Ocean Thermal Energy

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Comment by Jim Baird 1 day ago

There are numerous non-carbon energy sources contending to gain a foothold in a carbon-constrained environment but OTEC uniquely has the potential to address the cause and most dangerous effect of Climate Change as well as the disparate needs of the rich and poor nations.

The poor need water to sustain their population and to grow crops for food, fuel, fibre and building materials. These crops in turn sequester CO2.

The rich need a remedy to sea level rise, which the insurance industry projected this week will cause $28 trillion damage to the world's largest coastal cities by 2050.

The Global Warming Mitigation Method (GWMM) is an OTEC based technology that leverages the potential of the water that would otherwise inundate coastal arrears to irrigate the world’s hot deserts. These in turn have the capacity to sequester as much as 15 gigatons of carbon dioxide annually and provide sustenance and industry to the poorest regions of the planet.

GWMM would develop 1 terawatt (TW) of electricity using OTEC, triple the output of the world’s current nuclear reactor fleet. Conversion of 1TW of the ocean’s heat to productive use will negate the potential for thermal expansion which is the principal driver for sea level rise over the coming century.

Nuclear is often, erroneously, touted as the only carbon-free, baseload energy source.

OTEC is baseload electricity without the waste and proliferation potential, with the benefit of sea level maintenance and the potential to sustain the planet. It is also a multi trillion dollar economic opportunity.

The projected capital cost to produce 1 TW of electrical energy using OTEC is estimated at $8.5 trillion, which is likely to come down as OTEC is scaled up. This is one third of the projected damage due to sea level rise and would be offset by the production of over $1 trillion in electrical power annually and the harvest of desert plantations.

According to the NUS Consulting Group’s International Electricity Report and Cost Survey of electricity rates for 2006-2007 global rates in $U.S. range between 3.56 and 22.89 cents/kwh. Taking the average 13.23 cents/kwh, which is roughly Germany's rate of 13.16cents/kwh for the period, there would be ((1TW*$.1323)/1000) * 24hrs * 365days = $1.16 trillion dollars worth of power generated per year.

Ocean Thermal can keep the world inhabitable for the little girl I am holding in the picture opposite, her cousins and their contemporaries. They deserve nothing less.

Comment by Jim Baird on November 20, 2009 at 4:19pm

The world’s oceans are acting like thermal batteries that are overcharging storing a potential to seriously harm low lying coastal regions and their inhabitants as a consequence of sea level rise due to thermal expansion.

Removing sufficient heat from the warming oceans using OTEC could maintain current ocean temperatures and prevent the thermal expansion and the projected damage.

1 calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 °C.

1 gram of water = 1 c.c.

The ocean to a depth of 500 m - the part that is warming - is the equivalent of 361,000,000 km2 X .5 km = 1.805E+23 c.c.

Projected temperature rise of the ocean over the next 100 years in the range of 4.4 °C.

1.805E+23 c.c. * 4.4 °C = 7.942E+23 calories.

1 calorie = 1.16E-06 kilowatt-hour

7.942E+23 calories = 9.21E+17 kilowatt hours

1E+12 kilowatt hours = 1 terawatt-hour

9.21E+17 kilowatt hours = 9.21E+05 terrawatt-hours

9.21E+05 terrawatt-hours / (24hrs * 365 days * 100 years) = 1.05 terrawatts (TW) of power continuously converted to more productive forms of energy using OTEC can negate one of the worst projected effects of global warming.

Existing technology can desalinate water at a cost of about 1.5 KWh per m3 using Reverse Osmosis. One terawatt (TW) could therefore produce 5840 km3 of water annually which is enough to cover the World’s hot deserts with .375 metres of water per year. At that rate between 12 and 20 percent of the World’s deserts could be reclaimed to productive agricultural use, which in turn would sequester between 2 and 3 gigatons of CO2 annually.

Deserts are the only terrestrial locations capable of taking up the water from melting ice caps. They can also provide sustenance and shelter to some of the poorest inhabitants of the planet.

For further detail please see http://www3.telus.net/gwmitigationmethod/index.htm

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Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on October 23, 2008 at 11:41am

Comment by Dr. Paul A. Curto on September 7, 2008 at 5:56pm

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is by far the most balanced means to face the challenge of global warming. It is also the one that requires the greatest investment to meet its potential. It is the only answer that will save us from Armageddon.

The Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University was one of its earliest proponents. Given modern materials and design techniques, we should be able to build grazing OTEC plants that may become economical with just a few production units, based upon anhydrous ammonia as the hydrogen carrier. The grazing OTEC plants would produce anhydrous ammonia while surfing the oceans for hot spots to curry heat for their power plants. (BTW there are ammonia pipelines in Indiana and other midwest states today for fertilizer distribution). Ammonia is the second-most predominant chemical manufactured in the world. Since the volumetric energy density of ammonia is three times that of liquid hydrogen, and ammonia combustion can be exceptionally efficient (about the same as burning diesel fuel in turbodiesels), it may be true that a hydrogen economy based upon OTEC and ammonia may be close at hand. The overall replacement of transportable carbon fuels by OTEC-based ammonia is estimated at 100 million barrels of oil per day equivalent over about 40 years if we move to a hydrogen economy. Along with other technologies, carbon fuels could be replaced in roughly 80% of all applications.

OTEC is a true triple threat against global warming. It is the only technology that acts to directly reduce the temperature of the ocean (it was estimated one degree Fahrenheit reduction every twenty years for 10,000 250 MWe plants in '77), eliminates carbon emissions, and increases carbon dioxide absorption (cooler water absorbs more CO2) at the same time. It generates fuel that is portable and efficient, electricity for coastal areas if it is moored, and possibly food from the nutrients brought up from the ocean floor. It creates jobs, perhaps millions of them, if it is the serious contender for the future multi-trillion-dollar energy economy.

In concert with wind and solar power, OTEC will complete the conversion of the human race to a balance with Nature. We need only choose life over convenience.

Comment by MaxwellsAp on August 2, 2008 at 12:13pm

Thank you Robert! This has been one of my "soapboxes" for years. There is considerable chemical and mechanical energy there in Davy Jones' Locker, too.

Comment by J Paul Heffron on July 16, 2008 at 10:16am

I want to know more about the physical and financial viability of Ocean Thermal

Comment by Bill Mollring on July 15, 2008 at 10:34pm

Thank you for starting this site. I do not live in your area but I am very interested on how alternative energy ideas develop across the country. Please include me on your updates and notices. I wish you much success. Aloha, Bill