In the water off the coast of
Hawaii, a tall buoy bobs and sways in the water, using the rise and fall of the
waves to generate electricity. The current travels through an undersea cable
for a mile to a military base, where it is fed into a power grid – the first
wave-produced electricity to go online in the US. By some estimates, the ocean’s
endless motion packs enough power to meet quarter of America’s energy needs and
dramatically reduce the nation’s reliance on oil, gas and coal. But wave energy
technology lags well behind wind and solar power, with important technical
hurdles still to be overcome.
To that end, the US Navy has
established a test site in Hawaii, with hopes the technology can someday be
used to produce clean, renewable power for offshore fueling stations for the
fleet and provide electricity to coastal communities in fuel-starved places
around the world. The US has set a goal of reducing carbon emissions by
one-third from 2005 levels by 2030. Wave energy technology is at about the same
stage as the solar and wind industries were in the 1980s. Both received
substantial government investments and tax credits that helped them become
energy sources cheap enough to compete with fossil fuels.
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