Experts say that sun and wind are the richest sources of clean,
renewable
energy. But ocean waves also create powerful, clean energy.
So, the U.S Department of Energy has announced a $1.5 million-dollar prize for
the winner of a competition on how to capture that energy. The
Department of Energy says that waves and tides along U.S. coasts
create about 1,420 terawatt-hours of energy a
year. That is equal to the amount of energy produced by more than 330 nuclear
power factories.
* source = 원천, 근원/ renewable
energy = 재생 가능 에너지(태양열, 수력, 풍력 등)/ capture = 점유하다; 포획하다; 억류하다/ tide = 조수, 밀물과
썰물; 조류/ terawatt hour = 테라와트시(時). 1조(兆)와트시(時), 1012Wh
But
today’s technologies can only capture about 20 percent of the energy from ocean
waves. Jose Zayas is the director of the Wind and Water Power Technologies
Office at the Department of
Energy. He says 20 percent is too low for an investment in
ocean wave energy to be economical. He says it
needs to be up in the high 30 percent to 40 percent. “…we believe that once you
achieve that then the economic competiveness of
this industry really comes to
life and that’s really the target that we are
shooting
for.”
* the Department of
Energy = 미국 에너지국/ economical = 경제적인, 실속 있는/ economic competiveness = 경제적 경쟁력/
come to life = 활기를 띠다; 살아 움직이다/ shoot for ~ = ~을 얻으려고(달성하려고)
애쓰다
US Agency Announces Wave Energy Prize Competition - WTS.mp3