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shared by Xin Wang on 12 Mar 13 - No Cached

It’s estimated that tidal power in Alaska could generate as much as 16 TWh/yr of energy (about four times more than what Hoover Dam generates in an average year). In the Lower 48, the potential energy from tidal power is just a fraction of that (just 0.6 TWh/year from Puget Sound, for example). Considering that no tidal power plants in these areas have even been approved yet, it’s going to be several years, or even decades, before Americans can rely on tidal power for their electricity. But for some regions, DOE says the energy from tidal currents will help meet the goal of generating 80 percent of America's electricity from clean sources by 2035.
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shared by Xin Wang on 12 Mar 13 - No Cached

But it has only been in recent years that it has started to become more realistic due to advance in research and technology.
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Wave and tidal energy harvesting has been around for a few decades. But it has only been in recent years that it has started to become more realistic due to advance in research and technology. Some speculates that wave and tidal energy can supply at least 10 percent of the world's energy consumption. How much power can be harvested is determined mainly on the wave activity. A map of wave heights is shown towards the end of the document.
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This method works much the same way as wind turbines. However, since water is four times denser than air, the tidal turbine can be much smaller to generate the same amount of energy. The ideal water current is between 2-2.5 m/s, which is usually at depths of 20-30m within 1 km from the shore. A commercial scale turbine can produce 300 kWatts but this can scale up depending on the farm's size.
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shared by Xin Wang on 11 Mar 13 - No Cached

Tidal energy is produced by the surge of ocean waters during the rise and fall of tides.
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During the 20th century, engineers developed ways to use tidal movement to generate electricity in areas where there is a significant tidal range—the difference in area between high tide and low tide. All methods use special generators to convert tidal energy into electricity.
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For most tidal energy generators, turbines are placed in tidal streams. A tidal stream is a fast-flowing body of water created by tides. A turbine is a machine that takes energy from a flow of fluid.
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The world's first tidal power station was constructed in 2007 at Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland. The turbines are placed in a narrow strait between the Strangford Lough inlet and the Irish Sea. The tide can move at 4 meters (13 feet) per second across the strait.
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shared by Xin Wang on 11 Mar 13 - No Cached

Tidal energy is produced through the use of tidal energy generators. These large underwater turbines are placed in areas with high tidal movements, and are designed to capture the kinetic motion of the ebbing and surging of ocean tides in order to produce electricity. Tidal power has great potential for future power and electricity generation because of the massive size of the oceans. These articles explore the potential energy of tidal power technologies.
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