Table Of ContentPergamon Policy Studies on
Energy and Environment
Cappon HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
De Volpi PROLIFERATION, PLUTONIUM AND POLICY
Goodman & Love GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PROJECTS
Murphy ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL BALANCE
Williams & Deese NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION: THE SPENT
FUEL PROBLEM
Related Titles
Barney THE GLOBAL 2000 REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT OF
THE U.S.
Fazzolare & Smith CHANGING ENERGY USE FUTURES
McVeigh SUN POWER
Myers THE SINKING ARK
Starr & Ritterbush SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN
PROSPECT
Taylor & Yokell YELLOWCAKE
United Nations Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and
Transport STATE PETROLEUM ENTERPRISES IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
Wenk MARGINS FOR SURVIVAL
fife
PERGAMON
POLICY ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
STUDIES
Marine Sources
of Energy
Jacques Constans
Published for the United Nations
Department of International Economic and Social Affairs
Office for Science and Technology
Pergamon Press
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Copyright © 1979 United Nations
Library of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data
Constans, Jacques, 1934-
Marine sources of energy.
(Pergamon policy studies)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Ocean energy resources. I. United Nations.
Office for Science and Technology. II. Title.
TJ163.2.C64 1979 333.9Ί4 79-15200
ISBN 0-08-023897-1
All Rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproducea
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Printed in the Umteo States of America
Foreword
Madagascar; My research vessel Calypso seeks shelter
from the hurricane Georgette in the bay of Tulear. Several
ships are thrown ashore. Calypso is blasted clear of paint by
large drops of rain hurled horizontally by winds 110 knots
strong: solar energy from the sea.
Giant kelp grow three feet a day in the ocean: solar
energy from the sea.
Mild climate and palm trees grow in high latitudes areas
bathed by the Gulf Stream: solar energy from the sea. All
the rains that fertilize our lands, the powerful surf constantly
beating coastlines, the storms at Cape Horn, the huge cumu
lonimbus clouds, each one loaded with more energy than a
hydrogen bomb, the Niagara or Victoria falls, the abundance
of cod and halibut in Newfoundland - all are forms of solar
energy from the sea.
To the modern sailor, these phenomena are daily
reminders that two-thirds of the flux of solar energy inter
cepted by our planet is trapped by the ocean, roughly the
equivalent to 100 million nuclear power plants!
Energy from the sun is inconveniently dispersed on huge
surfaces and, on land, it is difficult and costly to concentrate.
But the oceans are powerful natural concentrators of their
share of the sun's bounty through evaporation, currents,
winds and waves. The equivalent of 40 million nuclear plants
serves to evaporate sea water and a part of that energy can
be recovered in hydroelectric plants or by converting salinity
gradients into electricity at the mouth of rivers. Winds,
currents and waves are equivalent to 370,000 nuclear plants.
A substantial part of the heat absorbed by surface water,
equivalent to about 55 million nuclear plants, is concentrated
by steady east-west tropical currents into privileged areas
such as the Florida strait where the temperature difference
Vll
Vlll FOREWORD
between surface and deep waters can be exploited through
OTEC techniques. Finally, the energy converted through
photosynthesis in the ocean, equivalent to about 20,000 nuclear
plants, can be used in bioconversion plants to produce
methane.
Most of the techniques involved in tapping a substantial
fraction of these enormous amounts of unused but naturally
preconcentrated energy from the sea have been already studied
and proven viable.
They still need years of development and large invest
ments. But they are renewable and will have a smaller en
vironmental impact than any other known system. Addition
ally, it is from the oceans that we will extract deuterium, the
fuel for nuclear fusion, if and when this technique is
developed and proves to be safe.
Traditionally, humankind has been rather fearful of the
sea, but it is high time we understand that the oceans may be
offering us today the only road to safe development.
Jacques Cousteau
Foreword
NONCONVENTIONAL SOURCES OF ENERGY
FOR DEVELOPMENT
The impulse given to research and development activities
in the field of nonconventional sources of energy is one of the
major events in science and technology in the last five
years. National energy policies are being elaborated in many
countries where they often did not exist; in other countries,
where these policies were mainly oriented toward conventional
sources (coal, oil and natural gas) and nuclear energy, drastic
reorientations have occurred to include alternative sources
such as solar, wind, biological, geothermal and marine energy
programs.
This rapid evolution toward utilizing renewable sources of
energy is a result of the economic situation, particularly the
increasing prices of oil since 1973, the need for improved
technologies in the use of coal, and the concerns for the en
vironmental and safety aspects in the utilization of nuclear
energy. Since the United Nations Conference on Human En
vironment (Stockholm, 1972), the world decision makers have
become more sensitive to the need for a better protection of
the environment of this planet. Since the warning of the Club
of Rome on "the limits to growth," governmental leaders are
more cautious in the management of their depletable resources.
Since the manned space flights, the public is more aware of
the fragility and limitations of our spacecraft Earth.
On the political side, while each country has become more
conscious of its interdependence, it is striving at the same
time to attain self-reliance in the vital field of energy.
As a result of the action of these factors - at the
economic, technological and political levels - we are witnessing
IX
X FOREWORD
a period of intensive scientific efforts to gain a better under
standing of the phenomena in all fields related to energy, and
an era of remarkable new technological developments and
innovations. While the bulk of these efforts is traditionally
concentrated in the laboratories of industrialized countries,
many developing countries are recognizing the importance of
these renewable sources of energy as a means to contribute to
the reduction of their oil imports. They are consequently also
devoting efforts to assess and develop appropriate technologies
and local designs, more adapted to their needs in these fields.
