1979 status of the OTEC environmental program

Technical Report · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:5908834

Wilde, P

Preliminary surveys and laboratory studies are being conducted in the waters of Puerto Rico, the Gulf of Mexico, and Hawaii for moored or seacoast OTEC plants and in the equatorial South Atlantic for plant-ship operations to provide baseline data. These data plus existing archival information can be used to model effects of OTEC operations. Four major areas of concerns (1) redistribution of oceanic properties, (2) chemical pollution, (3) structural effects, and (4) socio-legal-economic; and 11 key issues associated with OTEC operation have been identified. Mitigating strategies can be used to alleviate many deleterious environmental effects of operational problems as biostimulation, outgassing, etc. Various assessment research studies on toxicity, biocide releases, etc., are under way to investigate areas where no clear mitigating strategy is available. Data from these programs is being integrated into a series of environmental compliance documents including a programmatic environmental impact assessment.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley (USA). Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5908834
• Report Number(s): LBL-9495; CONF-791011-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140400 -- Solar Energy-- Environmental Aspects
140800* -- Solar Energy-- Ocean Energy Systems
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
CARIBBEAN SEA
CHEMICAL EFFLUENTS
COASTAL WATERS
CONVERSION
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FLORIDA
GULF OF MEXICO
HAWAII
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LEGAL ASPECTS
MONITORING
NORTH AMERICA
OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION
OCEANOGRAPHY
PUERTO RICO
SEAS
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
SOUTHEAST REGION
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WEST INDIES
WESTERN REGION