Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource

Cavusoglu, Ahmet-Hamdi; Chen, Xi; Gentine, Pierre; Sahin, Ozgur

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w

Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource

Journal Article · Tue Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w· OSTI ID:1425942

^[1]; Chen, Xi ^[2]; Gentine, Pierre ^[3]; ^[4]

Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering; Columbia University, New York, New York
Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of of Biological Sciences; City Univ. (CUNY), NY (United States). Graduate Center, Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC); City Univ. (CUNY), NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of of Earth and Environmental Engineering
Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of of Biological Sciences, and Dept. of Physics

About 50% of the solar energy absorbed at the Earth’s surface drives evaporation, fueling the water cycle that affects various renewable energy resources, such as wind and hydropower. Recent advances demonstrate our nascent ability to convert evaporation energy into work, yet there is little understanding about the potential of this resource. Here in this paper we study the energy available from natural evaporation to predict the potential of this ubiquitous resource. We find that natural evaporation from open water surfaces could provide power densities comparable to current wind and solar technologies while cutting evaporative water losses by nearly half. We estimate up to 325 GW of power is potentially available in the United States. Strikingly, water’s large heat capacity is sufficient to control power output by storing excess energy when demand is low, thus reducing intermittency and improving reliability. Our findings motivate the improvement of materials and devices that convert energy from evaporation.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0007999; SC0014203

OSTI ID:: 1425942

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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