...AND CHEAPER...:

In May, Scottish-based Orbital Marine Power launched the O2, the world's most powerful tidal turbine, to be tested off the coast of the Orkney Islands. Tidal turbines harness the power of underwater currents to turn turbine blades and produce electricity. Jon Kelman, an energy policy instructor at Arizona State University's School of Sustainability, says this is especially efficient "because water is so much denser than air, you don't actually need a very big turbine in order to make a lot more electricity." (Disclosure: I recently graduated from ASU, where I took an energy policy class with Kelman; ASU is a partner with Slate and New America in Future Tense.)

To wrap your mind around this, think how much harder it is to walk in your pool than in air. This new turbine has a capacity of 2 megawatts and represents a modular technology that could be applied to a virtually untapped renewable resource. For context, it takes roughly 1,130 pounds of coal to produce 1 megawatt hour of electricity in the U.S. That means, if these turbines operate at full capacity, they can replace 2,260 pounds of coal for electricity generation per hour. Power generation devices never operate at full capacity and a singular generator still represents a very small amount of global energy demands--but a flexible fleet of turbines could prove immensely useful at a large-scale.

Another Scottish company--Mocean Energy--also began sea trials in Orkney last month of its new utility-scale wave power device called Blue Horizon. Unlike O2, this device captures kinetic energy directly from waves on the surface. Both new technologies require further testing but offer the potential of harvesting low-carbon renewable energy from the ocean with minimal impact to the surrounding environment.

These new marine technologies could have a big effect in coastal and island areas without access to much existing renewable infrastructure. Take Hawaii, where each island has its own independent electrical grid and relies heavily on energy imports, creating exorbitant costs and fossil fuel dependence. This is because, as Kelman notes, the Hawaiian islands are "one of the most remote [populated] places on Earth." However, given minimal land area available for energy generation, solutions can be more difficult to implement than on the mainland. Tidal turbines and wave generators could provide a unique solution for the island state--and coastal communities worldwide. 

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