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.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Excellent idea! Why aren’t we seeing this kind of progress along more coastal areas of the U.S.?
January 17th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Imagine if the U.S. had “jumped” all over this, say, in the 1930s or 1940s…and steadily improved the technology, maximizing its efficiency, year after year after year!
One other thing: I see tremendous potential in the little understood power of ocean RIP TIDES. There are “rip tide” warning signs in many, many areas…I have seen them, for example, off the coast of California, Oregon, Florida, & South Carolina. Rip tides! I have seen no evidence whatsoever of any effort to harness this incredible source of perpetual energy!
January 19th, 2011 at 4:37 am
I am really thankful to this topic because it really gives up to date information ~-*
July 18th, 2011 at 4:18 am
We have inlets that are accessible. The ocean will tear apart anything that is put out there. The tremendous cost of moving back and forth to the Gulf Stream and trying to get there in bad weather, is insurmountable.
We have tidal resources waiting to be tapped right here.
December 4th, 2014 at 10:18 am
This seems to imply that their light bulbs have no emissions. (Does the vocvioeer say “no” or “low”? Either way, there is no sound when the eerily calm actress turns on that last light.) Plainly this is impossible. I suppose if there had been merely a somewhat quieter or less smelly fart, that wouldn’t have been very impressive in the ad.