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Air Force Dives into Wave Energy Project

Wave-driven turbine generators (pictured) could be a partial future replacement for oil-burning power plants, but there’s a problem. "Making those turbines efficient, effective and survivable in both shallow and deep water … has prevented large-scale application," according to the Air Force. Now the National Science Foundation has given the Air Force Academy’s Aeronautics Department $300,000 […]

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Wave-driven turbine generators (pictured) could be a partial future replacement for oil-burning power plants, but there's a problem. "Making those turbines efficient, effective and survivable in both shallow and deep water ... has prevented large-scale application," according to the Air Force.

Now the National Science Foundation has given the Air Force Academy's Aeronautics Department $300,000 to tackle the problem.

Years of research on military aircraft have given Aeronautics researchers the rare and necessary expertise in feedback flow control and fluid dynamics to potentially harness wave energy to meet the nation's growing power needs. ... [T]he Academy will pursue development of a wave energy converter based on cycloidal propellers, like those used on tug boats.

This isn't the first time the military has found itself on the leading edge of alternative energies. In Iraq, the Marine Corps called for solar and wind generators to reduce the needs for vulnerable fuel convoys. The same need drove the Army to install trash-converting generators at its Iraq bases. And the Air Force is testing out a synthetic fuel blend on bombers and fighters in order to make the service less dependent on foreign oil.

(Photo: via www.treehugger.com)

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