Only a few sites have tides that rise and fall far enough to generate sufficient energy to warrant the use of tidal-power systems. Environmental riskĪ substantial tidal energy system could reshape a delicate seashore environment, inviting the arrival of invasive species and threatening species that already live there. Plants and animals can attach themselves to devices and complicate the operation of tidal power systems. Tidal energy devices are subject to harsh saltwater environments that are teeming with life. Governments and nonprofits can help fund the development of tidal power, but they are subject to taxpayer demands and funding limitations. In the short term it’s difficult for private investors in tidal power to turn a profit. Tidal power systems are expensive to develop and deploy. Tidal power is abundant only at specific times of day, so storage is required to ensure 24-hour power. 5 Key Disadvantages of Tidal Power Intermittence Tides have extremely high energy density compared to wind power and other energy sources, which means very little power gets wasted in the process of converting kinetic energy into electricity. Once a tidal-power system is up and running, it’s comparatively cheap to maintain because the technology has few moving parts - particularly in comparison to the complex web of technologies and machinery required to refine fossil fuels and burn them in turbine-driven power plants. By contrast, our supply of usable fossil fuels is finite. PermanenceĪs long as we have the sun and moon, tidal energy will be here in abundance. Other alternative energy sources like wind and solar are vulnerable to the vagaries of weather. Tides happen at the same time every day with such regularity that they can be scheduled years or even decades in advance. Tidal energy is green: It does not pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. Here’s a quick summary: 5 Key Advantages of Tidal Power Cleanliness To get the whole picture, we need to weigh the pros and cons of tidal energy. It works much like a hydroelectric plant, except that it uses turbines to capture energy from rising tidewater rather than river water.Ĭurrent technologies offer only a glimpse at tidal energy’s potential. A barrage is a kind of dam across the opening of an estuary. These devices are typically underwater turbines that look much like a wind turbine and capture energy from water moving past the blades. To date, tidal energy technology generally takes two forms: Though all of the earth’s continents have shorelines and tides, we haven’t done much with all that energy. All that moving water produces kinetic energy we can convert into electrical power. Gravity from the sun and moon tugs at the surface of our oceans, creating tides that move massive quantities of water across broad expanses of shoreline twice a day.
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