Marine Sources of Energy: Pergamon Policy Studies on Energy and Environment

By Jacques Constans

Marine Sources of Energy focuses on international research and development activities in the field of marine sources of energy such as waves, tides, currents, winds, and salinity gradients. General and specific recommendations for future research and development programs are presented, along with plans for action to demonstrate and amplify the potential of a number of marine energy sources both in Europe and in developing countries. This book consists of seven chapters and begins with a discussion on offshore coastal wind energy conversion, along with the advantages and limitations of wind energy and its economic aspects. The reader is then introduced to ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), with particular reference to the factors that must be taken into account when selecting sites for an OTEC plant. The following chapters consider the solar pond concept and its possible application to heat production and energy production; and the economic aspects of wave and tidal energy conversion. Other possibilities of marine energy conversion, including marine currents and biomass energy conversion, are evaluated. This monograph will be of interest to government officials and policymakers concerned with marine and other alternative sources of energy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Sep 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483154183

Book preview

Marine Sources of Energy

PERGAMON POLICY STUDIES ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Jacques Constans

Published for the United Nations, Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, Office for Science and Technology

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Pergamon Policy Studies on Energy and Environment

Copyright

Foreword

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter

Chapter 1: Offshore Coastal Wind Energy Conversion

Publisher Summary

WEATHER FACTORS AND SITE CHARACTERIZATION

GENERAL ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTION

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF WIND ENERGY PRODUCTION

ONGOING AND PLANNED PROJECTS: DEVELOPMENT STATUS

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter 2: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Publisher Summary

FAVORABLE SITES

THE OTEC SYSTEM CONCEPT

OTEC CONCEPTUAL DESIGN AND TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS

UTILIZATION OF ENERGY

ECONOMY OF AN OTEC POWER PLANT

ONGOING AND PLANNED PROJECTS: DEVELOPMENT STATUS

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter 3: The Solar Pond Concept

Publisher Summary

POTENTIAL FAVORABLE SITES

POSSIBLE CONVERSION SYSTEMS

General Aspects of Construction

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE SOLAR POND CONCEPT

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter 4: Wave Energy Conversion

Publisher Summary

WAVE ENERGY CONTENT AND CONVERSION SYSTEMS

MERITS AND DISADVANTAGES OF CANDIDATE SYSTEMS

GENERAL ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTION

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF WAVE ENERGY CONVERSION

COMPARISION OF SOME SELECTED WAVE ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS

REVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT STATUS OF SOME WAVE ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter 5: Tidal Energy Conversion

Publisher Summary

POTENTIAL FAVORABLE SITES

POSSIBLE SCHEMES FOR TIDAL ENERGY CONVERSION

GENERAL ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTION

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF TIDAL ENERGY PRODUCTION

ONGOING AND PLANNED PROJECTS: DEVELOPMENT STATUS

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter 6: Other Possibilities of Marine Energy Conversion

Publisher Summary

MARINE CURRENTS

SALINITY GRADIENTS

MARINE BIOMASS ENERGY CONVERSION

Chapter 7: Conclusion

Publisher Summary

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX

Appendix A: Composition of EUROCEAN Study Groups

Appendix B: United Nations General Assembly Resolution on New and Renewable Sources of Energy

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Pergamon Policy Studies

Pergamon Policy Studies on Energy and Environment

Cappon HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

De Volpi PROLIFERATION, PLUTONIUM AND POLICY

Goodman & Love GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PROJECTS

Murphy ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL BALANCE

Williams & Deese NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION: THE SPENT

FUEL PROBLEM

Related Titles

Barney THE GLOBAL 2000 REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.

Fazzolare & Smith CHANGING ENERGY USE FUTURES

McVeigh SUN POWER

Myers THE SINKING ARK

Starr & Ritterbush SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN PROSPECT

Taylor & Yokell YELLOWCAKE

United Nations Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport STATE PETROLEUM ENTERPRISES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Wenk MARGINS FOR SURVIVAL

Copyright

Pergamon Press Offices:

Copyright © 1979 United Nations

Library of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data

Constans, Jacques, 1934-Marine sources of energy.

(Pergamon policy studies)

Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

1. Ocean energy resources. I. United Nations. Office for Science and Technology. II. Title.

TJ163.2.C64 1979

333.9′14

79-15200

ISBN 0-08-023897-1

All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Printed in the United States of America

Foreword

Madagascar: My research vessel Calypso seeks shelter from the hurricane Georgette in the bay of Tulear. Several ships are thrown ashore. Calypso is blasted clear of paint by large drops of rain hurled horizontally by winds 110 knots strong: solar energy from the sea.

Giant kelp grow three feet a day in the ocean: solar energy from the sea.

Mild climate and palm trees grow in high latitudes areas bathed by the Gulf Stream: solar energy from the sea. All the rains that fertilize our lands, the powerful surf constantly beating coastlines, the storms at Cape Horn, the huge cumulonimbus clouds, each one loaded with more energy than a hydrogen bomb, the Niagara or Victoria falls, the abundance of cod and halibut in Newfoundland – all are forms of solar energy from the sea.

