Harnessing Wave Power

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

January 18, 2012 | 12:14 PM

Rafa Rivas / AFP/Getty Images

A surfer rides a wave along the northern Spanish coast.

The Department of Energy says wave energy could help hydropower usage reach 15 percent of the nation’s total energy consumption by 2030. The D.O.E published two reports today on the potential of harnessing wave energy in the U.S. “Mapping and Assessment of the United States Wave Energy Resource” and “Assessment of Energy Production Potential from Tidal Streams in the United States” are both pretty technical. They detail the largely untapped renewable energy source of America’s shorelines. Much of this energy may not be feasible to harness. But the D.O.E says maximum “theoretical” potential could supply one-third of the nation’s current electricity needs.
Alaska, Hawaii and parts of the West Coast have the most potential for wave power generation. But the report also outlines energy production for tidal streams and waves on the East Coast. Wave energy production uses devices installed at or near the ocean’s surface. Technology has been developed that takes the wave’s motion and uses it to drive turbines, pistons or electric generators that send the energy through cables along the ocean floor.