• Lisa Simpson
• Aug 24,2009
• In: Finance

Mastery Over the Oceans Is the Answer Tomorrow for Today’s Fuel Shortage

Scientists have been focusing with real earnest at generating electricity from the Gulf Stream current. The government is lending a generous support in this research. All that is required is to get the business community to get interested and invest. Turbines placed under water powered by the current are expected to generate sufficient to meet one third of the requirements of Florida.
Harnessing the ocean will not come up against the opposition faced by wind turbines. Conservationists claim that wind turbines will pollute the view of the ocean. These turbines will lie hidden below the waves marked only by a few floating buoys.

David White connected with Ocean Conservancy said most of the technicalities do not require outdoor testing. Thus at this early stage it cannot be said with certainty what the impact on the environment will be.

Forty seven initial permits have been issued by The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the projects related to the sea, its waves and tides said Celeste Miller, its spokeswoman. Most of the permits were grant rights for studying the potential an area had for producing energy but not to build it.

The plan as come up with certain obstacles. In 2008 an ocean test ended in tragedy when its buoy worth $2 million off the coast of Oregon sank down to the bed of the sea. In another incident a small testing project that was using turbines fueled by tidal currents ran into trouble in East River off New York City when the blades busted.

The Gulf Stream measures nearly 30 miles in width and very slightly shifts from its set course. The nearest land mass it passes through is Florida. As such it is the best located in the globe to harness the power of the ocean’s current. Researches being done on the west coast of USA are looking to the waves for generation of power as the currents here are not so strong.

Finavera Renewables based in Canada has got a licence to test wave energy in Washington State. In a bay four buoys will be laid out to enable the generation of power to supply power to about 700 houses. The buoys weighing 35 tons rise nearly 6’ above the sea and go down nearly 60’. A piston rise and fall inside each of the buoys with the movement of the waves.

The fishing industry is worried about the negative impact on them.