Hopefully one day soon, our sea horizon will be dotted with windmills. And while people are trying to get that done, others are looking toward the waves. As New Scientist reports, the ocean provides some awesome energy levels.
Heaving water holds 40 times more energy than air moving at the same speed, and sea states change more slowly than breezes, making it easier for utilities to predict the availability of energy. Yet the tools needed to make use of the sea’s energy are gargantuan.
Several startups are looking into ways to harvest this energy and some of the devices are quite interesting as well as big. Most prevalent of the devices are long cylinder objects that float in the ocean and convert the movement of the device into electricity.