Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Is An Energy Technology

The ocean is crucial to heating the planet, as the majority of the sun’s radiation is absorbed by the ocean. The oceans currents help distribute that heat.

The ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet and plays a vital role in the worlds environment. It covers 70% of the Earth’s surface, contains 95% of the water on the planet and is an essential part of the natural cycles that make our planet habitable. The ocean is not only dynamic and sensitive, but it is also severely affected by our lifestyle choices. It regulates global temperatures, is the world’s biggest carbon sink (absorbing more carbon dioxide than it releases), provides a home for trillions of plants and animals that make up various levels of the food chain, and so much more. Because of its immense appearance, it is frequently misinterpreted to be a stable and resilient environment immune to human activity. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Ocean is a resource for us to use and benefit from, however, it needs to be protected. It

The ocean is one of the biggest components of the world’s ecosystem. Today, countless amounts of people are completely unaware of how much of an impact the ocean has on our world. If we continue to destroy our oceans our world can be thrown into dystopia. The ocean is responsible for the food on our tables, and weather patterns. We also might be able to have other world crises be solved if we clean up our oceans, like global warming. The ocean produces half of the oxygen we consume, also one-third of carbon dioxide emissions produced by humans is consumed by the ocean. The quote “While many of us enjoy the spectacular recreational activities that oceans offer, for some people oceans are a lifeline for survival”, ( The Nature Conservancy 5).

Oceans cover approximately 75% of Earth 's surface and are vital to this planet and the people who inhabit it. Oceans provide food, natural resources, and recreation for nearly everyone in this world. Unfortunately Oceans have been receiving mass amount of pollutants including oil spills, toxic waste dumping, and industrial dumping. These pollutants will have negative impacts on the wildlife in the ocean, as we are seeing already with the Coral Reefs, and soon enough it will begin to affect our lives as well.

Right now, the oceans are facing destruction. Each day new pollutants find their way into the ocean's waters. The pollutants that contaminate the ocean take many forms. Each year millions of gallons of oil are put into the ocean. Toxic materials are dumped into the oceans and add up to deadly proportions. Tons of trash such as plastics and paper are pulled out of the ocean each day. This trash contaminates the water and causes many deaths of marine animals. Everyone on the planet has polluted the oceans one way or another. Factories that are in various industries make an enormous contribution to ocean pollution. These factories use unbelievable amounts of water to make their products. The Natural Resource Defense Council says, "More than four out of every ten gallons of water used in the US are used for industrial purposes." A large amount of this water is dumped back into the oceans. This water is usually not clean, and may contain thousands of different chemicals. When this happens it can kill marine life, contaminate food supplies, and endanger people who use waters for fishing, swimming, or drinking. Water is also dumped back into the oceans by power plants who use it to cool reactors. This water is placed back into the oceans at high temperatures. Dumping water at these high temperatures causes a disruption in the marine environment. According to the book by Peter Weber, "The water from power

The ocean interacts with the Sun’s radiation by reflecting and absorbing the Sun’s radiation. I think the ocean absorbs the radiation because depending on the season the area by the mass of water is about 1°C or 2°C difference in temperature proving the ocean does absorb the Sun’s radiation. Although it absorbs heat I also thing the ocean has a medium albedo. The ocean is light coloured/clear, and is a different form of ice which has the highest albedo. Therefore the ocean interacts with the Sun’s radiation by reflecting and absorbing the heat energy.

As you are aware, there are millions of people all over the world that do not care about our planet. They live day-to-day with the ignorance about the world, assuming, the earth is indestructible, despite the warning signs of global warming. The Ocean covers 71 percent of Earth. Keeping it clean is a responsibility that all humanity must participate in. Keeping the ocean pollution to a minimum is essential to our living status and we should be more educated on the issue. Having pollution in the water severely affects the way we live.

