Ocean Power Delivery Limited

Now, this is cool. One has to wonder why it is a Scottish company that is leading the field, or, more to the point, why there is (as far as I know) no American presence here at all. Over 50% of the world's population lives within 100 miles of a coast line, and that means that this form of power generation could supply a significant portion of the world's electric power needs. The more of these machines built, the greater the economies of scale and the lower the cost per kilowatt/hour of generated power. There is literally no pollution and especially no generation of greenhouse gases, and, when one of these tubes reaches the end of its useful life, they can be recycled. As far as I'm concerned, it is a no-brainer. All we have to do is be willing to subsidize the initial couple of thousand tubes to bring the cost per unit down to a point where they are competitive with fossil fuels power plants. Once they become a primary source of power, they will no longer need to be subsidized.

Then there is an additional benefit for these things. They could be built in places where one does not have a lot of boat traffic and used to generate hydrogen through electrolysis. An installation of sufficient size could both generate the hydrogen and provide the power needed to run the terminal. Can we think of how this would impact the oil industry? The possibilities boggle the mind!