OTEC Matters

For mankind as a whole, and in many respects, the world is becoming a better place each year. In both rich and poor countries the standard of living has improved steadily for a very long time. This progress has a serious drawback, the negative effects on Earth’s climate. It is clear that the only way we can live sustainably is by consuming much less. However, this is not enough: there is an undeniable need for new energy sources.

As the world’s population grows, many countries will also face more severe shortages of food and of fresh, disease-free water. Most developing countries are situated in tropical regions and are therefore hit hard by increasing tropical storms and similar weather-based disasters, adding to these problems.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology has been proven to be an ideal candidate for addressing and resolving all of these problems for small island developing states (SIDS), and a few months ago, the EU set aside €72 million for constructing OTEC plants outside Martinique. Built on a much larger scale, OTEC can, as the only technology known to man, supply the world with its total energy and fresh water needs, increase seafood production many times over, and cooling off parts of the sea surface when they become too hot – all this without any atmospheric emissions.

Thus, it was with great excitement that this very first volume of the only journal dedicated to OTEC was being published in 2015 (see sample images to the left). The publication covers many facets of OTEC and related matters, such as OTEC technology, sustainability including gender and other social studies, renewable energy, marine biology, metallurgy, and research on developing countries. The publication is aimed at two different audiences, scientists directly or indirectly involved with OTEC technology, and a more diverse group of people consisting of scientists from non-technical fields, industry people, politicians, investors, educators, and more. This volume is published as part of the publication series of the University of Borås, a progressive Swedish university with a high interest in and knowledge about sustainability.

The first volume of OTEC Matters was released on 27 February, 2015, featuring Petter Terenius (OTEC Africa/University of Borås, Sweden), Dr. Lars G Golmen (Manager of Runde Centre, Norway), and Dr. Björn Brorström (Vice-Chancellor at the University of Borås, Sweden) as editors. It is available for free download (no login required) from this web page.

OTEC Matters presented to Benjamin Martin of Xenesys, Japan, by Technical Editor Lars G Golmen, Norway.

Contents of OTEC Matters 2015

• An introduction to OTEC technology
  Petter (Terenius) Dessne, founder OTEC Africa, University of Borås, Sweden
  
  
• Fresh Water from Ocean Thermal Energy
  Vicente Fachina, Petrobras, Brazil
  
  
• OTEC in the TROPOS Multipurpose Platform Concept
  Dr. Lars G. Golmen, Runde Environmental Centre/Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norway, Dr. Jason C.S. Yu, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan, & Dr. W. Chen, NIVA, Norway
  
  
• OTEC advanced composite cold water pipe: An overview of its development and fabrication process validation
  Dr. Alan K. Miller, Santa Cruz, California, USA
  
  
• Production of Fresh Water using Renewable Ocean Thermal Energy
  Dr. C. B. Panchal, Consultant, USA
  
  
• OTEC Technology for Aiding Women in Developing Countries: An Investigation of Women’s Health-Related Quality of Life in Rural Areas of Iran near the Coast of Gulf of Oman
  Zahra Yadali Jamaluei, Department of Sociology and Social Planning, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Fars, Iran
  
  
• Preventing environmental impacts of OTEC
  Dr. Linus Hammar, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
  
  
• A case study of a hypothetical 100 MW OTEC plant analyzing the prospects of OTEC technology
  Dr. Subhashish Banerjee, India, Formerly of Coventry University, UK, Dr. Les Duckers, Coventry University, UK, & Dr. Richard Blanchard, Loughborough University, UK
  
  
• The Lessons of Nature and Heat Pipe OTEC
  Jim Baird, freelance writer and inventor, Canada
  
  
• The OTEC Africa Conference 2013
  Petter (Terenius) Dessne, founder OTEC Africa, University of Borås, Sweden
  
  
• Opt for OTEC for a sustainable world!
  Petter (Terenius) Dessne, founder OTEC Africa, University of Borås, Sweden, Lars Golmen, Director Runde Environmental Centre, Norway, Ted Johnson, Executive Director, Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation, USA, Desikan Bharathan, Principal Engineer at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA, & Harold Lever, CEO, Archimedes Solutions, The Netherlands.