Environmental development plan ocean thermal energy conversion

Technical Report · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:6080680

The present status and goals of the OTEC EDP program is described, and potential environmental, health, safety, and socio-legal-economic impacts relevant to the program are identified. These impacts emphasize key concerns, i.e., that are considered to be potentially most serious, that have near-term importance to the program, and for which current knowledge of effects and control strategies is inadequate. A management plan is presented for conducting and coordinating environmental research in concert with the development of appropriate technology. This will ensure that identified environmental concerns are resolved before significant public use of OTEC systems. The OTEC program is the largest element of DOE's ocean systems program, which also includes work toward developing technologies for converting other renewable ocean energy resources (waves, currents, and salinity gradients). The five major classes of environmental concerns associated with the deployment and operation of an OTEC system are those concerned with changes in oceanic properties, chemical pollution, operation of a manned platform, legal and institutional matters, and secondary impacts associated with site selection, construction, and operation of OTEC plants. This EDP proposes studies to address each of the key concerns and schedules the studies so that they provide informaion at the appropriate time during the test stages of OTEC development. The studies are designed to determine the scope and severity of each potential problem and to recommend remedial procedures or mitigating strategies. The EDP will be updated annually so that the research can be assessed and, if necessary, redirected.

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, Washington, DC (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6080680
• Report Number(s): DOE/EDP-0034
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140400* -- Solar Energy-- Environmental Aspects
140800 -- Solar Energy-- Ocean Energy Systems
CONSTRUCTION
CONVERSION
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LAWS
LEGAL ASPECTS
NATIONAL PROGRAM PLANS
OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
OPERATION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SAFETY
SEAWATER
SITE SELECTION
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
WATER
WATER POLLUTION