What is Wave Energy?

Wave energy has recently become an option for clean

, green, sustainable energy. Wave energy, or wave power, is basically a process that involves harnessing the energy of ocean waves to generate electricity. There have been sporadic attempts throughout modern history since about 1890 to generate power from waves, though we have not yet been able to use it as a sole source of energy.

EnviroCitizen.org did a bit of research to discover exactly how wave energy works. Essentially, waves are created by the wind that passes over the ocean's surface. When the waves move slower than the wind speed that generates the wave, there is an energy transfer from the wind to the waves. The waves then move on that energy, opening up the potential for it to be harvested.

There are a few ways to harness the energy from waves. There are point absorbers, attenuators, terminators and through overtopping. There are three locations where wave energy devices can be placed: shoreline, nearshore and offshore. Each location and wave energy device has benefits and drawbacks. Many experts are researching the viability of each option.

In the United States, for example, the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative is currently building a wave energy plant (also called a wave-power park) in Oregon. This plant will use buoys, which sit on top of waves as they rise and fall, creating mechanical energy. Other countries are implementing wave energy plants, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and Portugal. The world's first commercial wave power energy plant is located in Portugal, opening in 2008.

Wave power has great potential, but there are still some kinks to work out. One challenge is the fact that waves, although consistent in the fact that the ocean is always moving (especially near coastal areas), are variable. Weather conditions and seasonal conditions affect wave height. Another challenge to effectively harnessing wave energy is figuring out a way to construct devices that can survive the harsh oceanic conditions. Temperature, salinity and storm damage can all be particularly problematic. The problem here lies that in order to make devices that can withstand these harsh conditions costs much increase for the devices, making them less economical. An additional issue that has been brought up is that save farms have the potential to displace fishermen.

Despite the challenges of harnessing wave energy, there are still plans to build wave energy farms throughout the world. Like solar and wind power, wave power is completely green, completely clean and completely sustainable. The challenge is to figure out how to do it effectively. EnviroCitizen.org encourages you to learn how you can reduce your energy consumption while we wait for viable, green energy alternative sources to become more available!

What is Wave Energy?

By: EnviroCitizen

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