Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w

Title: Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource

Abstract

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.

Authors:

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

^[4]

Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
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

Publication Date:: 2017-09-26

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

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)

OSTI Identifier:: 1425942

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0007999; SC0014203

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Nature Communications

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 13 HYDRO ENERGY; Renewable energy; Devices for energy harvesting; Hydrology

Citation Formats


                    Cavusoglu, Ahmet-Hamdi, Chen, Xi, Gentine, Pierre, and Sahin, Ozgur. Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
        Web.  doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w.

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                    Cavusoglu, Ahmet-Hamdi, Chen, Xi, Gentine, Pierre, & Sahin, Ozgur. Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource.  United States.  doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w.

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                    Cavusoglu, Ahmet-Hamdi, Chen, Xi, Gentine, Pierre, and Sahin, Ozgur. Tue .  
        "Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource".  United States.  doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1425942.

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@article{osti_1425942,

  title        = {Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource},

  author       = {Cavusoglu, Ahmet-Hamdi and Chen, Xi and Gentine, Pierre and Sahin, Ozgur},

  abstractNote = {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.},

  doi          = {10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w},

  journal      = {Nature Communications},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 8,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2017},

  month        = {9}

}

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w

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Figure 1: The surface energy balance in the absence and presence of an evaporation-driven engine. a The net radiative energy into a water body is balanced by convection and evaporation. b An example of an evaporation-driven engine, incorporating water-responsive materials, placed at the water surface can harness energy from evaporation¹².more »

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