Last time, I told you about the alarming spike in mean temperature in the Arctic. I recommended that you watch the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow. I hope that you have done so because I am about to use a plot spoiler to make a very important point.
A great many catastrophes occur in the aforementioned film but the bulk of the story is dedicated to the fact that a new ice age sets in within the span of a few days, preceded by the flooding of New York City. The instant deep freeze is caused by bore holes which open in the atmosphere, fissures which allow the icy cold of space to travel dozens of miles into our home, reaching the surface of the Earth.
The holes are facilitated in part by the rapid deceleration of our major ocean currents, including the North Atlantic Oscillation. This rapid deceleration is caused by broad, sudden shifts in salinity factors of our oceans. What could cause such shifts? How about cataclysmic melting of our polar ice caps? Yes, that would do it. And what, pray, tell, is happening today, as you read this? Our polar ice caps are melting at a rate even the loudest soothsayers of doom failed to predict just a few short years ago.
Now, I realize that you don’t come to my blog to read the worst-case scenario. So, allow me to brighten your day. The news is not all bad. However, I had to share some of the gloom with you in order to drive home a key point about tidal wave power. You see, in our quest to combat global warming, we must harness in a safe and sustainable way every source of renewable energy we have. Even if we poison and overfish our oceans so badly that they become lifeless, they still can help us but we must use them in the right way.
There are two schools of thought in the renewable energy industry when it comes to the best way of harnessing the motion of the oceans for electricity. The first school advocates the use of submerged propellers which are spun by currents. They claim that their way is better because the currents are swift and consistent. The second school advocates the use of buoys, either fully or partially submerged, because the oceans are in constant motion.
Neither school can claim the irrefutable argument but one offers the better choice. Next time, I’ll share the reason with you.
Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line
Corbett Kroehler
photo courtesy of NOAA
credit: Oregon State University
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