The news source for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

What is OTEC?
More about OTEC
OTEC Library
Articles
About us

Home / News
Subscribe



Send us stories at editor@otecnews.org

Search OTEC News

Archives

OTEC Overview
The paper Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), December 1999, by Dr. Luis Vega is now available on the OTECnews site, by kind permission of the author. Dr. Vega has worked extensively with OTEC research and is Program Manager at the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR). This is an substantial paper on OTEC technology, including an analysis of the current situation and which steps needs to be taken next. The paper is also available in PDF format (648 kbyte).

This paper is now part of our introduction, What is OTEC?

posted by bjelkeman at 23:19

What a drag
Attaching what looks like fungus on a tree trunk to offshore platform legs or ocean pipes can help reduce forces due to drag and vortex shedding, according to researchers at Imperial College in London. More details in their patent application (GB 2 362 938).

Considering that wave forces on an OTEC pipe is one of the main headaches for any OTEC operation this could indeed make those pipes less vulnurable to storms. The patent doesn't claim any numbers when it comes to reduced drag.
posted by bjelkeman at 14:42

Serious pipe work
The Honolulu Star Bulletin has an article on the 55 inch pipleline [cached] that NEHLA has worked for the last twelve years to put in place. They anticipate that the pipeline will feed 27,000 gallons a minute of cold, clean, nutrient-rich, deep-sea water to both a conventional OTEC installation as well as several mariculture facilities and an educational facility. West Hawaii Today has a more detailed article on the same subject.

This is old news, but it nevertheless makes for interesting reading if you haven't read it before.
posted by bjelkeman at 12:53

Tomorrows fuel
New Scientist has a short book review of two books about hydrogen as fuel. One of the books Tomorrow's Energy by Peter Hoffmann, MIT, ISBN 0262082950 is about the current state of the art in hydrogen production, storage and use, the other book Hydrogen as Fuel by Richard Cammack, Michel Frey and Robert Robson (Editors), Taylor and Francis, ISBN 0415242438 is a book about biological hydrogen production and conversion.

One of the main challenges facing large scale OTEC use is transport of the produced energy to where it is actually used. Hydrogen is an obvious candidate with some well know challenges. We are getting Tomorrow's Energy for the OTECnews library.
posted by bjelkeman at 17:23

Seawater as CO₂ filter
One of the major issues with keeping people in underwater habitats has for a long time been been the chemicals needed to scrub the CO₂ from the air. Aquarius, the underwater laboratory in Florida uses 25 kilo of chemicals every day. Now Lew Nuckols of the US Navy have figured out how to use seawater to do the job instead. New Scientist article [subscription required].

This is pretty cool as I have always envisioned to have a underwater laboratory in connection to any substantial OTEC and mariculture installation. Unlikely to happen in the near term considering Aquarius' US$10,000 operating costs, but one can always dream, right?
posted by bjelkeman at 00:15