As far as I understand, turbines that are powered by ocean tides don’t take energy out of the ocean. Since the tides carry on endlessly regardless of if there is a turbine, how is hydroelectric power not an infinite energy source?
In: Physics
They don’t violate conservation of energy because ultimately they do remove energy from the ocean – they convert the kinetic energy of a wave into electricity, leaving calmer water behind. So the kinetic energy that would have been turned into the sound and movement of a wave striking the coastline is instead converted into electricity.
So while it does remove some energy from the natural system, it is worth remembering how much – the every output by hydroelectric systems is such a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of the overall energy that it is incalculably small. So any difference to the overall energy distribution of our ecosystem is going to be so small as to make no difference whatsoever.
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