That's a fantastic question and in a place like Santa Barbara, a really relevant one! The movement of waves is a harnessable form of energy as the kinetic energy of the water can be converted into electrical energy. There a few different methods to do this and they basically depend on where in the wave's lifetime you place your energy conversion resource.

One method is using an oscillating water column that sits out at sea in the areas where the wave has yet to break. The column is hollow with an opening at the bottom to the sea and contains some air as well as some water. As it bobs up and down with waves, air is either forced out or sucked in by the changing water level. The movement of air inside the column causes a turbine to spin and generate electricity.

Another method consists of "wave mats" placed in the impact zone of waves. When a wave crashes, it results in a lot of kinetic energy in one area as water goes every which way. Wave mats are like energy generating tiles that can be placed on the ocean floor in the relatively shallow wave impact zones that will capture the energy from the crashing wave and convert it into electricity. If you want to learn more, you can find additional information here .

The energy from waves can be harnessed but the question is also whether or not it should. On the pros, harnessing wave energy is a very green process as waves are an entirely renewable resource and the devices used to capture that energy require very little upkeep. With that said, harnessing wave energy also means potentially placing turbines in the ocean which can harm sea life or potentially disrupt some ecological functions. Some of the construction of the tools for capturing wave energy can be high cost and must contend with the ever-present threat of severe weather events.

If you want to learn more about wave energy, I would recommend you check out this resource .

Although I am not aware of "ocean wave power", the "tidal power" has been used for a long time throughout human history.

Tide is formed due to the gravitational force from the moon, and the sea water can acquire large potential energy, which can be (and has been) used as tidal power source. However it is never used at a massive scale. I guess the reason is that, tide is a global phenomenon, the energy is not very concentrated, it takes a lot of turbines to generate sufficient power.

That is a fantastic question! Yes, you are absolutely right that waves could be a constant source of energy, and waves are so powerful that some estimates suggest that wave power could generate enough electricity to account for over half of all the energy demands in the country.

There are a number of scientists researching the best ways to harness this wave power and convert it into electricity, and the reason we don't hear about wave energy as often as things like wind and solar energy is simply that there aren't many companies making the necessary equipment right now. Many scientists think it is best to harness the wave energy further out offshore, before the waves come closer to shore and interact with the beaches and with each other, which can make the waves unpredictable and cause energy loss. Putting anything offshore takes a lot of planning and money, which is why things are moving slowly. A new generation of excited scientists like yourself could be just what we need to get wave power moving!

Very clever, tidal energy generation does exist! The devices are very similar to wind turbines, but they are under the water. This technology is still being developed to make it cheaper to install and easier to repair the systems, but they have a long operational capacity (up to 120 years), so they could be very cost effective when averaged across the lifetime of the facility. Tidal energy is very predictable, more so than wind and solar. However, similar to wind and solar it doesn't produce energy constantly since the tides are only strong enough to produce energy about 10 hours of every day. This means the energy produced needs to be stored up until people actually need to use it.

Scientists like me are also working on better energy storage technology to help with that part of the problem. The other problem that could be a concern is that tidal energy installations could interfere with animal habitats on the ocean floor. Hopefully we can find a way for these two things to coexist!

Yes, and they are used. The reason they are not used more widely is that you would need an enormous amount of coastline covered by power plants, which would be expensive and get in the way of things that other people also use beaches for.

Good thought. I saw a little demo in some science museum a few years ago, but I haven't read about it recently in Science magazine or anywhere.

wave power.