Alternative energy from the Ocean is an overlooked resource. The Ocean is a vast part of earth that is many ways remains largely unexplored. Scientists who are interested in exploring energy alternatives will leave no stone unturned. Now they’re turning their attention to the ocean.

Ocean Current Energy

One area that looks especially promising is the use of Ocean current energy.

Ocean waters are constantly on the move. Ocean currents flow in complex patterns affected by the wind, water salinity and temperature, topography of the ocean floor, and the earth’s rotation. The ocean currents are driven by wind and solar heating of the waters near the equator, though some ocean currents result from density and salinity variations of water. These currents are relatively constant and flow in one direction only, in contrast to the tidal currents closer to shore. Some examples of ocean currents are the Gulf Stream, Florida Straits Current, and California Current.

Ocean currents create tremendous amounts of energy

The great part for energy creation is that these oceans waves, due to the density of water can create powerful energy. The potential is enormous, and could replace the current methods of electrical generation in many parts of the USA. Of course the technology will have to be perfected before that can happen.

Tapping into the alternative energy of the ocean will require several technological breakthroughs

Right now there is no commercial application that can be used to mine this vast source of energy. Scientists in the USA, China, Japan, and Russia are studying the ideas of unleashing the energy, but so far there hasn’t been any major break-through developments that would allow them to start harnessing this energy in a useful format.

Certainly tapping the power of the ocean won’t be easy, or cheap. It will take quite a bit of technical know how to harness the energy, as well as to transport it back to people. Current designs center around a system of turbines and pipelines, somewhat similar to what is being done on “wind farms.” Whether that concept pans out remains unknown.

Some facts are unknown, such as what type of maintenance will these machines need? Since they’ll be buried deep in the ocean, cleaning and repairing them will be no easy task. Plus, considerations of the effect on the current ecology is of paramount importance. There’s no telling what type of damage such intrusive instruments might wreak on the the ocean, which until now, has remained relatively pristine.

Alternative Energy Ocean Power

Of course it’s also unknown what would happen in the event of changing the current flow of the ocean. Currents that are artificially slowed down could potentially have a harmful affect on the rest of the ocean. Without more studies, and small test projects, these answers will remain unknown.

Researchers in Florida are extremely interested in answering these questions about the ocean’s power. With ocean pressure at 450PSI, the ocean represents engineering problems that haven’t been solved up until this point.

It’s hard to not get excited when you think about ocean energy. The power of the currents is incredible, and tapping these resources would be enormously useful to many people, especially those located in Florida. If the technological issues can be overcome, then ocean current energy could replace coal as a means of generating massive amounts of energy.