NewEnergyNews: THE BEST WAYS TO BENEFIT FROM OCEAN, LAKE AND RIVER ENERGIES/

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YESTERDAY

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    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

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    Monday, March 01, 2010

    THE BEST WAYS TO BENEFIT FROM OCEAN, LAKE AND RIVER ENERGIES

    Wave Technologies Could Harm Marine Resources -- DOE Study
    Katie Howell, February 24, 2010 (NY Times)
    and
    Report to Congress on the Potential Environmental Effects of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Technologies
    December 2009 (U.S. Department of Energy)

    SUMMARY
    There is only one way to explain a NY Times headline about a new study on the hydrokinetic (wave, tide, current and other ocean, lake and river) energies: Inattention.

    While the Times headline suggests potential devastation to world waterways, the stated purposes of the Department of Energy paper, as defined by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), are to:
    (1) evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the various competing technologies,
    (2) propose ways adverse environmental impacts can be prevented,
    (3) determine how monitoring and adaptive management can measure and mediate impacts, and
    (4) define how an adaptive management program can be created.

    In other words, the more than 100 different concepts for how to generate energy from the natural dynamics of water movement and temperature COULD – like anything else that goes into oceans, lakes and rivers, from ocean liners to Aquaman – cause responses in the ecology. But, because the need to capture the enormous emissions-free, renewable power generation capacity in ocean, river and lakes warrants entering those environments, prudence dictates proceeding carefully and the report further ensures developers WILL.

    From the opening paragraph of the report: “There is no conclusive evidence that marine and hydrokinetic technologies will actually cause significant environmental impacts, and the possible effects detailed in this report should serve to highlight areas where further information and research is needed.”

    Not headline material in a journalistic world where it has to bleed to lead (or at least describe illicit sex by a celebrity).

    Report to Congress on the Potential Environmental Effects of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy Technologies, from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), admirably fulfills its assignment. It identifies 9 kinds of possible environmental effects, how those effects can be methodically studied and the adaptive management principles that can be used to mitigate those effects.

    click to enlarge

    The EERE study is almost entirely speculative because relatively few of the 100+ technologies have ever had significant enough real-world tests to demonstrate what they can or might do. The paper admits in its opening paragraphs that some of what it concludes is based on what comparable activities in oceans, rivers and lakes do.

    To its credit, the Times piece does conclude by reporting that Representative Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Chair of the House Science and Technology Committee, will introduce legislation, along with a proposal for continued funding (40 million in 2009, $50 million in 2010 and $40.5 million for 2011), to have DOE expand research on marine and hydrokinetic technologies. Gordon's bill specifically calls for real-world demonstration projects, a test facility and a system for environmental monitoring to select sites where impacts will be negligible to minimal.

    In other words, development in a way that would prevent the headline the Times used from ever being accurate.

    At the very bottom of the article, it also reports that the study found some projects will likely BENEFIT ocean, lake and river habitats. Now that’s a headline.

    click to enlarge

    COMMENTARY
    Two key definitions: Hydrokinetic energy is the energy from the motion (kinetics) of water (hydro). There is hydrokinetic energy in ocean waves, tides and currents, river currents and estuary and lake tides. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) captures the energy potential of the temperature difference between the ocean’s surface and its depths.

    The report begins with a description of the technologies designed to capture the energy in water’s waves, tides and currents and from its temperature differences, including an online database cataloguing all known marine and hydrokinetic technologies.

    click to enlarge

    It then discusses the spectrum of potential environmental impacts, including
    (1) the alteration of currents and waves near and far,
    (2) the alteration, transportation or deposition of sediments and substrates,
    (3) the alteration of benthic organism habitat,
    (4) noises of construction and operation,
    (5) electromagnetic fields (EMFs),
    (6) chemicals and toxic paints, lubricants and coatings,
    (7) interference with animal movement and migration and entaglements,
    (8) collisions and strikes with moving parts, and
    (9) harms from the water flows associated with capturing the energy of water temperature differences. Intakes and discharges could alter nutrients, dissolved gases and concentration of aquatic organisms in the water.

