Finavera is an Oregon company that manufacturers the AquaBuOY, a device that sits in the ocean and makes electricity from waves. By 2011 it plans to operate two wave parks that will generate enough electricity to power 35,
Finavera is an Oregon company that manufacturers the AquaBuOY, a device that sits in the ocean and makes electricity from waves. By 2011 it plans to operate two wave parks that will generate enough electricity to power 35,000 homes. The wave parks would cover a total of five square miles of ocean.
The plan is ambitious: ocean survival is non-trivial for man-made moving parts. In New York City, Verdant Power attempted to convert East River tides into electricity using six turbines but all failed within eight months.
Still, if Finavera or one of several other companies developing wave energy equipment can battle the ocean and win it could mean a significant reduction in pollution from oil and especially coal, which today produces half the US’s electricity.
Of course we’re talking lots of buoys out there along with thousands of miles of cable to bri