To the modern sailor, these phenomena are daily reminders that two-thirds of the flux of solar energy intercepted by our planet is trapped by the ocean, roughly the equivalent to 100 million nuclear power plants!

Energy from the sun is inconveniently dispersed on huge surfaces and, on land, it is difficult and costly to concentrate. But the oceans are powerful natural concentrators of their share of the sun’s bounty through evaporation, currents, winds and waves. The equivalent of 40 million nuclear plants serves to evaporate sea water and a part of that energy can be recovered in hydroelectric plants or by converting salinity gradients into electricity at the mouth of rivers. Winds, currents and waves are equivalent to 370,000 nuclear plants. A substantial part of the heat absorbed by surface water, equivalent to about 55 million nuclear plants, is concentrated by steady east-west tropical currents into privileged areas such as the Florida strait where the temperature difference between surface and deep waters can be exploited through OTEC techniques. Finally, the energy converted through photosynthesis in the ocean, equivalent to about 20,000 nuclear plants, can be used in bioconversion plants to produce methane.

Most of the techniques involved in tapping a substantial fraction of these enormous amounts of unused but naturally preconcentrated energy from the sea have been already studied and proven viable.

They still need years of development and large investments. But they are renewable and will have a smaller environmental impact than any other known system. Additionally, it is from the oceans that we will extract deuterium, the fuel for nuclear fusion, if and when this technique is developed and proves to be safe.

Traditionally, humankind has been rather fearful of the sea, but it is high time we understand that the oceans may be offering us today the only road to safe development.

Jacques Cousteau

Foreword

NONCONVENTIONAL SOURCES OF ENERGY FOR DEVELOPMENT

The impulse given to research and development activities in the field of nonconventional sources of energy is one of the major events in science and technology in the last five years. National energy policies are being elaborated in many countries where they often did not exist; in other countries, where these policies were mainly oriented toward conventional sources (coal, oil and natural gas) and nuclear energy, drastic reorientations have occurred to include alternative sources such as solar, wind, biological, geothermal and marine energy programs.

This rapid evolution toward utilizing renewable sources of energy is a result of the economic situation, particularly the increasing prices of oil since 1973, the need for improved technologies in the use of coal, and the concerns for the environmental and safety aspects in the utilization of nuclear energy. Since the United Nations Conference on Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972), the world decision makers have become more sensitive to the need for a better protection of the environment of this planet. Since the warning of the Club of Rome on the limits to growth, governmental leaders are more cautious in the management of their depletable resources. Since the manned space flights, the public is more aware of the fragility and limitations of our spacecraft Earth.

On the political side, while each country has become more conscious of its interdependence, it is striving at the same time to attain self-reliance in the vital field of energy.

As a result of the action of these factors – at the economic, technological and political levels – we are witnessing a period of intensive scientific efforts to gain a better understanding of the phenomena in all fields related to energy, and an era of remarkable new technological developments and innovations. While the bulk of these efforts is traditionally concentrated in the laboratories of industrialized countries, many developing countries are recognizing the importance of these renewable sources of energy as a means to contribute to the reduction of their oil imports. They are consequently also devoting efforts to assess and develop appropriate technologies and local designs, more adapted to their needs in these fields.

In this fluid period, when innovations are blossoming in many parts of the world, there is a need to record these new developments as soon as they appear, evaluate periodically the state of the art and disseminate this information in a comprehensive manner to public and private decision makers in developing and developed countries.

United Nations Activities

The United Nations has been concerned with the importance of alternative sources of energy for many years. As early as 1961, the United Nations Center for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport had organized in Rome a conference on New Sources of Energy.

In 1973, the attention of the United Nations Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology for Development (ACAST) was drawn by Dr. Bruce Billings and his colleagues, Professors Pierre Auger, Takashi Mukaibo, Alexander Keynan and Irimie Staicu, to the importance of nonconventional sources of energy for developing countries, particularly for the rural and remote areas. ACAST is an advisory body of the United Nations composed of 28 eminent experts, which makes recommendations to the Economic and Social Council on all matters pertaining to science and technology for development. Dr. Billings report stated that small, non-conventional energy packages are often less expensive than traditional ones, when roads or distribution systems are lacking. … Research should concentrate on these small decentralized sources in the fields of solar, wind and geothermal energy as well as on biological energy conversion such as fermentation from animal waste."

The advisory committee commended this proposal and a project was prepared to demonstrate the practical uses of non-conventional sources of energy in developing countries. This project has been undertaken by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenya in cooperation with the United Nations Center for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport (CNRET), New York, headed by Professor Usmani. It includes the creation of rural energy centers in villages using the nonconventional sources of energy available, such as solar, wind and biological energy. Demonstrations have been initiated in Sri Lanka and Senegal.

In 1975, the United