In this fluid period, when innovations are blossoming in
many parts of the world, there is a need to record these new
developments as soon as they appear, evaluate periodically the
state of the art and disseminate this information in a com
prehensive manner to public and private decision makers in
developing and developed countries.
United Nations Activities
The United Nations has been concerned with the im
portance of alternative sources of energy for many years. As
early as 1961, the United Nations Center for Natural
Resources, Energy and Transport had organized in Rome a
conference on "New Sources of Energy."
In 1973, the attention of the United Nations Advisory
Committee on the Application of Science and Technology for
Development (ACAST) was drawn by Dr. Bruce Billings and
his colleagues, Professors Pierre Auger, Takashi Mukaibo,
Alexander Keynan and Irimie Staicu, to the importance of
nonconventional sources of energy for developing countries,
particularly for the rural and remote areas. AC AST is an
advisory body of the United Nations composed of 28 eminent
experts, which makes recommendations to the Economic and
Social Council on all matters pertaining to science and tech
nology for development. Dr. Billings' report stated that
"small, non-conventional energy packages are often less ex
pensive than traditional ones, when roads or distribution
systems are lacking... .Research should concentrate on these
small decentralized sources in the fields of solar, wind and
geothermal energy as well as on biological energy conversion
such as fermentation from animal waste."
The advisory committee commended this proposal and a
project was prepared to demonstrate the practical uses of non-
conventional sources of energy in developing countries. This
project has been undertaken by the United Nations Environ
ment Program (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenya in cooperation with the
United Nations Center for Natural Resources, Energy and
Transport (CNRET), New York, headed by Professor Usmani.
It includes the creation of rural energy centers in villages
FOREWORD XI
using the nonconventional sources of energy available, such as
solar, wind and biological energy. Demonstrations have been
initiated in Sri Lanka and Senegal.
In 1975, the United Nations Office for Science and
Technology submitted several studies on these subjects
(E/AC.52/XXI/CRP.5/Add. 1 to 4) to the advisory committee
(ACAST) which proposed a program of action to the United
Nations Committee on Science and Technology for Development
(CSTD), composed of representatives of 54 governments. The
Economic and Social Council, endorsing the recommendations of
this committee, adopted a resolution on "Research and Devel
opment on Non-Conventional Sources of Energy" (ECOSOC 2031
(LXI) Annex 1) by whicn it requested inter alia the prepara
tion of surveys of ongoing research and development activities
in the field of nonconventional sources of energy, with a view
to identifying gaps in the present activities of energy research
and development, within and outside the United Nations
system. (See Appendix B.)
Future United Nations Plans
In August 1977, acting on the proposition of the Commitee
on Natural Resources, the Economic and Social Council adopted
a resolution on new and renewable energy resources [ECOSOC
2119 (LXIII) Annex I] whereby it requested the Secretary-
General to prepare a feasibility study on the holding of an
international conference on new and renewable sources of
energy such as solar, geothermal and wind power, biogas,
tidal and wave power, bearing in mind the particular situation
of developing countries. This would be done in cooperation
with the specialized agencies, the regional economic com
missions and other bodies concerned.
In December 1978, the General Assembly decided to
convene an international conference on new and renewable
sources of energy, under the auspices of the United Nations,
to be held in 1981. The scope of the conference will be con
fined to areas such as solar, geothermal and wind power,
tidal, wave power, and thermal gradient of the sea, biomass
conversion, fuel wood, charcoal, peat, energy from draught
animals, oil shale, tar sands and hydropower.
The conference objective is to elaborate measures for
concerted action designed to promote the development and
utilization of new and renewable sources of energy, with a
view to contributing to meeting future overall energy
requirements, especially of the developing countries.
Xll FOREWORD
Main Trends
Despite the limitations inherent in the worldwide survey
on research and development activities in nonconventional
sources of energy, it is already possible to outline some of the
main trends which appear in these programs. By comparing
these trends with the requirements or needs of the developing
countries, it is possible to identify gaps in the present
activities at the world level.
There are two kinds of gaps in the current work
concerning nonconventional sources of energy and their
application to development. First, there is a fundamental gap
in the development of information on the actual needs of
developing countries for devices and systems utilizing energy.
Secondly, there are gaps in the world's programs in research
and development on nonconventional sources of energy to fill
the needs of developing countries which are already known.
The information gap is exemplified by the fact that many
engineers are not familiar with materials and manufacturing
capabilities available in developing countries, and consequently
many devices have been designed in ways that make them hard
to manufacture in a developing nation.
The program gap may be illustrated in the rural areas
where the population is often scattered at low-density levels
and where there is a need for small-scale, decentralized
sources of energy, while most traditional energy programs
have focused for many years on large centralized power
stations.
Conclusions
The research and development activities on noncon
ventional sources of energy, now undertaken in many countries
of the world, are increasing every year at an unprecedented
speed. In these circumstances, the need to collect and record
these data appears as a matter of great importance for
developed and developing countries in order to keep pace with
this information explosion.
FOREWORD xiii
The international community is becoming increasingly
aware of the progress as well as of the potential of noncon-
ventional sources of energy as a means to foster economic
growth and social progress for mankind.
