Exploring New Energy Possibilities
On February 12 Eckerd students will be attending the 21st annual Public Interest Environmental Conference, “Powering the Planet: Energy for Today and Tomorrow.” The conference will be held in Gainesville, Fla. at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. Since the theme this year revolves around sustainable energy there will be multiple plenaries including ones on solar and hydrokinetic energy. With Florida being a peninsula as well as the Sunshine State these two forms of energy could be a huge opportunity for improving the state’s eco-friendliness. Here at Eckerd more than half of our environmental costs come from providing electricity to the various facilities on campus. Luckily the newly constructed Environmental Studies and MPC building has a solar panel that has been helping with this cost.
Hydrokinetic energy works by harnessing the power of crashing waves from a beach or river. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) reports that extracting electricity from waves could power up to 1,170 terawatt-hours per year (TWh/year). They also claim that that is almost one third of the 4,000 TWh of electricity uses in the United States each year.
Rentricity Inc. is one company that has been utilizing this modern form of energy in an even more notable fashion. Based in New York City, the company designs and installs energy recovery systems that produces clean electricity from excess pressure in water mains.
If you’d like to follow the development of hydrokinetic technologies visit http://energy.gov/eere/water/marine-and-hydrokinetic-technology-development-and-testing
Sources:
“Electricity from Water Pipes.” Electricity from Water Pipes. N.p.. <http://www.energyharvestingjournal.com/articles/7246/electricity-from-water-pipes>.
“Turning the Tide to Energy.” Turning the Tide to Energy. <http://phys.org/news155572999.html>.