Not too long ago, Mat posted about the Searaser wave power generator—a device that uses the power of sea swells to pump water uphill and generate electricity on land.
At the time, Mat had some reservations about scalability (and the name!), but he suggested it might be one to keep an eye on.
From being like a drop in the ocean, the ocean being the national usage of electricity, tidal energy is set to become much more to the ultimate energy mix of the future. According to a recent Mapping and Assessment of the United States Ocean Wave Energy and the Assesment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United States, the coasts offer a potential 15% input to the national grid by 2030, meaning 1,420 TWh annually out of 4,000 Twh produced.
The UK’s climate Change Minister Greg Barker announced today that South West England will soon be home to the country’s first Marine Energy Park. The park, once completed, will stretch from Bristol to the Isles of Scilly and will have the potential to generate 27 gigawatts of power from the waves and tides of the area by 2050 – the same amount of power generated by 8 coal-fired plants. The project will draw on public and private resources with a huge boost from the world’s leading wave energy research and development facilities located along the future Marine Energy Park’s coastline.
A team of scientists from Seattle-based AltaRock Energy, Inc. and Davenport Newberry Holdings LLC has announced plans to harness one of Mother Nature’s most powerful energy sources by pumping 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon. The team hopes that the water will return to the surface boiling hot, at which point it can be used to generate clean and cheap energy – without the explosive side effects and liquid magma associated with active volcanoes.
We’ve already celebrated the power of fruit by showcasing orange-powered billboards and tomato-powered table lamps, but did you know that apples can do the same thing? Photographer Caleb Charland harnessed power from the fruits in an apple orchard to light up an LED lamp.
From the 16th to the 19th of January, twenty renewable energy and cleantech developers from across Egypt, Ghana, India, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UAE and USA will showcase cutting-edge projects and conduct full business presentations at the Project Village at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2012 in Abu Dhabi.
With 1 GW worth of of renewable projects being showased at the Project Village, the presentations represent a gigantic amount of local Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region renewable energy.
Developing countries have overtaken developed ones in the growth of renewable projects, and the MENA region is key for the development of renewables.
Renewable energy investments are surpassing investments in new fossil fuel power for the first time ever, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance as reported by Joe Romm on ThinkProgress. Adding to the encouraging news, Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported that the trillionth dollarhas been invested in renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart energy technologies.Wind, solar, wave and biomass energy attracted $187 billion of investment capital in 2010 compared to $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s latest data and calculations. A faster pace of wind and solar power installations, along with oversupply in various wind and solar power plant inputs, is driving installed costs lower, making these clean, renewable alternatives more competitive with coal using conventional cost and return on investment measures and methods, even given their increasingly glaring inadequacies.
Once the world’s largest landfill, Freshkills Park will soon be transformed into New York City’s biggest new green space in a century.
But the park is also poised to become a pioneer in what have been dubbed “aesthetic power plants.” These visually striking pieces of public art create utility-scale renewable energy from wind, solar, or wave power.
Artists and researchers all over the world are constantly working to create such masterpieces that can promise a greener future and also inspire others to adapt an eco friendly lifestyle. To compliment the people who are working for this great cause, here are some of the most creative pieces of art that have the capability to harness clean, renewable energy:
Follow