7.08.2010

Wave Power!

Why didn't we think of this before??!! Well it's been going on for a while. Wave Power has actually been in use in one form or another from the late 1700's. The first known patent to utilise energy from ocean waves dates back to 1799 and was filed in Paris by Girard and his son. Oh la la! An early application of wave power was a device constructed around 1910 by Bochaux-Praceique to light and power his house at Royan, a town near Bordeaux in France. This was the first Oscillating Water Column type of wave energy device.
In the 1940's the modern scientific pursuit of wave energy was pioneered by Yoshio Masuda. His experiments tested various concepts of wave energy devices at sea, with several hundred units used to power navigation lights. In 1973, a new interest was invigorated due to the oil crisis then.
Some other things being done now --- an Australian company BioPower Systems uses the biomimicry of the floats of swaying sea plants in the presence of ocean waves in its BioWave system. The Oyster wave energy converter (featured in the video) is a hydro-electric wave energy device. The wave energy device captures energy from nearshore waves and converts it into usable electricity.

Wave- cool!