Celebrate the Oceans with World Oceans Day 2021

People tend to appreciate the oceans for specific things: the beaches, boating, the abundance of fish or the ease of transporting goods…but we may underestimate the abundance with which these bodies of water, that comprise 70% of our planet, provide. They supply most of our water, through rain. They are the architects of our climates, absorbing the heat of the sun that otherwise would scorch the earth, and moving that heat around the planet, creating warmth in cold climates.

They absorb the carbon in the atmosphere and create 50-80% of Earth’s oxygen through phytoplankton and other plants. More than 3 billion people depend on the oceans for their livelihoods. In the very near future, Seabased and other ocean energy companies intend that the oceans will supply a significant portion of our energy with clean, renewable ocean waves and tides. The Ocean Energy Council states that an average 4-foot, 10-second wave striking a coast puts out more than 35,000 horsepower per mile of coast.

They are the largest and most powerful influence on our planet, and yet we know more about our galaxy than about our oceans. Scientists believe more than 80% of the oceans are unmapped. And roughly 90% of the species in the oceans have yet to be discovered.

World Oceans Day is an opportunity to learn more about this unfathomable resource that, vast though it is, requires our protection.

Seabased hopes to soon be providing clean, utility-scale commercial energy to help people and communities around the world thrive. But we’re doing so in a way that also protects the precious resource that makes this possible. Happy World Oceans Day.

What is Ocean Energy?

What is ocean energy? When you think of solar power you can picture a photovoltaic panel; when you think of wind energy you can picture a giant windmill on the horizon; but what contraption do you imagine with ocean energy? It’s clear that the ocean is an enormous source of power, as anyone who has been knocked over by a wave, seen them crash on the shore, or been rolled about in a ship can attest. Water is some 832 times denser than air; and ocean energy incorporates the forces of many resources: the sun, the wind, the movements of the earth, and the gravitational pull of the moon.

Ocean Energy Europe says wave energy could be the largest renewable, theoretically providing up to 125% of the world’s current electrical consumption. Experts from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) say if you included the other technologies - energy made by tides, from the chemical exchange of salty and fresh water, and geothermal exchange - ocean energy could provide 400% of the world’s electrical energy consumption. Since 1799, people have been working out how to turn the energy of the waves into electricity. A little over 200 years later, we’re finally arriving.

It’s reasonable to ask, what’s taking so long? Ocean energy faces some challenges the others didn’t.  While solar panels and windmills weren’t easy to figure out, at least they could be developed on dry land where you could test and fix things relatively easily. It’s a lot tougher when the part you want to recalibrate is more than a dozen meters under the surface of the ocean.

And while solar panels and windmills have to withstand storms, they’re not also contending with tons of churning saltwater. Saltwater is highly corrosive and the water in the ocean may oscillate as aggressively as the water in a washing machine, so anything built to sit in it for decades has to be impervious. It can’t break down or expose the environment to toxins. In Seabased’s opinion it also has to be benign or beneficial to the ecosystem.

As Simon Stark, project manager of the Ocean Energy Scale-up Alliance pointed out: “Putting something in the ocean is as difficult as putting it out in space.”

Because it’s cutting edge technology, ocean energy is generally more expensive than solar or wind. But both solar and wind were much more costly when they were emerging technologies. According to IRENA the price of solar dropped 80% between 2010 and 2017, and the price of wind dropped 38%. The same low rates are expected of some ocean energy technologies as they are commercially deployed.

How much power each of these technologies could theoretically generate is calculated by the type of technology and the abundance and type of resource. The calculations do not take into account the cost of any of these technologies.

To give a sense of the promise of ocean energy, the world consumed 22,315 TWh in 2018. Some of these technologies could conceivably provide more power than the world consumed.

In the ocean, there is not one technology for harnessing power; there are many. What follows is an overview from 10,000 feet of what many of these technologies look like and how they work, although there are far too many particulars to cover in this space.

Earlier rendition of Seabased wave energy park

Tidal Energy

The ocean energy technology with the most commercial projects in the water as of 2020 is tidal energy. Imagine the tide is coming in, the water’s getting higher, but there’s a barrier. The water will exert pressure on this barrier, but to pass through it must push through turbines – devices that rotate. The water causes the turbines to spin and the spinning of the turbines creates electricity. When the tide goes out, it happens again. There are many different kinds of turbines designed for this purpose.

Tides aren’t affected by weather conditions but only by the cycles of moon, sun, and earth, so tidal power is entirely predictable. And this technology is proven: EDF has operated a 240-megawatt tidal barrage since 1966. Tidal lagoons are a newer technology and can be entirely land-based. Their turbines include a ring-shaped harbor wall with a section of hydro turbines.

There are also tidal currents that harness the lateral motion of ocean currents.

Scientists estimate tidal energy has the global potential to produce 500–1000 TWh/yr 

Wave Energy

After tidal, wave energy is the most developed ocean energy technology. Actually, the most developed technologies, since there are several. Some of them lie on top of the waves like a raft, others sit under the waves with something like a fan sticking up that is slapped around by the moving water, some use turbines. They may be onshore, nearshore, or offshore and can be matched with other technologies like solar panels or offshore wind.

