[Raptor235]

Energy produced using the movement of water—hydroelectric energy—is one of the most efficient ways to create electricity. The problems with hydroelectric energy come from its non-energy-related side effects, like flooding people out of their homes and creating reservoirs full of organic plant and animal matter that decays underwater and produces mercury. But what if we were to build gently floating buoys that harness the power of the ocean’s waves without interfering with them at all? Well, one company has launched their test converter, the AquaBuOY, off the coast of Oregon, and the U.K. government has already approved its first wave farm, off the coast of Cornwall.

The two designs differ greatly. The British version, developed in Edinburgh, looks like a floating snake and faces into oncoming waves. Specially developed joints along its body move with the motion of the waves, generating an uneven stream of power which is smoothed out and sent back to shore via an underwater cable. The American version, seen in the video, sits higher in the water like a conventional buoy, and uses the same mooring and anchoring technologies as navigational buoys do. Power is generated in an open-ended, vertical tube, using the vertical component of the wave energy, and again, sent back to shore through a submarine cable.
You can find the entire article here http://aboutmyplanet.com/videos/energy-converters

[atula]

I think this is great news...although hydro power is imortant, the way we were producing it was wrong as mentioned in the article, disrupting so many lives. If this method be it the british or the american version is successful it can be used in other parts of the world too and prove to be a big boon for everyone....

[daffy]

This is great. I am sure there are many more ideas of how to harness wave energy such as putting something like a pendulum on a buoy that keep rocking forever to produce electricity. We should not build any more nuclear and coal plants. Wave energy is the best and reliable. I hear California is trying to build more nuclear power plants. How do we tell the law makers this great news of the wave energy?