Ecologically sound operations of projected Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants can be insured by careful attention to the marine environment during the design phase. this requires quality information from regions of potential OTEC interest, coordinated with required assessment studies to insure legal compliance. Currently, preliminary or actual surveys and laboratory studies are being conducted in the waters of Puerto Rico, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, and Guam for potential moored or seacoast OTEC plants and in the equatorial South Atlantic for proposed plant-ship operations to provide such benchmark and baseline data. These data plus existing archival information can be …
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Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States)
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Berkeley, California
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Ecologically sound operations of projected Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants can be insured by careful attention to the marine environment during the design phase. this requires quality information from regions of potential OTEC interest, coordinated with required assessment studies to insure legal compliance. Currently, preliminary or actual surveys and laboratory studies are being conducted in the waters of Puerto Rico, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, and Guam for potential moored or seacoast OTEC plants and in the equatorial South Atlantic for proposed plant-ship operations to provide such benchmark and baseline data. These data plus existing archival information can be used to model effects of OTEC operations based on projected design schemes. Four major areas of concerns (1) redistribution of oceanic properties, (2) chemical pollution, (3) structural effects, and (4) socio-legal-economic; and 11 key issues associated with OTEC deployment and operation have been identified. In general mitigating strategies can be used to alleviate many deleterious environmental effects of operational problems as biostimulation, outgassing, etc. Various assessment research studies on toxicity, biocide releases, etc., are under way or are planned to investigate areas where no clear mitigating strategy is available. Data from the monitoring and assessment programs is being integrated into a series of environmental compliance documents including a comprehensive programmatic environmental impact assessment.
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Wilde, P.ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM AT POTENTIAL OTEC SITES,
article,
June 1, 1979;
Berkeley, California.
(https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc930266/:
accessed March 28, 2024),
University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu;
crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.