GC: n
CT: Wave energy is an irregular and oscillating low-frequency energy source that can be converted to a 60-Hertz frequency and can then be added to the electric utility grid. The energy in waves comes from the movement of the ocean and the changing heights and speed of the swells. Kinetic energy, the energy of motion, in waves is tremendous. An average 4-foot, 10-second wave striking a coast puts out more than 35,000 horsepower per mile of coast.
Waves get their energy from the wind. Wind comes from solar energy. Waves gather, store, and transmit this energy thousands of miles with little loss. As long as the sun shines, wave energy will never be depleted. It varies in intensity, but it is available twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.
Ocean wave energy technologies rely on the up-and-down motion of waves to generate electricity. The first wave-power patent was for a 1799 proposal by a Parisian named Monsieur Girard and his son to use direct mechanical action to drive pumps, saws, mills, or other heavy machinery. Installations have been built or are under construction in a number of countries, including Scotland, Portugal, Norway, the U.S.A., China, Japan, Australia and India.
S: http://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/ocean-energy/wave-energy/ (last access: 12 February 2015)
N: 1. ocean (n): late 13c., from Old French occean “ocean” (12c., Modern French océan), from Latin oceanus, from Greek okeanos, the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the Earth (as opposed to the Mediterranean), of unknown origin. Personified as Oceanus, son of Uranus and Gaia and husband of Tethys. In early times, when the only known land masses were Eurasia and Africa, the ocean was an endless river that flowed around them. Until c.1650, commonly ocean sea, translating Latin mare oceanum. Application to individual bodies of water began 14c.; there are usually reckoned to be five of them, but this is arbitrary; also occasionally applied to smaller subdivisions, such as German Ocean “North Sea.”
wave (n): “moving billow of water,” 1520s, alteration (by influence of wave (v.)) of Middle English waw, which is from Old English wagian “to move to and fro” (cognates: Old Saxon, Old High German wag, Old Frisian weg, Old Norse vagr “water in motion, wave, billow,” Gothic wegs “tempest;” see wag (v.)). The usual Old English word for “moving billow of water” was yð.
energy (n): 1590s, “force of expression,” from Middle French énergie (16c.), from Late Latin energia, from Greek energeia “activity, action, operation,” from energos “active, working,” from en “at” + ergon “work, that which is wrought; business; action”.
Used by Aristotle with a sense of “actuality, reality, existence” (opposed to “potential”) but this was misunderstood in Late Latin and afterward as “force of expression,” as the power which calls up realistic mental pictures. Broader meaning of “power” in English is first recorded 1660s. Scientific use is from 1807. Energy crisis first attested 1970.
2. Wave energy is produced when electricity generators are placed on the surface of the ocean. The energy provided is most often used in desalination plants, power plants and water pumps. Energy output is determined by wave height, wave speed, wavelength, and water density. To date there are only a handful of experimental wave generator plants in operation around the world. The articles on this page explore the world of wave energy and its possible applications.
3. Old-fashioned term and currently popular expression: blue coal (energy from tides and waves), blue gold (tidal power).
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=ocean+wave&searchmode=none; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=energy&searchmode=none (last access: 12 February 2015). 2. http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/hydro/wave-power/ (last access: 12 February 2015). 3. OG – https://bit.ly/2LrA1Pb (last access: 19 December 2018).
SYN: wave energy, marine wave energy.
S: GDT (last access: 12 February 2015)
CR: bathymetry, blue coal, floating buoy, tidal energy, wave power station.
