tiveness of existing legislation and regulatory agencies, the 

 characteristics and possible uses for heated effluents, and the use of 

 buffer zones and transmission corridors for recreational purposes. 

 The findings of the study are being used extensively by the State's 

 regulatory agencies, local government, private industry, and public 

 interest groups. In another example, the University of Wisconsin, 

 with added financial support from Wisconsin's electric power 

 industry and the State's Department of Natural Resources, has 

 undertaken a research and monitoring program on the discharge of 

 heated water from electric powerplants to Lake Michigan. Com- 

 bining the resources of industry, the regulatory agencies, a research 

 organization, and with the cooperation and support of others, the 

 scientists participating in the project have developed and applied 

 air-borne radiometers and scanners to record and study the 

 dimensions, directions of flow, and temperatures of the heated water 

 discharges. 



Alternate Energy Sources 



The energy potential of oceanic waves, currents, salinity 

 gradients, and thermal structure has been known and discussed for 

 many years. The technical feasibility of converting this energy to 

 electricity has been demonstrated for each of these four sources, and 

 limited success has been achieved in generating power for local 

 consumption at a few places where tidal ranges are high and produce 

 sufficiently strong cyclic currents. Of the four, however, the energy 

 available from the oceanic thermal structure apparently far exceeds 

 that from other sources and holds considerable promise of providing 

 power for generating electricity at a moderate capital cost. 



Ocean thermal energy is a renewable form of solar energy, 

 resulting from the absorption and storage of heat from the sun in 

 surface waters. The conversion of thermal to electric energy can be 

 accomplished in a number of ways. The preferred conversion method 

 today is one that would use the warm oceanic surface waters to 

 vaporize a turbine-driving fluid and cold subsurface water pumped 

 from greater depths to condense the fluid. (See figure 2.) Associated 

 with such a system are the additional options of producing protein, 

 plant life, minerals, and fresh water. Although no technological 

 breakthroughs or fuel costs are involved, the techniques and costs 

 for the fabrication, installation, operation, maintenance, and energy 

 transport require careful consideration to assure the technical and 

 economic viability of the systems to produce significant quantities 

 of electric power. 



In its program of Research Applied to National Needs (RANN), 

 NSF initiated support of studies on Ocean Thermal Energy 



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