The Positives of Wave Energy

Wave energy is often an overlooked renewable power platform. In this article, we take a look at the positives of wave energy as applied to the current energy debate.

We are entering a period unique in human history. For the first time in recorded history, we are on the cusp of expanding beyond our energy supply. For instance, the world currently produces roughly 85 million barrels of oil a day at full capacity and we use roughly 84.5 million. It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize our oil usage will soon dwarf our production. To deal with this and environmental issues, we are wisely looking around for other clean energy resources. Wave energy is a very peripheral platform, but one with a ton of potential.

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What is wave energy? Some of the largest energy bursts on the planet happen in the oceans of the world. These manifest as waves and can be as devastating as we’ve seen in the tsunamis hitting Indonesia and Samoa or as diluted as what we see at the beach every day. Regardless, the total energy in waves is simply massive and something we can harness.

The first positive of wave energy is consistency. Waves are constant in most coastal areas. They might get small during the evening as winds cool, but they are consistently bringing energy to the shore. This means any mechanism designed to capture the energy in them is going to be productive the vast majority of time unlike wind turbines and solar energy which can be impacted by environmental elements.

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The second major benefit is location. The vast majority of the human population lives along the coasts of the world. This makes wave energy a logical solution given its close proximity to the end user. Even better, experiments are currently underway in Israel to determine whether wave energy can be combined with the desalinization effort required in so many areas now that fresh water is becoming a stressed resource as well.

Then we have the straightforward benefits of this power platform. First, it creates energy with no pollution or greenhouse gasses being produced. Second, it is readily available at nearly every coastline, which should cut down on conflicts. Third, it is a renewable energy platform for as long as we have waves. Since the moon isn’t going anywhere, this should be a very long time.

Wave energy is in its infancy as a viable part of the energy solution we need if society is to overcome its energy problems. That being said, the positives of wave energy are so extensive that it is a matter of when, not if, it will become part of that solution.

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