Alternative Energy from the Ocean

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) was conceived of by the French engineer Jacques D'Arsonval in 1881. However, at the time of this writing the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii is home to the only operating experimental OTEC plant on the face of the earth. OTEC is a potential alternative energy source that needs to be funded and explored much more than it presently is. 

Alternative energy from ocean (Source : Pexel.com)

The great hurdle to get over with OTEC implementation on a wide and practically useful level is cost. It is difficult to get the costs down to a reasonable level because of the processes presently utilized to drive OTEC. Ocean thermal energy would be very clean burning and not add pollutants into the air. However, as it presently would need to be set up with our current technologies, OTEC plants would have the capacity for disrupting and perhaps damaging the local environment. 

Sea waters create energy

Tidal power is just one of the alternative energies that the major companies are using to replace the fossil fuels and nuclear power. It is just a way that you can generate electricity from the water of the oceans. You will also find that people call this thermal energy conversion. 

The eclectic companies are trying to use things like the ocean water’s temperature, but this theory is still beginning developed. 

What is Alternative Energy

The ocean thermal energy conversion is still being studied and it is a very expensive process, however, once it is cost effective, you could find that it will be a top way of producing the world’s energy. There are plants for converting this energy on the shores, but then they are often found floating in the ocean or on the ocean shelves (which are not far from the land). 

The basis of the idea is to use a large water intake pipe to pull very cold ocean water from a mile or more below the surface to the top of the ocean. Warm surface water is used to make a liquid with a low boiling point turn into steam, which expands to turn a generator. 

Then, the very cold seawater is pumped through, turning the vapor back into liquid so the process can happen all over again. As the water is then returned to the sea, you will notice that it is environmentally friendly and that the process itself is easy. 

By placing the warm seawater into a low-pressurized container, it will begin to boil and then create a form of energy. This is known as the open-cycle system. As with the aforementioned procedure, it is easy and good for the environment. However, since the 1980’s the process has been studied and improved and the recent studies have proven that it can be over 95% efficient.  

As for the process of converting, you will find that the seawater’s temperature difference into energy is a new method when it comes to all the research. You will find that there are power plants that are devoting more time and money to try to be safer for the environment and use fewer pollutants. You will find that the seawater method is being the focal point of the energy research project. 

However, like solar and geothermal power, it is also renewable and there are companies that want to produce the electricity in hopes of survival. You can turn to sources other than the fossil fuels to have the perfect energy opportunities. For those who live hear the ocean, they will be able to find the conversion to be the type of power that you can live with and enjoy while supporting the best for the environment. 

There are three kinds of OTEC. 

1. “Closed Cycle OTEC” uses a low-boiling point liquid such as, for example, propane to act as an intermediate fluid. The OTEC plant pumps the warm sea water into the reaction chamber and boils the intermediate fluid. This results in the intermediate fluid's vapor pushing the turbine of the engine, which thus generates electricity.  The vapor is then cooled down by putting in cold sea water. 
2. “Open Cycle OTEC” is not that different from closed cycling, except in the Open Cycle there is no intermediate fluid. The sea water itself is the driver of the turbine engine in this OTEC format. Warm sea water found on the surface of the ocean is turned into a low-pressure vapor under the constraint of a vacuum. The low-pressure vapor is released in a focused area and it has the power to drive the turbine. To cool down the vapor and create desalinated water for human consumption, the deeper ocean's cold waters are added to the vapor after it has generated sufficient electricity. 
3. “Hybrid Cycle OTEC” is really just a theory for the time being. It seeks to describe the way that we could make maximum usage of the thermal energy of the ocean's waters. There are actually two sub-theories to the theory of Hybrid Cycling. 

The first involves using a closed cycling to generate electricity. This electricity is in turn used to create the vacuum environment needed for open cycling. The second component is the integration of two open cyclings such that twice the amount of desalinated, potable water is created that with just one open cycle. 

In addition to being used for producing electricity, a closed cycle OTEC plant can be utilized for treating chemicals. OTEC plants, both open cycling and close cycling kinds, are also able to be utilized for pumping up cold deep sea water which can then be used for refrigeration and air conditioning. 

Furthermore, during the moderation period when the sea water is surrounding the plant, the enclosed are can be used for mariculture and aquaculture projects such as fish farming. There is clearly quite an array of products and services that we could derive from this alternative energy source.

Also read: Great Locations for Wind Turbines

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