A couple of weeks ago, I presented at my first big conference in Washington D.C.! It was aptly named Oceans but was a great departure from a lot of the ocean themed academia I see every day. There was a theme this year of “marine energy” but -I’m told- the conference is typically ocean engineering … Continue reading
I’ve written before about America’s struggle with accepting offshore wind energy development, specifically the controversy surrounding the Cape Wind project in Massachusetts. The process has been fraught with opposition since somebody first though, “Hey, could we get an offshore wind farm here in America.” As a result, it has been sitting in ‘renewable energy project … Continue reading
Even if you are interested in wind energy in North Carolina (this blogger), and even if you attempt to feign interest in local policy matters (again, this blogger), the news last week that our governor’s office has requested an extended buffer against offshore wind farms may have flown under your radar. The NC Department of … Continue reading
Estimating the wind resource available around the world is a major component of the development of wind energy technology. Not only do we need to know how much wind there is to meet the energy demand, but we also need to know what specific locations have the most wind when compared to others. So what … Continue reading
With the generation of energy at the top of everyone’s minds, it might be easy to forget how and where all that energy is stored and transported to the populations that need it. Even in a world bereft of renewable energy sources (I am not advocating this in any shape or form), energy storage can … Continue reading
As promised but a little late, here’s a breakdown of current tidal energy technologies! This post is similar to my previous summary of wave energy techniques, so hopefully you’ll find it just as informative. The utilization of tidal, or as it is sometimes termed ‘current,’ energy is a bit different from wave energy in its … Continue reading
A really informative imagination of what developing a tidal energy farm would look like. The concept in this video is actually a little revolutionary when compared with their cousins, wind turbines. These tidal turbines are capable of harvesting the energy from tidal currents in both directions as they ebb and flood, in a fairly linear … Continue reading
One of the most effective arguments against offshore energy developments (of many types – not just offshore wind) is the negative impact to the local viewshed. In North Carolina in particular, the Outer Banks are dominated by land designated as ‘National Seashore,’ and therefore under much greater effective protection from any sort of development than … Continue reading
Wave energy may be very important to the renewable energy industry as more traditional green energy sources meet more and more opposition in the political and economic arena. In this post, I’ll show you how ocean waves work, and some of the ways people have been attempting to harness wave energy for use by humans … Continue reading
Everyone’s familiar with the ‘shading effect’ that occurs on solar energy schemes. If a tree or high rise building casts a shadow on your photovoltaic cell’s glass face, that means your system isn’t generating as much energy as it could, because it’s not catching as much sunlight as it could. But did you know that … Continue reading
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