Columbia, Oregon State University are in the thick of it again. Previously we noted they had help develop a soy based timber adhesive that was free of formaldehyde and were working with farmers to bring microtechnology to the production of biodiesel. Now they are dreaming up farms of a different sort. Wave farms. The idea is to plant direct drive, wave energy buoys off the coast of Oregon.Unlike many of the other wave energy sources we’ve covered before, these work on a very different principle. In very basic terms a permanent neodymium-iron-born magnet is forced back and through an electric coil by the modulation of waves. The researchers suggest such buoys could power about 20% of Oregon’s electricity needs. This is US’s only university research program into ocean wave energy extraction funded from federal resources. Now that the prototypes buoys have demonstrated their potential, study is underway to consider impacts on sea birds and marine life from electromagnetic fields, construction, deployment, and servicing of undersea cable, etc.
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