Ocean Energy : Tide and Tidal Power

Engineers’ dreams and fossil energy replacement schemes can come true. Man has been tapping the energy of the sea to provide power for his industries for centuries. Tidal energy combined with that of waves and marine winds rank among those most successfully put the work. Large scale plants are capital intensive but smaller ones, particularly built in China, have proven profitable. Since the initiation of the St Malo project in France, similar projects have gone into active service where methods have been devised to cut down on costs, new types of turbines developed and cost competitiveness considerably improved. Tidal power has enormous potential. The book reviews recent progress in  extracting power from the ocean, surveys the history of tidal power harnessing and updates a prior publication by the author.

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1 : Poseidon to the Rescue: Mining the Sea for Energy-A Sustainable Extraction
Chapter 2 : Medieval Engineering that Lasted
Chapter 3 : The Riddle of the Tides
Chapter 4 : Dreams and Realities
Chapter 5 : The Anatomy of the Rance River TPP
Chapter 6 : Harnessing the Tides in America
Chapter 7 : Improvements, Adjustments, Developments
Chapter 8 : Current from Tidal Current
Chapter 9 : Environment and Economics

Annexes
Annex I : General Bibliography
Annex II : Additional References
Annex III : Special References for Chapter 2
Annex IV : Update 2008
Annex V : Companies and Organizations Involved in Tidal Power Projects, Services, and/or Research
Annex VI : Summaries
Mini-Glossary
Index