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.

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Inhalt
Poseidon to the Rescue: Mining the Sea for EnergyA Sustainable Extraction.- Medieval Engineering that Lasted.- The Riddle of the Tides.- Dreams and Realities.- The Anatomy of the Rance River TPP.- Harnessing the Tides in America.- Improvements, Adjustments, Developments.- Current from Tidal Current.- Environment and Economics.