Climate change, Ocean temperatures and the Energy Crisis - Discuss.
by Soadyheid from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5KQB7)
The news these days consistently brings up the topic of Climate Change; More hurricane damage, melting glaciers, wildfires and rising sea levels. I was surprised to find out that 93% of heat accumulated in the Earth's atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans.
93%!
The oceans are acting like a vast store of heat energy and their temperatures are predicted to increase by 1 - 4 degrees Celsius by 2100.
Renewable energy sources at present are mainly confined to wind turbines and solar power, what about this vast amount of energy stored in the oceans? (I'm excluding wave and tidal as it's the thermal stuff which intrigues me.) I've found a few articles about recovering the thermal energy in the oceans but it seems pretty small beer compared to other renewable methods.
See "Clean Renewable Energy with Dr Patrick Takahashi" as a taster. This raises the topic of Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) which I didn't know existed. Seems a bit of a well kept secret, it certainly doesn't seem to be highlighted as a major source of energy capture and, I would assume, a method of (eventually?)lowering the oceans temperature, and hence reducing excessive rainfall, monsoons, hurricanes, ice shelf and glacial melts, etc. Plus... as a secondary effect, mitigating the need for migration of people in danger of being forced to flee to higher ground as sea levels rise, much to the annoyance of the people already living on the higher ground!
Just a thought. There are probably lots of reasons why OTEC doesn't have a higher profile. Scientific? Political? What are your views?
Play Bonny!
:hattip:
93%!
The oceans are acting like a vast store of heat energy and their temperatures are predicted to increase by 1 - 4 degrees Celsius by 2100.
Renewable energy sources at present are mainly confined to wind turbines and solar power, what about this vast amount of energy stored in the oceans? (I'm excluding wave and tidal as it's the thermal stuff which intrigues me.) I've found a few articles about recovering the thermal energy in the oceans but it seems pretty small beer compared to other renewable methods.
See "Clean Renewable Energy with Dr Patrick Takahashi" as a taster. This raises the topic of Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) which I didn't know existed. Seems a bit of a well kept secret, it certainly doesn't seem to be highlighted as a major source of energy capture and, I would assume, a method of (eventually?)lowering the oceans temperature, and hence reducing excessive rainfall, monsoons, hurricanes, ice shelf and glacial melts, etc. Plus... as a secondary effect, mitigating the need for migration of people in danger of being forced to flee to higher ground as sea levels rise, much to the annoyance of the people already living on the higher ground!
Just a thought. There are probably lots of reasons why OTEC doesn't have a higher profile. Scientific? Political? What are your views?
Play Bonny!
:hattip: