You've heard of "green energy," which is harvested from clean, renewable sources such as the wind and sun. But a new type of renewable energy is also on the rise: "Blue energy" generally refers to energy harvested from the ocean. As with that of solar and wind, the technology around this type of energy is rapidly improving.
Recently, researchers at the Central South University in China developed a way to more than double the amount of energy extracted from ocean waves, Interesting Engineering reported. The breakthrough came as the scientists were attempting to improve on a tube-shaped energy harvesting device called a liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that contains electrodes that convert the mechanical energy of flowing water into electricity.
Though the TENG device, as it is constructed, does not generate enough power to be an economically viable source of energy, the scientists discovered that by simply changing the placement of the energy-collecting electrode, they could make the TENG harvest more than twice as much usable electricity.
"The proposed space volume effect … [offers] new insight for the design and large-scale application of [wave energy]," the scientists wrote in a paper published in ACS Energy Letters.
Wave energy is an attractive idea for clean energy companies, as it does not face the same intermittency issues as wind and solar. While wind turbines and solar panels can only harvest energy while the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, ocean waves go nonstop.
However, the technology also has its critics. Previously, the International Energy Agency said in its Ocean Power tracking report that "ocean power is not currently on track to play its part in helping the world reach carbon neutrality by 2050." With the help of technological breakthroughs like this one, that could change.
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A company called Dutch Wave Power also recently began testing its wave energy converter off the coast of the Netherlands. Another company, SWEL, has been working on a similar device.
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