Tonight at 7: Science Cafe of Olympia presents TIDAL ENERGY RESEARCH
Tidal energy shows promise as a resource for sustainable, renewable power generation. Research is underway on the technical, environmental and social challenges to its deployment, such as designing and engineering tidal turbines for power production on a utility scale; identification and mitigation of underwater sound and direct interactions between marine animals and marine energy converters; and the development of hydrokinetic turbines at the micro-scale to provide power for autonomous oceanographic instrumentation.
Underwater tidal and wave turbines have been identified as a potential threat to marbled murrelets, the diving seabirds that forage in the nearshore waters where these structures would be installed. I'll be posting here tomorrow on tonight's presentation by Dr. Brian Polagye.
Dr. Polagye, PhD, is the Co-Director of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington.
When: 7:00 pm, Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Where: Orca Books (509 East 4th Avenue, Olympia) Phone 360.352.0123