More than any other program America could implement, more than anything else America could do, ocean energy represents a tipping point in the full-scale frontal assault against global warming. By turning to clean ocean power, it is possible to freeze CO2 emissions, to curtail and eventually put a stop to the current exploitation of fossil fuels, to eliminate our country’s dependence on foreign oil, to scale down America’s gas and coal-fired electrical plants–and to eventually see these 19th century-based facilities razed. But, most importantly, in doing these things, it’s entirely possible to help turn the tide on climate change. It will not be easy–nothing worthwhile is easy–but transforming the energy matrix is something we can, and should, do. The most practical way to accomplish all these things is to turn to the ocean. [p. 6]

The ocean makes up 73% of the surface of the planet. At this critical moment in the evolution of our country, and our world, I absolutely know in my heart that ocean energy is precisely the correct path our nation should follow.

The one major problem I see, however, is this: It’s been only 10,000 years since man (sic) abandoned the cave, the arrival of the liquid propane gas grill and the tailgate party each assuredly contributing to its sad demise. Are the American people – and their elected representatives in particular – sufficiently prepared for anything other than combustion?  Honestly now, are we?

Combustion has played an absolutely huge and pivotal role in the development of the United States of America. From the very moment the first caveperson gazed longingly into a campfire to the present, ours has been one amazing, and lengthy love affair with combustion. People love burning things down and, perhaps even more, combusting things up…into the atmosphere. More than anyone else on the face of the planet—the Chinese in recent years the solitary exception—we Americans are absolutely enthralled with burning anything and everything we can get our hands on.

Do you honestly believe Americans are ready for a form of energy the production of which will not require us to combust gasoline, combust coal, combust oil, combust natural gas, combust ethanol, combust biofuel, combust vegetable oil or combust uranium to produce? C’mon now, do you?
Are we in United States prepared for alternative energy technologies that are non-combustible? I doubt it. And yet, reliable sources affirm that energy from the ocean is achieved, generated, produced, harvested (pick your verb) without having to combust anything. Without spewing ton after ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Without leaking poisonous lead, sulfur or mercury into our rivers and streams. Without creating lethal pools of toxic coal ash.

For the most part, it is combustion of fossil fuels (gasoline, oil, etc.) that fuels American transportation (autos, planes, trains, trucks) and combustion of fossil fuels that fuels the massive power plants that generate the electricity that then is supplied, via the electric grid, to our business establishments and our homes. How exactly, absent all the present combustion, can we hope as a people to survive? Our very way of life is in jeopardy.

Here we have all these upstart, smart aleck scientists and engineers telling us that all the energy we need can be generated without any manner of combustion. Shoot. Like my old friend, Vern says, “It just don’t seem right.”
No combustion? I’m sorry, but. . . it just don’t seem right.

Alternative energy? Ocean-based energy? Forget it. Does anyone seriously expect Americans to embrace an energy future that is so patently barren of combustion, and, um, so…bleak?

– Frank Trujillo
(Tongue firmly in cheek.)

Copyright © 2009 Frank Trujillo

* Until very recently in our history, until 2005 or so,
the United States led the world in fossil fuel emissions.
Today, that distinction belongs to China.

Not to be confused with the Gulf Stream, the Florida Current is a thermal ocean current that flows generally from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.

Underwater Turbines

Suppose, in order to harness its power, XYZ Technology™ installs 100 (one hundred) 300 kw (kilowatt) turbines on the ocean floor ten miles off the Florida coast. In doing so, the aforementioned utility is able to satisfy the total electric requirement of, say, 500,000 homes.

My question for you is this: Does the placement of those 100 turbines affect, to any significant degree, the “flow” of the Florida Current? Do the turbines, for example, stop the flow? Don’t be silly. Of course not. Will 100 turbines in any way diminish the flow? No. The Florida Current, unabated, a thousand times mightier than the Mississippi, will just keep right on “flowing” along!

Were it in fact the utility’s objective to adversely impact the flow of the Florida Current, XYZ Technologies™ would fail, and fail miserably. Nothing anyone can do will diminish the relentless flow. Weighing in at a persistent 4 to 8 m.p.h. strong, this “river current” has not changed one iota in 500,000 years, and—short of some catastrophic, world-changing event (a dramatic pole shift,* for example)—it will continue flowing for thousands or millions of years to come.

The Florida Current. Think of it as the mighty Mississippi River. And right next to it—running parallel to it—is another Mississippi River. And another Mississippi River. And another, and another, and another… You get the idea?

Just you think about this: The moment XYZ Technology™ completes installation of its plant, bringing all 100 of its turbines on line, what is to prevent Aqua Song, Inc.,™ or IONinnovation™, from commencing construction of a 750 (seven hundred and fifty) turbine “energy complex” in the area immediately north/south/east/west (take your pick) of theirs? Nothing. Nada. Absolutely nothing!

It is my contention is that, with respect to the 50 states, each is the legitimate owner of some portion of the whole (i.e., the ocean), hence all Americans have a stake, in this new technology in particular, and in the new energy paradigm in general. This translates, of course, to jobs, many millions of jobs. Engineers, electricians, welders, crane operators…and on and on. We are speaking here of the employment of men and women from each and every state of the union—not only the few who are fortunate enough to reside in marine states.

