Scientists: Revolutionary Device Can Harness Ocean Currents To Power The World

Daily Telegraph:

A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim.

The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.

Read the whole story: Daily Telegraph

Comments

[AntiTerrorDonkey]

can it do

lightning bolts?

heh...

http://base.google.com/base/s2?authorid=5180138

[FogBelter]

It's quite an ingenious idea that deserves exploration. To use natural wave and tidal forces to generate energy is brilliant.

[Big0725]

We've got the Gulf Stream down here in Miami and it's only about 15 miles offshore. It runs anywhere between 2 and 3 knots 24/7.

[totaldisbelief]

Atta Boy!

[totalliberal]

Maybe we can start looking at the gulf stream for more than just sports-fishing. "The Gulf Stream alone transports about 1.4 petawatts of heat, equivalent to 100 times the world energy demand."
And that's before we even think about taping the motion of the current itself.

[Dayahka]

We should get word to the new administration about this form of power generation. Of course, it will produce electricity but cannot replace oil, until our transportation vehicles are electric. There should be a Manhattan-type project testing and development for this technology because as things now stand the new administration seems to be bent on trying "everythin­g"--solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, AND more oil drilling--to resolve the energy problem, and this invention could replace all so-called renewables as well as coal, gas, and oil as a method of electricity generation. Combine Vivace with geothermal and we could--app­arently--h­ave all the electricity we need. Now, if we could only allow Detroit to go out of business and get electric cars built, we'd be in business.

[PepperG]

Detroit automakers are the closest to having an affordable production electric vehicle ready for the market. The Chevy Volt will be available in just over a year. We need to sustain the domestic auto industry through this economic downturn.

Also, this is Michigan technology that we are talking about here -- being tested in the Detroit River.

[ohmetoo]

Do you think they will put nanosolar film on the roof and trunk for electricity?

[Ranta]

The entry level Volt is projected to be a 40,000 dollar car. Rather that trying to produce a product for the masses, Detriot produces a car to maximize profit. This sounds short sighted as usual.

[bubbuh]

Here's hoping its as straightforward as it sounds. It's a technology that appears to depend on nothing more exotic than ingenuity. Too Cool!

[Scarabus]

Whoa! A program designed to find ways to generate clean energy rather than protect and fatten Big Oil? They must have kept a very, very low profile in recent years. Otherwise? Dick Cheney would have shut them down.

This is the sort of project in which our nation should be investing. How many jobs would be created by a significant effort to implement this?

[BarackstarObama]

Fascinatin­g... I'm very happy that such breakthroughs in technology will occur on Obama's watch. :-)

[postboy]

thatz cool

[Ddorsey]

This looks like the future to me.
Anyone see any drawbacks?

[gbtusa]

Yes, the oil companies will buy the patents from the inventors and kill it so that it doesn't see light of the day.

[iceage7]

Only big oil and folks working in oil companies see draw backs. Wathc them start to post here as this form of energy being a fairy tale

[kburlz]

Putting big machines in habitats, but it's probably better than the alternative.

[JStraight]

The drag from deposits on the cylinders, or from sea creatures/plants that attach themselves to the cylinders could significantly decrease the energy output

[Fastcad]

like with copper bottom boats of the past, native copper in sea water turns green, CuO2, which stops any sea life from attaching.