Ocean tide coming in for wave power | Forging a future for enhanced geothermal energy | How EVs could bankrupt America's transit systems
infrastruttura
no. 28
If we had the ability to harness their energy, ocean waves could meet nearly 65% of America's electricity demand.
After the technology's fits and starts over the last decade a pilot project at the Port of Los Angeles aims to demonstrate that the future of generating electricity from waves is at hand (in certain parts of the world, at least: the west coasts of the US and Europe and Japan and New Zealand are particularly well-situated).
A Stockholm, Sweden-based startup called Eco Wave Power is installing what is essentially a 70-foot long power plant along an existing wharf inside the port's 35-acre AltaSea innovation hub. Eco Wave's technology is straightforward: eight car-sized paddles generate electricity from waves that can be as small as around half of a foot; as they roll in, the paddles move up and down, putting pressure on a hydraulic system that in turn drives a generator (which itself is small enough to fit inside a standard shipping container).