    Impacts are the result of project installation, operation, and decommissioning of the projects, each affecting the physical environment. This can effect biological resources that alter animal behaviors, cause damage and mortality to individual plants and animals, and wider, longer-term changes to plant and animal populations and communities of the waterworld ecology.

    click to enlarge

    With so little real-world data from deployed technologies, the report’s conclusions had to be based on other sources, including studies on the effects of comparable environmental intrusions. It does not include the study published in January proving current energy relatively harmless to river fish (see BREAKTHROUGH STUDY PROVES RIVER ENERGY SAFETY).

    Some of the report's sources were predictive studies with not yet verified conclusions. A preliminary indication of the issues studied were drawn from published literature on other technologies, including (1) noises generated by other marine construction, (2) EMF emissions from submarine cables, (3) active offshore wind farms, and (4) conventional hydropower turbines. Such literature and reported experience with similar freshwater and marine systems offer valuable information about minimization and mitigation of impacts.

    The report recommends further studies of specific environmental issues as a part of particular projects' licensing requirements.

    click to enlarge

    Low likelihood of the need for further investigation:
    (1) the alteration of currents and waves near and far, as they might affect (a) animal behavior and (b) individual injury and mortality;

    (2) the alteration, transportation or deposition of sediments and substrates, as it might affect animal behavior and individual injury and mortality;

    (3) the alteration of benthic organism habitat, as it might affect individual injury and mortality;

    (4) noises of construction and operation, as it might affect the physical environment;

    (5) electromagnetic fields (EMFs), as they might affect (a) the physical environment and (b) individual injury and mortality;

    (6) interference with animal movement and migration and entaglements, as it might affect the physical environment; and

    (7) collisions and strikes with moving parts, as they might affect the physical environment.

    click to enlarge
    click to enlarge

    Medium likelihood of the need for further investigation:
    (1) the alteration of currents and waves near and far, as them might affect the physical environment or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects;

    (2) the alteration, transportation or deposition of sediments and substrates, as it might affect the physical environment or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects;

    (3) the alteration of benthic organism habitat, as it might affect the physical environment, animal behavior or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects;

    (4) noises of construction and operation, as they might affect animal behavior, individual injury and mortality or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects;

    (5) electromagnetic fields (EMFs), as they might affect animal behavior or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects;

    (6) chemicals and toxic paints, lubricants and coatings, as they might affect the physical environment, animal behavior, cause individual injury and mortality or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects;

    (7) interference with animal movement and migration and entaglements, as it might have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects;

    (8) collisions and strikes with moving parts, and they might affect animal behavior or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects; and

    (9) harms from the water flows associated with capturing the energy of water temperature differences. Intakes and discharges could alter nutrients, dissolved gases and concentration of aquatic organisms in the water and thereby affect animal behavior or have population level effects or community- and ecosystem-level effects.

    click to enlarge
    click to enlarge

    High likelihood of the need for further investigation:
    (1) interference with animal movement and migration and entaglements, as it might affect animal behavior or cause individual injury and mortality;

    (2) collisions and strikes with moving parts, as it might cause individual injury and mortality; and

    (9) harms from the water flows associated with capturing the energy of water temperature differences. Intakes and discharges could alter nutrients, dissolved gases and concentration of aquatic organisms in the water could affect the physical environment or cause individual injury and mortality.

    In sum, a very limited segment of the spectrum of possible impacts have a likelihood of harm that would warrant the NY Times headline. AND, there is insufficient information on population-level and ecosystem-level responses to develop general conclusions about the seriousness of most projects’ impacts. Higher-level studies will depend on the results of the monitoring of trials.

    click to enlarge

    There is completely inadequate data to evaluate cumulative impacts from multiple projects, especially in combination with other human activities. Only the consideration of cumulative environmental impacts during site-specific permit processes can ensure informed decision making and the implementation of adequate mitigation.

    Two categories of impacts not covered in the report: (1) Impacts to terrestrial ecosystems and organisms from non-hydro associated technologies like transmission lines and (2) possible effects on the coastal communities and users of the marine resources (human use conflicts, aesthetics, viewsheds, noise on land, light, recreation, transportation, navigation, cultural resources, socioeconomic impacts). Like the impacts studied, there are opportunities to mitigate these but a separate report would be required to discuss them.

