When these windy seas are near population centers, there is a big opportunity said Dvorak. The trick, as always, is transmitting the electricity. "That's the biggest technological challenge right now," Liu told Discovery News. "You need a place for the energy to go," agreed Dvorak. Right now ocean bottom-mounted wind farms are limited to waters just 60 meters deep -- which is not a lot. Newer experimental floating wind farm technologies could push wind farms into waters as deep as 200 meters, he said. "Floating wind turbines are very, very new," said Dvorak. And while they may someday get turbines into the best winds, they can exacerbate the energy transmission problem by being further offshore. On the other hand, in those locations with high winds near shore, offshore wind farms have a lot of advantages. "If you put a wind farm offshore there are no land use issues, no obstructions to the wind," said Liu. Many countries, in fact, are already required to find carbon-free energy sources to offset the carbon they release from burning fossil fuels, Liu said. Ocean wind farms may be one of their solutions. Related Links: Larry O'Hanlon's blog: Earth Impacts |
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