Seabased wave technology is based on a patented direct-drive linear generator that captures this dense resource. A buoy riding the waves is tethered by cable to a generator resembling an 8 meter high spark plug that sits on the sea floor. The waves move the buoy, the buoy pulls the cable, the cable raises and lowers translator (mostly made of magnets) inside the generator. This mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy. This kind of generator is part of an array of generators, each collecting energy from the waves they’re riding. Each generator sends the power to a subsea substation that converts it to electricity that can go directly to the electrical distribution grid. Electrical grids can only incorporate electricity that meets quality requirements and very few renewable technologies can meet those requirements. Seabased wave power parks are designed to be plug-and-play, modular systems that can be expanded as needed. They require little maintenance, so it’s okay if sea flora and sea fauna move in and make the place home, since they’re safe from fishing or recreation in there.

Among the European countries with attractive wave climates are the UK, Ireland, Portugal, France, Spain, and Denmark. But there are also thousands of islands with waves that currently depend entirely on imported fossil fuels. Seabased has designed its system to work not only with big waves, but also with moderate ones.

Wave energy is believed to be one of the most powerful forms of ocean energy with a theoretical potential of 29,500 TWh/yr of high density power.

 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) works in tropical places where the water at the surface is at least 28 Celsius. Some places where it is expected to be effective are parts of India and Africa. OTEC generators draw warm water in from the ocean’s surface. They may operate on seawater alone or they may incorporate a substance like ammonia, which boils at a low -33.34 Celsius. The ammonia becomes vapor which, like any other steam, can turn a turbine when forced into a small space. On the other side of the turbine, cold ocean water, drawn from about 900 meters below the surface, is used to cool the ammonia and it begins its journey again.

OTEC could theoretically produce 44,000 TWh/yr to 88,000 TWh/yr though the power it produces is very low density.

Salinity Gradient

Salinity gradient is a way of using water’s chemistry to make power. When you mix saltwater and fresh water, positive and negative ions will naturally flow from the water with the highest concentration (the saltwater) to that with the lowest (the fresh). This is energy moving around. But if you use special membranes that only let one or another kind of ion through, the water can be made to move in specific ways that creates power. OEE said, “The energy released from 1 m3 fresh water is comparable to the energy released by the same m3 falling over a height of 260 m. The availability and predictability of salinity gradient energy is very high, and therefore makes it a solid baseload energy source.”

Salinity gradient is estimated to have a potential output of 2,000 TWh/yr.  

This is a highly condensed look at decades of research with possibly thousands of studies produced on different mechanical designs, materials incorporated, results from different climates, and so forth. What is certain is that the sources of ocean energy – waves, tides, temperatures, and salinity - tend to be predictable and reliable compared to some other renewables. They draw power from the rest of nature to create a formidable source of energy.

The ocean is very different in different places—the Atlantic is not the Caribbean is not the North Sea. All of these ocean energy types may find their optimal technology or combination of ocean technologies to help make the renewable transition. Already the cumulative energy produced from wave and tidal energy has increased from less than 5 GWh in 2009 to approximately 45 GWh in 2019.

“Implementing this wide array of ocean-based opportunities could reduce global GHG emissions by nearly 4 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030 and by more than 11 billion tonnes in 2050, compared to projected business-as-usual emissions,” according to an article in the World Resources Institute.

There is a tremendous need for the world’s governments to establish policies that would quickly bring these ocean energies to commercialization, just as they did for other emerging technologies. Hopefully one day soon no one will have to ask, What is ocean energy? We’ll all be experiencing a cleaner planet because of it.

The Exciting Possibilities of a Blue Recovery

We can hardly comprehend the oceans. They cover 70% of the earth’s surface but 80% of their depths have never been explored. Only a fraction of ocean species have been discovered. Oceans provide much of the oxygen we breathe as they cool the planet. But the vastness of the oceans tends to make us think they can take whatever we throw at them, like eight million metric tons of plastic waste. And actually, the oceans are in danger. Industrial and agricultural waste, oil spills, and sewage make the water toxic for sea life; sea level rise from climate change threatens the coasts; a third of fish stock are overfished…. Once this pandemic is over, we need to build back better, pursuing a Blue Recovery that could mean a lot of great new products and opportunities, cool inventions, brilliant discoveries, and healthy oceans.

The ocean economy is different from the Blue Economy. The Blue Economy means sustainable use of the ocean resources: fishing, but not overfishing; beach recreation and tourism minus the 14,000 tons of sunscreen that poison the water; using ships to carry goods back and forth without oil spills or picking up invasive species from one part of the world in ballast water and dumping them on the other side to mess up the ecosystem. Or Seabased’s favorite—getting power from the ocean in a way that can actually help the ocean environment.

