Wave Carpet Renewable Energy

HarmsA. Global warming is real and caused by humans – the only way to avoid the devastating impacts of warming, such as extinction, is to reduce CO2 emissions IPCC, 14 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 11/2/14, “Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report”, http://www.ipcc.ch...) "Without additional mitigation efforts beyond those in place today, and even with adaptation, warming by the end of the 21st century will lead to high to very high risk of severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts globally (high confidence) (Figure SPM.10). In most scenarios without additional mitigation efforts (those with 2100 atmospheric concentrations >1000ppm CO2eq), warming is more likely than not to exceed 4°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. The risks associated with temperatures at or above 4°C include substantial species extinction, global and regional food insecurity, consequential constraints on common human activities, and limited potential for adaptation in some cases (high confidence). Some risks of climate change, such as risks to unique and threatened systems and risks associated with extreme weather events, are moderate to high at temperatures 1°C to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. {2.3, Figure 2.5, 3.2, 3.4, Box 2.4, Table SPM.1}¶Substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades can substantially reduce risks of climate change by limiting warming in the second half of the 21st century and beyond. Cumulative emissions of CO2 largely determine global mean surface warming by the late 21st century and beyond. Limiting risks across reasons for concern would imply a limit for cumulative emissions of CO2. Such a limit would require that global net emissions of CO2 eventually decrease to zero and would constrain annual emissions over the next few decades (Figure SPM.10) (high confidence)." B. Climate change is a very serious threat to national and global security; if left unchecked it will affect stability, disease, migration, and access to food, water, and electricity. It will also lead to an increase in extremist ideologies and foster terrorism. Pentagon Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, 10/13/2014 The Pentagon (the headquarters of the DoD), 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, October 13, 2014, pages 4-5 "Maintaining stability within and among other nations is an important means of avoiding full-­R08;scale military conflicts. The impacts of climate change maycause instability in other countries by impairing access to food and water, damaging infrastructure, spreading disease, uprooting and displacing large numbers of people, compelling mass migration, interrupting commercial activity, or restricting electricity availability. These developments could undermine already fragile governments that are unable to respond effectively, and challenge currently stable governments, as well as increase competition and tension between countries vying for limited resources. These gaps in governance can create an avenue for extremist ideologies and conditions that foster terrorism." Plan:The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its development of earth’s oceans by implementing wave carpet renewable energy in the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone.Advantage One: EconomyA. Wave energy will not only save the environment, but it will create jobs and will boost the economy Bedard, 7 (Roger, Roger Bedard is the Ocean Energy Leader at the Electric Power Research Institute, “Economic and social benefits from wave energy conversion marine technology” http://faculty.washington.edu...) "The economic opportunities are significant. An relatively minor investment today by government could stimulate a worldwide industry generating billions of dollars of economic output and employing thousands of people while using an abundant and clean natural resource.Ocean energy is an indigenous energy resource. By harvesting this indigenous resource, jobs will be created and localeconomies will be improved. Construction and operations of wave energy plants would bring significant positive economic impacts to coastal states. As an example, EPRI estimates that the operation and maintenance activities alone will create about 25 direct local jobs per 100 MW wave power plant and these jobs are permanentfor as long as the plant is in operation.The U.S. economy would benefit from the large export potential of a strong domestic renewable energy industry." B. Adding to this, wave carpet technology can create $16 billion of revenue in the US annually – the benefits of the plan are obvious TAF Lab, 13 (Theoretical and applied Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of UC Berkeley, “Wave Carpet: An Efficient and Multidirectional Ocean Wave Energy Converter” http://taflab.berkeley.edu...) "we can use the power of ocean waves to generate electricity and fresh waterWave Energy is able to efficiently harvest this energy. The ability to cancel waves can be used to create safe zones in the ocean, prevent erosion and protect harbors the energy conversion creates seawater at high pressure. This can be used to generate electricity, be used for desalination and for the distribution of fresh waterWorld-wide demand for electricity is expected to double.According to the Electric Power Research Institutean estimate of ocean wave energyindicatesmarket value eventually reaching $16 billion per year." Advantage Three: WaterA. A global water crisis will occur in the next 30 years unless we switch to renewable energy Tully, 14 (Andy, veteran news reporter and news editor for oilprice.com, “Humanity May Face Choice By 2040: Conventional Energy or Drinking Water”, http://oilprice.com...) "A set of studies based on three years of research concludes that by 2040, the need for drinking water and water for use in energy production will create dire shortages.¶ Conventional electricity generation is the largest source of water use in most countries. Water is used to cool power plants to keep them functional. Most power utilities don’t even record the amount of water they use.¶ “It’s a huge problem that the electricity sector do not even realize how much water they actually consume,” says Professor Benjamin Sovacool of Denmark’s Aarhus University, one of the institutions involved in the research. “And together with the fact that we do not have unlimited water resources, it could lead to a serious crisis if nobody acts on it soon.”¶ The research, which included projections of the availability of water and the growth of the world’s population, found that by 2020, between 30 percent and 40 percent of the planet will no longer have direct access to clean drinking water. The problem could be made even worse if climate change accelerates, creating more heat and causing more water evaporation.¶ That means humankind must decide how water is used, Sovacool says. “Do we want to spend it on keeping the power plants going or as drinking water? We don’t have enough water to do both,” he says.¶ The researchers, also from the Vermont Law School and CNA Corporation in the US, a non-profit research institute in Arlington, Va., focused their studies on specific utilities and other energy suppliers in four countries: China, France, India and the United States.¶ First, they identified each country’s energy needs, then factored in projections of water availability in each country and its population level as far as 2040. In all four cases, they discovered, there will not be enough water by then both to drink and to use at electricity-generating plants.¶ So how to prevent this conflict? The studies agreed on starting with the simplest solution: Alternative sources of electricity that don’t require massive amounts of water.¶ The recommendations are improving energy efficiency, conducting more research on alternative cooling mechanisms, logging water use at power plants, making massive investments in solar and wind energy, and abandoning fossil fuel facilities in all areas susceptible to water shortages.¶ This last proposal may be the most difficult to implement because parched areas now include half of Earth. But Sovacool says it would be worth the investment.¶ “If we keep doing business as usual, we are facing an insurmountable water shortage – even if water was free, because it’s not a matter of the price,” he says. “There will be no water by 2040 if we keep doing what we’re doing today. There’s no time to waste. We need to act now.” B. The Wave Carpet desalinates water, solving for water shortages Johnson, 14 (Carolyn, writer for ABC, 3/10/14, “Berkeley team tackles drought with waves” http://abc7news.com...) "The action of the hydraulic pumps connected to the carpet forces seawater through a single line, which creates a high-pressure flow that can be used to produce electricity on shore. Pumps could also be used to provide something just as valuable to drought stricken California: fresh, drinkable water, forced through desalination filters.¶ "In fact in the current test we have it generates high pressure water that can be used for desalination. And desalination is the first application we're working on at this point," says Alam.¶ The team is currently setting up partnerships to create a large scale prototype, and hopes to begin ocean testing within two years.¶ "With this kind of technology we could fill in the gaps," says Lehmann. "In terms of over-all production of electricity, we could switch over to fresh water, and at night when there's no sun, we could produce electricity."Because it sits on the ocean floor, researchers believe it will take far less punishment than surface systems and potentially require less maintenance."