Someday, there could well be a hundred or more marine current farms (electrical generation facilities), stretching from this side of Florida…to that side of Texas. And all these turbines, working away feverishly in tandem, would never so much as put a small dent in the persistent flow of the Florida Current/Mississippi Current/Louisiana Current/ Texas Current.

Now this, this is America’s future. This is what you call energy independence. Just think about that!

Copyright © 2009 Frank Trujillo

Wikipedia: Pole Shift Hypothesis

Vertical Axis Turbine

With backing from stakeholders that include the U.K. and German governments, the European Commission’s Joule Program and a consortium of U.K. and German industrial companies, the so-called Seaflow project cost approximately U.S. $3.5 million. The project aims to test and perfect the turbine during the next three years, according to a June 30 article at SolarAccess.com.

The turbines consist of rotors mounted on steel piles and set into a socket in the seabed. Since ocean water is more than 800 times as dense than air, slow velocities in water will generate significantly more electricity than wind turbines. Ocean currents are also predictable, unlike wind power, notes SolarAccess.com.

Do you see the turbines?  Do you see them?

Exactly…

(ō-shen en-er-ji) n., pl. –gies.

1. energy derived in any manner from the vast body of salt water covering approximately 73 percent of the earth’s surface.  2. any persistently renewable source of energy or power (electrical, etc.) derived from the sea, including power from the harnessing of ocean currents, Biomass energy, ocean solar power, wave power, off-shore wind power, ocean geothermal, etc.  3. a science and a technology in process of development; includes a full range of ocean-based renewable energy alternatives, many of which remain to be conceived and explored.

President Obama

Today, Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, as millions of Americans and others throughout the world celebrate the inauguration of our Nation’s first African American president, I come away with a renewed sense of optimism, and hope.

There is a renewed excitement today on a great variety of fronts, not the least of which relates to energy and the environment. Ocean-based energy has a better chance than ever to ignite and inspire the collective imagination of our people. The 110th Congress may well have failed to take action, but the 111th just might! Our country’s 43rd President may have done nothing, but this new 44th President of the United States—this upstart “Yes We Can!” President, President Barack Obama—might just take a swing at it. He might just knock it right out of the ballpark!

God knows our country is ready for change. OceanNRG™ (ocean-based technologies) represents an entirely new energy paradigm—a veritable sea-change with respect to how electricity is produced (no pun intended). It’s an economical, and highly innovative, source of clean, and persistently renewable, power. And guess what? It’s also a potential source of 5 million or more new jobs! Finally, it’s a technology that is exquisitely suited to the needs of our country, and world, at this crucial moment in our history.

Underwater Turbines

It’s easy to track the tidal movements of the ocean by looking at waves, but all of that energy is moved around under the surface of the water as well. Florida Atlantic University’s Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology hopes to harness these underwater currents by placing 100-foot-in-diameter 20 kilowatt turbines that are anchored to the ocean floor along the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic. The system would be hooked up to floating generators and monitored by solar powered control buoys and small naval vessels.

The team at Florida Atlantic University will first test the waters with smaller prototype turbines to be deployed in February 2008. How much renewable energy the system will be able to generate is still up in the air, but the team hopes it will provide a significant amount to the state of Florida.

FAU Ocean Energy Technology

Ocean Turbines

One the world’s greatest untapped energy resources is the motion of the ocean. Of course, while floating wind turbines and wave-powered generators are being explored and researched, underwater ocean currents remains an area that is largely untapped.

Now researchers at the Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology have developed a technology that would allow them to tap the Gulf Stream currents. This they believe would be able to cover all of Florida’s energy needs. These scientists are truly working hard to transform the vision from science fiction to reality.

Vertical Axis Turbine

Frederick Driscoll, director of the Florida Center for Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology at Florida Atlantic University was noted as saying that his young kids, aged 2 and 4 could very well see a world that is powered by renewable energy, with a significant portion of it being powered from the ocean.

In about three years, underwater turbines could begin harnessing the power of the current known as the Gulf Stream to produce commercial electricity. And within three to five years, deep-ocean cold water could be used for commercial air conditioning. Thereafter in 7 to 10 years, scientists could begin commercially harnessing the energy produced by the differences in ocean temperatures at various depths.

Read the entire article from EcoFriend.

Wave Energy Prototype

In 2007/2008, OSU, in collaboration with Columbia Power Technologies (CPT) and the U.S. Navy, evaluated 18 different direct-drive technologies, and down-selected to five promising designs. OSU and CPT built each of those prototypes at the 200W peak level and tested them on OSU’s new wave energy linear test bed. OSU and CPT also comprehensively simulated each of the designs, and scaled the simulations up to 100kW, including full 100kW designs with costs, maintenance, operations etc., to give estimates for total costs of energy for each. This has been a tremendous collaboration enabling the zeroing in on optimum designs, and based on this work, in September 2008, OSU and CPT completed a series of very successful bay and ocean testing (see pictures). CPT is now driving these efforts to commercialization, and OSU will continue to partner with them in a supporting/research role.

Read the entire article from Oregon State University here.

Read the entire article from the National Space Agancy of Ukraine