 So we thought we’d look at just a few of the exciting plans for a Blue Recovery:

Clearing the oceans of plastic

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France. Though many countries have moratoriums against dumping trash in the ocean, not all are compliant and some allow their ships to dump trash at sea. A nonprofit called the Ocean Cleanup set out to clean up the garbage patch. After a year or so of false starts, they finally brought in their first haul of 60 cubic meters from the garbage patch, from large debris to microplastics, in January 2020. They believe they could have half the garbage patch cleared out in five years. They’ve also created the Interceptor which intercepts garbage at the mouth of rivers and feeds it into a solar-powered marine shuttle that can collect up to 100,000 kg of trash a day. The company plans to park an Interceptor at the mouth of the 1,000 rivers that create 80% of the waste. Once the plastic is cleaned from the ocean, it could be fed to giant maggot-like waxworms that live on the wax in beehives and  are able to digest plastic. But it won’t, because it’s actually quite valuable.

Recycling Ocean Waste

“Polyethylene is a high-quality resin that can be up-cycled in many ways and can fetch up to $500 per tonne,” according to biologist Tracy Mincer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. That cast-off water bottle is actually valuable to someone who can use it to make everything from sunglasses to athleisurewear. You can easily find lists of cool new companies using recycled ocean waste, much of which is plastic. Even very big companies are getting in on the action.

Adidas has a pair of shoes, Coca Cola has a soda bottle, and Patagonia has been making polyester fleeces out of recycled plastic since 1993. Companies like Oceanworks sell the plastic itself, ready to be made into something else. Ocean Waste Plastics forms recycled ocean plastic into packaging.

And it’s not all about plastic trash, either. Bureo makes everything from office chairs to skateboards out of recycled fishing nets.  

Sustainable Marine Tourism

Tourism has shrunk considerably during COVID-19, letting many people experience their communities in a whole new way—beaches and streets you can actually move around in, cleaner air, less trash…. In ocean areas, touristic boats can damage corals, touristic skin care products can poison the water, and in many places, tourists tend to litter the waters and the beaches. However tourism also provides one out of 10 jobs globally and tourism can help in lower income areas and boost the economic conditions of women and artisans. In the World Bank’s 20 Reasons Sustainable Tourism Counts for Development they wrote: “Tourism accounts for an estimated 26% of ocean-based economic activity, and much of the projected growth of global tourism will be coastal and marine. Many countries that rely on ocean-based tourism have recognized the importance of protecting their coastlines, coral reefs, marine biodiversity, beaches, and waters.”

The key is to focus on sustainable tourism going forward—examining ways to incorporate ecotourism into the design strategy. For example, instead of treating spa water with chemicals, using sea or saltwater; using hydro-powered boats instead of gasoline ones; creating boundaries around reefs and other fragile ecosystems; imposing steep fines for littering; and reducing the amount of single-use plastics and paper.

Desalinating water for people

Desalination is removing the salt from ocean water. Currently, according to the EU’s 2020 Blue Economy Report it is used to overcome water shortages in places with limited freshwater resources-- big coastal cities and islands as well as for offshore industrial processes where high salinity makes seawater unusable. The Blue Economy report said that there were 1,573 operational desalination plants in the EU in 2019 producing a total of 6.9 cubic meters a day of fresh water from seawater and brackish water. Most of it goes to public water supplies managed by municipalities, the rest is for industrial and irrigation purposes.

It’s expected that as climate change reduces the availability of water, desalination will become even more crucial. Many EU regions are expected to face severe water scarcity by 2050. Coastal desalina­tion processes require 18 terawatt hours of energy each year and nearly 40% of the energy demand for desalination processes comes from European islands. The Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative calls for viable technological solutions to power desalination with renewable energy, which Seabased can do as part of providing CO2-free energy.  

Providing clean energy from ocean power

Ocean energy could power the world. Water is 800 times denser than air which means that it embodies an enormous amount of energy. And ocean waves are predictable: they work 24/7, 365 days a year. While the wind moves quickly and can change just as quickly, ocean waves take longer to build and longer to subside so it’s easier to know what the wave height and power will be. Ocean Energy Europe predicts that by 2050, ocean energy will be providing 10% of Europe’s energy and 400,000 jobs.

By the very fact that this is a nascent industry, it means many jobs will be created to bring it to fruition. And that’s the very definition of a Blue Recovery.

Redesigning how things are done to protect the oceans while using their resources can inspire the creation of new technologies, new solutions, even new industries, and create jobs while fighting against climate change. But it takes money, imagination, and political will. In its report, Financing and Investment for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the Organization for Co-Operation and Economic Development notes:  “The challenge is…significant, requiring scaling up investment in sustainable ocean activities and reallocating capital away from harmful or unsustainable activities…. many ocean sectors are inherently risky compared to their land-based counterparts, because the ocean is a harsh and often remote physical environment. This can make attracting finance for ocean investment difficult and costly, even before integrating the additional risk posed by some sustainable activities, for example due to new technology and business models.”

The report recommends governments create policy frameworks around ownership of ocean assets, improving the underlying investment climate, using public funding to mitigate the risk of private sector capital, and creating new financing models and incentives toward sustainability, like carbon credits related to conservation of coastal ecosystems.

The oceans are abundant with benefits for humans; we have to decide whether they stay that way.