This will be a long one, so roll up your sleeves, put on your thinking cap, and let’s jump in this.
Normandy Beach, D-Day invasion, WW II, the allies decided to hit the french beaches in an area where there was no port to offload men and supplies to continue the push to victory.
Instead they devised a system of floating piers consisting of floating concrete blocks connected by roadways that allowed ships to dock and offload supplies and men.
I mention this as a preface to make certain that we understand that floating concrete blocks is not a crazy idea. It works, it works very well, and in fact the technology is being used in Holland every day, building floating homes atop floating concrete blocks.
With that clear, imagine a hydraulic ram, with the ports arranged such that regardless of whether the ram is being compressed, or extended, the fluid is being forced in only one direction to an output line, and sucked back in through an input line.
Now imagine that ram connected to two floating blocks, hinged together, in conditions of waves, where one block is forced up on the wave top, and the other sinks below in the wave trench. That would cause the ram to extend, pumping fluid through the lines. As the wave peaks, the ram compresses, again forcing fluid through the lines.
Now imagine a large number of blocks, each hinged together, and connected with rams on all four sides of each block. Floating in the ocean and being activated by wave action. The cumulative effect is a steady and powerful hydraulic flow used to activate a hydraulic motor that powers an electrical generator.
Now consider that if the blocks are large enough, each block has a substantial top solid surface that could be utilized for mounting a wind generator.
In addition to wind generation, solar panels could also be installed on the tops as well. The bottom of the blocks would be a perfect mounting surface for tidal/current turbines to capture energy from the ocean below the surface.
All the mechanisms will need maintenance, and the best place to put people who maintain the blocks is inside the blocks themselves! Those people will need products and services close by, and businesses that cater to those people could easily inhabit blocks as shops.
An entirely new, clean, sustainable, renewable and profitable energy industry could be built on the oceans, that provides industry with power, and a growing and continuing market for skilled labor force. JOBS! People working, and building not only a cleaner future for the planet, but for themselves as well.
Oh, I hear objections already, OMG the hydraulic fluid will leak and pollute the oceans. Duh, use seawater, not oil for the hydraulic fluid!
What if there is a storm, and the outer blocks get damaged and sink, those people living on them will die! Duh, don’t put living blocks on the new edges, keep the people closer to the interior where the wave action has been attenuated by the outer blocks.
There are engineering problems to be worked out, but them guys can easily do the math and make it quite doable. There are financial hurdles, but them guys can do the math and make it work. There are social issues, but humans can be quite creative when faced with new situations. We can make it work.
How much energy is available for the taking in the oceans? More than we need!
Let’s go get it!