Slashdot Mirror
Harnessing Vertical Sea Temperature Gradient
Sterling D. Allan writes "Sea Solar Power Inc., run by three generations of James Hilbert Andersons, has developed a solar power technology that does not fluctuate with the weather, but is available constantly. Their solution is to harness the solar energy stored in the sea by tapping the thermal gradient that exists naturally between the surface and deep waters, using a reverse refrigeration cycle. The modeling and testing done by the Anderson family over three generations since 1962 predicts that the cost of energy generation through this method will be within a price range comparable to nuclear, coal, natural gas, and other contemporary grid power plants. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC, was invented in 1881 by a French scientist, Jacques Arsene D'Arsonval. SSP should be ready to build their first full prototype 2-3 years from now."
I did a report on OTEC when I was in junior high--18 years ago--based on an article in Scientific American. There are prototype facilities in a number of countries--I visited the facility in Hawaii five years ago, which was at least a decade old then.
It's an intriguing idea, but this smacks of somebody trying to get publicity to bring in venture capital or something of the sort.
True. What we need is something like Trantor - use the (negative) heat gradient from deep in the earth instead of the gradient in the oceans. Of course, we'll have to do more research drilling, but we're already getting close to the mantle!
--LWM
ps - no "think of the earthworms", please.
First of all, the turbines killing birds myth is getting really tired. Buildings kill birds too, but we seem to be building those. Properly located wind farms do not kill significant numbers of birds. This myth comes from the fact that one particular wind farm was placed directly in a valley that birds migrated through, giving them no choice but to go through and risk being killed. There's tons of other wind farm installations which show birds who have a choice to go around them, do go around them.
And what do you think that solar energy is going to do if you don't turn it into electicity? The sun already raises the temperature last I checked.
No, but it does derive it's power from heavy elements that were created by the explosions of older stars.
"Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
Fission reactors, our only current form of nuclear power, split uranium nuclei into smaller fragments and thereby release energy. However, to form the uranium atom in the first place from smaller constituents therefore required energy. This energy is thought to have come from a supernova ~6 billion years ago, predating the formation of the solar system. Thus current reactors are, by some (possibly warped!) definition, still using fossilized "solar" power. The same can also be said of geothermal which relies mainly on natural decay of nuclei formed by the same supernova.
Only if we ever get fusion reactors working then we really say that we are no longer reliant on solar based power...and that's because we will have made our own mini-sun.