From The Workbench - Alternative + Renewable Energy Blog Valuable information for do-it-yourselfers interested in the latest in alternative + renewable energy

Hello and welcome back to the world of the working!  I hope and trust your Holiday was amazing and packed full of family, fun, food and more green living than you could shake a stick at.  We’re back to it, the work week and as such, I thought I’d kick things off with a new device that could do great things for this planet we reside on.

I just found an article about a new water device that many scientists think could be a very promising way to deliver clean, renewable energy all over the world!  That’s right my friends, clean energy all coming from existing waterways on this mostly-blue planet.  It’s all pretty darn scientific, so here’s what the article had to say about the jist of the device:

“a revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world,…The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.   As water flows past, the cylinder creates vortices, which push and pull the cylinder up and down. The mechanical energy in the vibrations is then converted into electricity.”

I don’t know about you, but I like it!  The best news of all, however, is just how much more affordable it would be to produce.  According to scientists and research funded by the U.S. Government, “generating power in this way would potentially cost only around 3.5p per kilowatt hour, compared to about 4.5p for wind energy and between 10p and 31p for solar power. They say the technology would require up to 50 times less ocean acreage than wave power generation.”  Wow, sign me up.

How about they get this figured out, implemented and put into use as soon as possible, ok?  Ok.

Image by nathangibbs via Flickr