How does Wave Energy Work?
There has been a major shift in thinking all around the world on what types of energy we should use. Unfortunately, the world currently runs on fossil fuels such as oil and coal. These fuels give off carbon along with other harmful chemicals that pollute the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. Over the last few decades, there has been a huge push to find new forms of energy. Many scientists and entrepreneurs have looked to renewable energies. Renewable energies are a type of energy that do not run out. Unlike oil and coal, renewable energies such as wave energy are limitless and if harnessed correctly can help the world get rid of its energy woes.
What is Wave Energy?
Wave energy is energy that can be harnessed from the sea. If you have ever been to the beach or the sea, you have probably noticed that the water is very strong as it pushes and pulls. Waves are a byproduct of the sea and are actually caused by wind moving over the water. It should also be noted that the sun heating the air, causes the wind – so wind is essentially a by-product of solar energy.
How Wave Energy is Created
It should be noted that while water and waves are plentiful, the technology to harness lots of energy from waves is currently limited. Like other forms of renewal energy (solar and wind), there is a lot of research being done, but presently no large wave stations are online to deliver wave energy to homes, businesses and industries.
Wave energy can be harnessed by a number of different methods; however, the most popular and currently most technically feasible method to harness energy from waves is to use an air chamber and the movement of the waves to produce electricity:
Similar to a wave pool, an air chamber is exposed to water on the low end and has a turbine and generator on the top end. As waves approach and enter the chamber on the low end, the force of the air in and out of the holes at the top of the chamber, turns a turbine and generates electricity.
Another form of wave energy technology is called the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter. This device is made up of many parts, which can articulate the movement of the waves. As waves move towards the device, each section can resist motion which causes a hydraulic ram to drive a motor. Pelamis is currently being tested off the coast of Portugal and its testing is expected to spread to the coasts of Scotland in the coming years.
Other forms of wave energy use buoys that convert kinetic energy of the waves, a pressure transducer that forces a hydraulic pump to push seawater through a turbine and gravity converters which force waves into a reservoir and then allow the water to go back out to sea using the force of gravity – while doing so, creating a hydroelectric generator. Apart from these, other forms of wave energy are being researched and tested.
Challenges of Using Wave Energy
Wave energy is a renewal form of energy that will not run out, is free to use and doesn’t contribute to pollution or global warming; however, it does have many obstacles to overcome before it can be used widely throughout the world.
Wave energy while present at every ocean and sea varies widely. It does produce high pressures, but it is low speed which makes it difficult to create electricity. Waves also move in many directions which must be accounted for and there are times when waves are hardly present.
In order to harness wave energy, structures must be able to stand up to the stresses of the sea. The sea can be very harsh to mechanical structures breaking turbines and resulting in unreliable energy. Currently harnessing wave energy is much more difficult and expensive to use than fossil fuels such as oil and coal. Until wave energy becomes a more attractive choice of energy from an economic standpoint, most governments and businesses will hold off investing in research or infrastructure.
While there are many challenges to using wave energy, most people in the field of renewable energy are confident that technology and the economics of renewable energy will become much more attractive in the next couple of decades. This should lead to a spur in their wide scale use.