Tidal Forces

Does anyone know of a scheme to harness the tides to produce electricity? It seems like you could use a reversable hydro-electric generator so that you could take advantage of both low and high tide. My son and I talked about this when he was in high school, but we were unable to find anyone who had tried this approach.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Cohen on August 2, 2008 at 3:29pm: Your idea is right on. Indeed in recent years there are companies working on using reversible turbines to harness tidal energy. For example, see Web sites at URLs http://www.cleancurrent.com/ ,
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=a16561a2d9322a0e5953813fd7c93... , and
http://www.verdantpower.com/

Editorial: Conspicuous geophysical phenomena such as ocean waves, currents (river and ocean), and ocean tides are important renewable energy sources that have a significant, albeit relatively modest, potential global payoff. Although I'm sympathetic to developing those options, my personal efforts and advocacy are focused on developing ocean thermal energy which, although inconspicuous, has a potentially huge energy payoff. Ocean thermal could well become the largest global source of renewable energy.; ▶ Reply to This