    There are many options available to prevent environmental harms. They tend to be implemented in a way that first attempts to avoid impacts entirely, then seeks to minimize impacts and, if they become inevitable, to restore the environment.

    click to enlarge

    The options:
    (1) not taking a certain action or parts of an action can avoid impacts;
    (2) limiting the degree or magnitude of the action can minimize impacts;
    (3) the impacted environment often can be repaired, rehabilitated, or restored;
    (4) ongoing efforts to preserve and maintain the environment during the life of the action can reduce or eliminate impacts; and
    (5) if nothing else, there can be compensation in the form of substituted or replaced resources or ecosystems.

    The most certain way to mitigate is to avoid. This is certainly the necessary strategy in fragile areas with high biological productivity or biodiversity or that have special cultural or environmental importance, like the critical habitat of an endangered species. Sometimes, especially for biological resources, just avoiding an action during a sensitive season, like those of mating or migration, is the solution.

    Structural and operational mitigations may solve the problem with an alteration in the technology, like the streamlining of the shapes of structures, burying transmission cables, insulating against noise and EMFs, protective screens to prevent entrainment or blade strike, and appropriate spacing of generators.

    click to enlarge

    Monitoring and understanding principles of adaptive management leads to mitigation strategies.

    Impacts unique to specific technologies or a specific environment can be understood and understanding can lead to effective mitigation. Larger projects in sensitive areas will certainly require more careful study. Little of precision about mitigation strategies can be more than theoretical at this stage of hydrokinetic development because of the lack of experience with real-world projects.

    The severity of the cumulative effects of hypothetical projects could be very different than theories and calculations suggest for single units or over long periods of time. Bottom habitats, hydrographic conditions and animal movements that are little affected by a few hydrokinetic units could be changed by large-scale installations because of complicated, non-linear interactions of a variety of variables. Monitoring of the projects as they are deployed is the only way to understand these variables.

    For this reason, the earliest projects should be required, as part of the permitting process, to have the ability to be adaptively modified. For hydrokinetic projects, this means having the capability to systematically alter installation and operation in response to findings from a repeated and ongoing study of the surroundings.

    click to enlarge

    The only practical way of being prepared to deal with the effects of the cumulative impacts of new, large-scale hydrokinetic technologies is by requiring the first commercial developments to be prepared to exercise adaptive management.

    FERC and DOI require a set of components in an adaptive management approach: (1) definition and quantification of the desired outcomes, (2) implementation, monitoring, evaluation, modification of the action, and (3) re-evaluation through additional monitoring.

    The EERE report was based on (1) peer-reviewed literature, (2) project documents, and (3) U.S. and international environmental assessments of these new technologies. It came from (1) technology developers, (2) experts in state resource and regulatory agencies, (3) non-governmental organizations, (4) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), (5) the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), and (6) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

    click to enlarge

    QUOTES
    - From the report: “As few marine and hydrokinetic devices have been deployed, there have been correspondingly few opportunities to assess their direct impacts. Based on the available information, however, as well as the observed impacts of other activities that may share some characteristics with the deployment and operation of marine and hydrokinetic technologies, this report describes nine types of environmental effects that may occur and describes how monitoring and adaptive management principles might be employed to evaluate and mitigate those effects. There is no conclusive evidence that marine and hydrokinetic technologies will actually cause significant environmental impacts, and the possible effects detailed in this report should serve to highlight areas where further information and research is needed.”

    click to enlarge

    - From the report: “Early information about undesirable outcomes of environmental monitoring could lead to the implementation of additional minimization or mitigation actions that could then be re-evaluated. The adaptive management process is particularly valuable in the early stages of technology development, when many of the potential environmental effects are unknown for individual units, much less for the build-out of large-scale projects. Basing project licenses and environmental monitoring programs on adaptive management principles, as advocated by many resource and regulatory agencies, will take advantage of ongoing research and monitoring to help refine technology designs and to improve environmental acceptability of future installations…”

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