It has a 39-foot wingspan and moves in a figure 8 pattern on a seabed tether. There's going to be at least some implication for local wildlife, but is it worse than the impacts of fossil fuels? I have no idea. It's definitely an interesting concept. I'm sure it will get more efficient and require a smaller footprint over time, assuming we invest in it.
This is a fun concept with potentially even more interesting consequences. Using the ocean as a giant heatsink would result in a water temperature slightly higher than elsewhere, I wonder if over time it would suffice to attract the attention of non-local aquatic life, or affect the migratory habits of the existing species
This actually seems to have some promise - I'd be worried about other side effects (another article I was reading mentioned possible effects on marine life due to dissolved iron and nickel), but it seems like a technology that merits further exploration and rollout on at least a small scale.
I think scale matters. If done in big quantities, it surely would change the maritime ecology, but do you have any reason to believe there are hidden dangers?
Yes, the potential and kinetic energy of the oceans is an amazing source of energy.
I hope a 'rigorous 3 year' testing program is sufficient to justify a large scale deployment of these platforms in different habitats. They do mention that 'a few' of the metrics monitored showed naturally highly variable and lacked the statistical power to confindently rule out undetected changes. Also, I have the impression that they just checked the deployment of one platform?
I was also wondering about this and it got me thinking - I'd the turbines would be spinning fairly slowly, and I'm picturing some sort of filtering device behind them that could filter plastics or other pollutants to the ocean. In an ideal setup maybe it can filter stuff out and use that to create more energy
Maybe also not what we want, but it could be cool to see if some new ecosystems set up around these structures
Out of sight, out of mind. The Ocean has been a dumping ground for a long time. Do we know what kind of impact this might be having where this might be built.
Close to shore is where most of the Ocean life resides due to more light reaching in the shallow water. There were proposals to build wind turbines in the middle on the Great Lakes. Not sure what happened to those. Maybe it can be done so it improves the environment, but that tends to costs more.
Good idea, they have been trying to build wave power for decades, but the sea has so much energy at times that everything they have tried gets smashed to bits, or is so strongly made that the cost kills it. Also stuff grows on it, and in time they sink/lose efficiency etc. I hope this venture does well.
It's been pointed out by experts in the field of floating marine life[1] [2]. Boyan has not been very co-operative with the scientists raising these concerns.
The current impact is small, but they plan to have loads of these constantly operating - that will cause huge impact.
Interesting Idea! This seems like an elegant but somewhat expensive solution. Does the power consumed by pumping tons of air 24/7 offset the ecological gains by the system? If this can stop microscopic plastic than it would probably also stop microscopic creatures. Are there shore based ecosystems that rely on those creatures coming to shore, or vice versa?
I aggree with the necessity of haste, but I hope these turbines can be developed in a way to have minimal impact on all the ocean life that uses these currents aswell, there's already so much damage thats been done to the ocean ecosystems already.
The amount of energy and land required for this plan, and keeping in mind that most of that area is in conflict zones or less than stable. Also there's potential impact to deep sea habitats (that are still very mysterious). Good job thinking outside the box, but I don't think this is viable.
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