2005.05.27
Energy From the Ocean
Quite a while back I read The Millennial Project by Marshall T. Savage. The purpose of the book is to plan step by step how to get humanity into space in logical, economical and feasible means. One of the early steps is solving the energy crisis and this was done by tapping into the ocean.
Today while perusing Slashdot Science I saw this article in Wired called The Mad Genius from the Bottom of the Sea about someone actually doing this. John Craven has started a company that is drawing up cold water from the depths of the ocean, mixing it with warm water and generating a net current.
“The potential of OTEC [ocean thermal energy conversion] is great,” says Joseph Huang, a senior scientist for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and an expert on the process. “The oceans are the biggest solar collector on Earth, and there’s enough energy in them to supply a thousand times the world’s needs. If you want to depend on nature, the oceans are the only energy source big enough to tap.”
When I read Mr. Savage’s book I thought this was one of the more immediately interesting projects because it could potentially be done today. I wonder if the two (Savage and Craven; what a pair of names!) have heard of each other?
Categorized: science technology
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