As we continue to burn fossil fuels and cause the Earth to warm more than we can handle, we need to make serious attempts to turn to renewable energy.
Now, it seems like two major institutions in India are working together to figure out how to do just that.
Images courtesy: Reuters
IIT-Madras and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) are reportedly developing better turbines in order to harness the energy from waves pummeling our country's 7,500 km-long coastline and turn it into electricity.
With all the focus on solar and wind energy around the world, it's easy to forget that our oceans can also be a free renewable source of energy. And thanks to India's extended coastline, we're perfectly set up to harness that. "India's long coastline and many estuaries and gulfs provide ample opportunities to harness wave power to meet rising energy needs," said Abdus Samad, the Head of Research and professor at IIT-M.
Samad says the institute has been working to make wave energy a reality since 1993, and now their team is really close. The project is being funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
It's not necessarily an easy task though. It's easy enough to build turbines that will use the power of waves on the surface to turn and generate power. The real problem is making them durable while retaining peak power-generation functionality.
After all, these turbines have to survive ben beaten against by waves, which can also get really threatening in a tropical zone like ours with a lot of storms. Then there's also the constant corrosion by saltwater, which warrants near-constant maintenance. That's exactly why this system hasn't been adopted in very many places around the world.?
Hopefully though, Indian can figure out a way to do it. Because if that happens, at least coastal regions may never have power cuts ever again.