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Video: ECOBIOBALL – Play Golf, Feed Fish

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Video: Sea Kite

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More Problems Solved Thanks to Biomimicry

Water-Fern

Biomimicry is an exciting field of engineering that continually produces amazing designs.  We have reported on the robotic arm based on an elephant trunkartificial honeybee silk, and biofuels inspired by frog foam.  Now biomimicry is tackling the problems of cargo ships.

For any mode of transportation, a heavier load increases fuel costs and emissions.  This is especially true for an ocean-traveling container ship, which uses massive amounts of energy to propel through water.

However, by mimicking the hydrophobic characteristics of the water fern, researchers at the University of Bonn believe they can design a more energy-efficient container ship.

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Let’s Go Float a Kite

seakite

Here’s an idea that could give a boost to offshore energy plants: underwater kites that harness tidal energy. Water is almost 800 times denser than air, so capturing the its force could ultimately be even more efficient than using wind power.

Called Deep Green, the low-cost and low-impact kite captures tidal power ten times faster than the speed of the water it operates in, resulting in 1,000 times more energy gains.

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US Approves Offshore Wind Farm

windturbine

While containing last week’s oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico has proven increasingly difficult – scientists are now discussing giant domes, fire, and even mushrooms as solutions to tame the blaze- there’s also some good news about our oceans to share:

This week, the US federal government finally approved the nation’s first offshore wind farm project, after nine years of careful and at times contentious review. While the plan has been met with some opposition from locals who say the 400ft turbines would be a blight to the landscape, proponents of the project say that Cape Wind has the potential to bring in a new era of clean energy in the US.

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