelectric plants are limited in the amount of water they can release each time to turn the turbines therefore resulting in limited energy. The advantage underwater turbines have over the traditional hydroelectric plant is that the energy supply is not only predictable depending on seasons but the currents and tides constantly flow. Meaning the energy being produced could be a non-stop process. NASA currently has many test sites that are constantly collecting data; one being in the Manhattan River. Other researchers are testing the idea near Scotland and Britain where the power and speed of the tides is among the highest.

Using Mother Nature in a beneficial way such as this almost seems strange. Most of the time it is us attempting to go against Mother Nature whether we are building the tallest skyscraper or taking a cruise across the ocean against a vigorous storm. But this time, we are using the driving force of the ocean to benefit society in an attempt that meets all green standards. I think putting the ocean to work to help generate electricity for thousands of homes per machine is an excellent idea. Not only will society as a whole, including individuals' homes but corporations as well, save money but the pollution and health hazards stemming from nuclear-power plants will be greatly minimized. The only concern would be similar to that of the wind mill farms when it comes to migrational patterns. There would have to be safeguard measures put in play to prevent species from getting sucked into these massive turbines (just something to think about). Despite that concern that can easily be maneuvered around, I see no harm in this project, only divine results.

Reference Used:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/tideenergy.html

Additional References:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3694859.ece