Ocean water desalination is the process of making ocean water drinkable. Seventy-one percent of the world is covered in ocean water, and a significant number of people in the world live within thirty miles of an ocean. Despite the abundance of resources, a large portion of the energy and materials found in the ocean remains largely untouched. Desalination of ocean water is the only solution for countries with a limited availability of existing sources of drinking. Areas such as parts of the Middle East and Africa, where water is scarce, may use outside shipments of fresh water and techniques to purify the abundant ocean water in order to survive. Some areas in South America where water may be abundant, could be unsafe to drink due to the biological

“Tidal power generates energy from the tides moving in and out…wave power generates energy from the rise and fall of waves.” (Cunningham.) Capturing the ocean’s movement is a great form of renewable energy with waves never running out and that they are available in many areas of the world. There will be no byproducts that will be harmful or will pollute the environment, and to receive the energy there can be many different gathering techniques. In retrospect towards marine growth, submerged wave energy converters will make “safe havens” because they will become artificial reefs with a closed off surface areas. “They insist that if all 28,000 miles of U. S. roadways are covered in these solar cells, it would generate three times more power…” (Cunningham). The hexagonal solar panels would be able to make more productive areas such as a solar parking lot, additionally paying for themselves and power other homes or businesses. In order to improve the safety of every community, there would be heating elements to keep roads snow/ice free, and LEDs to make road lines. There is little maintenance to ensure that the solar panels are in working order, and they are a silent producer of energy. When compared to burning fossil fuels in power stations, solar energy stands out by the fact that it saves money and gives energy security in households. “Human waste is taken to a treatment plant…methanogens go to work…methane is produced as a byproduct.” (Cunningham). Currently, over 200 millions tons of human waste go untreated, and once they get into the clean water, many die from diseases in contact with the fecal matter. When methane is burned as electricity, there would be a decrease in treating water and disposing

Nearly seventy-one percent of Earth is covered by oceans. This massive body of water provides homes to millions of species of marine life. Over the years, the amount of fish has decreased rapidly due to the practice of overfishing. Overfishing has become such a massive problem that if there is no stop put to it, it could destroy the ocean’s and the Earth’s future. Fortunately, an organization named Oceana was founded for the sole purpose of saving the oceans. Due to the overuse of fishing, the population of sea life is decreasing rapidly and the organization, Oceana, is helping to put a stop to overfishing to save world hunger, ecosystem destruction, and economic destruction.

Attention Getter: Let’s look ahead fifty years and see what the world is like. Imagine a world that is in total war with no end in sight. The cause behind this war is simple, oil. Everyone is fighting over those last few reserves of oil. How can this future be prevented? The answer is solar power.

Global warming is a phenomenon leading to climate change. Human being, particularly the burning of fossil fuels releases large amounts of polluted gases. These gases absorb infrared radiation and cover the atmosphere. Increasingly infrared radiation is inside the Earth, which becomes warmer. This process is called global warming (Houghton, 2005). Australia is one of the countries, which is suffering from climate change. The average temperature of Australia has increased by 0.7°C since the past century. Average precipitation northwest regions will increase, while average precipitation in the southwest and southeast in Australia will decline in future decades. Moreover, Australia’s coastlines will suffer from corrosion and flood because it is predictable that there will be an 8–88cm growing global sea level (Preston and Jones, 2006). Owing to climate change, Australia’s biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural habitats are damaged. For example, the habitat of the coral communities and Great Barrier Reefs are disappearing (Preston and Jones, 2006). Owing to the effects and it is an energy crisis in the future, exploring renewable energy source feasible and sustainable development is necessary. Therefore, in the long-term, the potential of wind energy and solar energy could be the answer to global warming in Australia and determine the current barriers to renewable energy in terms of the energy industry and the locations in Australia.

Since the beginning of the human race, the ocean has been a major source of food. People near the shores have been taking of advantage of the ocean’s rich and diverse source of nourishment for centuries, both as a source of food and a livelihood. However, since the dawn of the industrial age, humans have begun to take from the ocean more that it can give. As a result, the ocean can no longer provide the human race with the abundance that it once did. As technology rapidly advances, populations skyrocket, and global warming spreads havoc, the ocean’s biodiversity and once abundant supply of fish is dwindling, calling marine scientists and experts to race to find solutions that will restore the oceans health while battling world hunger.

Ocean pollution is one of the most urgent issues in our world today. The ocean is crucial to our ecosystem and it is being severely damaged at an alarmingly increasing rate. In this paper I will educate about the role the ocean plays in our beautiful Earth, why it is being so widely ignored and dismissed, the causes of pollution, and its effects on animals and humans alike.

In order for one to further understand the importance of solar energy, the problem of global warming must be explained. As defined by Webster’s Dictionary, “Global Warming” is an increase in the earth’s average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect. With an average increase in atmospheric temperatures, our planet is slowly deteriorating. In order to stall or halt this global destruction, countries must turn to solar energy as a cleaner alternative to the depletion of fossil fuels. Solar energy creates a homeostasis for the climate. Due to its ability to decrease global climate changes, solar power can address global warming in several ways.