MinuteEarth

Why Can't We Get Power From Waves?

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

  • Wave energy converter - a device for turning the mechanical energy of ocean waves into mechanical energy (flow of a substance) or electrical energy
  • Oscillating water column - an open-bottomed chamber filled with air and water, whose wave action moves the water column up and down like a piston, forcing the air out past a turbine
  • Attenuator - a long multisegment floating structure oriented parallel to the direction waves travel, where differing heights of waves along the length of the device flex the connections driving hydraulic pumps that can be connected to turbines
  • Oscillating body - a floating buoy that oscillates with waves, generating electricity within the buoy or by pulling on a generator or by pumping water through a turbine
  • Overtopping device - a reservoir filled by waves to a height higher the average nearby ocean, into which reservoir water is released, spinning a turbine
  • Biofouling - undesirable growth of organisms like barnacles and algae on underwater surfaces
  • Ocean wave - energy passing through water and causing it to move in a circular motion
  • Turbine - a machine for producing continuous power in which a wheel with blades gets hit by a fast-moving flow of water, steam, gas, air, or other fluid, and spins (often connected to a magnet that spins)
  • Induction - the production of an electric current in a wire by movement of a nearby magnetic field


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