Energy Policy

The Mark said:

Actually, no.

What made you think so?

Edit: Or is that another joke that flew several miles over my head?

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Realist1 said:

:lol:

Your WORDS.:lol:

It is almost impossible, but potentially a government could do it correctly.

On the other hand, if implementing it correctly is in the best interests of a private, for profit firm, then you are correct. If not, then possibly no.

I know not what exact issues could arise, but I’m sure there are some. The potential for a company to ignore them for profit does exist.

For that matter, I have no idea what, precisely, I am talking about. But I'm still sure that the potential for it to be done incorrectly exists.

As is...

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The Mark said:

I was refering to the fact that I know little about wave-power-generation, or whatever it is called.

I don't see the connection between my lack of knowledge in that area and who I voted for.

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Realist1 said:

I do,,, but that's beside the Point. America has 1000's of miles of coast line. True?

And it takes little of our total "Taxes" to "use" the power of the Ocean.

You do see that, I hope?

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These are some of the challenges to deploying wave power devices:

1. Efficiently converting wave motion into electricity; generally speaking, wave power is available in low-speed, high forces, and the motion of forces is not in a single direction. Most readily-available electric generators operate at higher speeds, and most readily-available turbines require a constant, steady flow.
2. Constructing devices that can survive storm damage and saltwater corrosion; likely sources of failure include seized bearings, broken welds, and snapped mooring lines. Knowing this, designers may create prototypes that are so overbuilt that materials costs prohibit affordable production.
3. High total cost of electricity; wave power will only be competitive when the total cost of generation is reduced (or the total cost of power generated from other sources increases). The total cost includes the primary converter, the power takeoff system, the mooring system, installation & maintenance cost, and electricity delivery costs.
4. Impacts on the marine environment, such as noise pollution, could have negative impact if not monitored, although the noise and visible impact of each design varies greatly.
5. In terms of socio-economic challenges, wave farms can result in displacement of commercial and recreational fishermen from productive fishing grounds, can change the pattern of beach sand nourishment, and may represent hazards to safe navigation.
6. In the US, development of wave farms is currently hindered by a maze of state and federal regulatory hurdles and limited R&D funding.

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1. A current installation: Aguçadoura Wave Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Potential
Deep water wave power resources are truly enormous, between 1 TW and 10 TW, but it is not practical to capture all of this. The useful worldwide resource has been estimated to be greater than 2 TW.[38][39] Locations with the most potential for wave power include; the western seaboard of Europe, the northern coast of the UK and the Pacific coastlines of North and South America, Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The north and south temperate zones have the best sites for capturing wave power. The prevailing westerlies in these zones blow strongest in winter.

The UK has an estimated recoverable resource of between 50–90TWh of electricity a year, this is roughly 15–25% of the current UK electricity demand.

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