Time and tide wait for no man

There's been talk over the years kicking around the idea of generating power from Cook Inlet tides.  This is the body of water just off Anchorage, Alaska, which endures the seventh highest tides in the world. On some tides the difference between low and high can exceed 40 feet. That's a lot of water moving in or out in a six-hour period.

Before today, while the idea had seemed entertaining, I had no idea how it is done or what a generating unit might look like.

During the procrastination phase of the day today I came across the picture.  It's of a tidal generator offshore of Bristol in the UK. It is one of several units built by UK-based Marine Current Turbines. In 2011, the huge German energy company Siemens bought 45 percent of that firm, meaning a lot more energy might go into producing a lot more energy.

Seeing it, gives more credence to the possibility of this infinite source of electrical power.  I mean as long as the moon is in the sky, there are going to be tides. One interesting fact in the attached article is that given the reliability of tidal predictions, power supply can be calculated out as far into the future as one cares to go.

Here is a story looking at the future of tide-generated electric power.