Waves crashing on the beach and rivers (click here) rushing through a sloping
valley are forces of nature. The power of moving water is obvious to
anyone who has stood amidst breaking waves or struggled to swim against a
river’s current. New technologies can enable us to harness the might of
moving water to help light our homes and keep our ice cream cold in the
freezer without building new dams that can have major impacts on
wildlife and water quality.
The use of water power dates back thousands of years to the water wheels of Ancient Greece, which used the energy in falling water to generate power to grind wheat. We now are presented with an opportunity to develop a new generation of water power, one that will harness the abundant energy of our oceans and rivers.
Hydrokinetic technologies produce renewable electricity by harnessing the kinetic energy of a body of water, the energy that results from its motion. Since water is 832 times denser than air, our tides, waves, ocean currents, and free-flowing rivers represent an untapped, powerful, highly-concentrated and clean energy resource–...
