Is there a way to use the heat energy already in the oceans as a renewable energy source?

Question

I'm no expert in thermodynamics, but it seems like it must be possible to harness the excess heat in the ocean to generate electricity or create some kind of stored energy.

Answer 1

Although water has a great capacity to store heat, it is not concentrated enough for any purpose. It's like a billon people with a dollar each..its useless unless you have a plan to collect it.

Answer 2

We could, the problem is that you can not transfer heat from a cold body to a warm body.  Their are some situations, most of the time the land is warmer than the oceans.  Escpecially at depth.  The best use of natural heat transfer is geothermal, In the summer you pmp water through the ground and it will be abotu 65 degrees.  In the winter (antifreeze)the water will be about 65 degrees and you can use to preheat the air before the furnace.

Answer 3

Maybe, but I like the idea of using the planet's internal heat (global-thermal) for making power.  No pollution, no waste.

Answer 4

http://www.earth4energy.info may have your answer. Give them a go.

Answer 5

National Geographic had an article about this idea being studied off the coast of Hawai'i in the 80's I think.   Good luck finding it.   A huge stirling engine would produce a little power if there was a large temperature difference between the air and water in either direction.

Answer 6

Theoretically, yes--though I have to restate your question to explain.

The amount of energy isn't really important. You have to have an energy (heat, in this case) differential to do work (generate power as  electricity, for example).  See an intro text in physics to see the details.

Now , there are temperature differentials in the ocean--especially between deep water  and wrm surface waters well away from the polar regions.   You can--in principle--devise a system that would tap this difference to generate electricity.

Whether it would be practical  is very iffy. I do knodw there have been some theoretical studies (you'd have to do some digging in a university database to find any).

Another approach however does work and it's almost certain to be commercial feasible. That is harnessing tidal power.   From an engineering standpoint, we can build working systems right now.  Making it commercially feasible is complicated--but its likely , given the progress being made, tha twe'll see at lest a pilot plant operational within 5-7 years.

Answer 7

better source would be to harness the energy from the waves.