Tidal Power for Dummies

Electricity generation by tidal power

Many Antisocial Network staffers are voracious readers of fiction, which suggests that they respect the art of creative writing. When it comes to non-fiction, however, they believe it takes special talent to use training in creative writing; special talent like that of author Mary Roach. Most of the creative writing grads we find contributing to eHow, however, are sadly deficient in that talent. Take, for instance, Oregon State's Eric Bagai, whom we caught mangling the non-fiction aspects of "Why Is Tidal Power a Renewable Energy Resource?"¹

The short answer is that, as a power supply, tides are pretty much inexhaustible. Of course, Bagai couldn't just say that and get paid, so he had to write (or in this case, reword) a couple hundred words; during which, by the way, the closest he got to answering the question was

"Tide cycles are predictable, as it happens every 12 1/2 hours, twice a day. Thus, tidal power is a potent source for renewable energy, since it has a good potential for use in the generation of electricity"...

...which we don't think is a particularly good answer. At all. But, then. Eric's grasp of the what causes tides was pretty slim: "Gavitational [sic] force between the sun and moon as well as the rotation of the Earth around the sun cause oceanic tides." Similarly, Bagai was a little confused about the difference between a tide and a tsunami: "At least a 10-foot tidal wave [sic] is required to produce tidal energy efficiently."

We assume he meant "tidal range," but had to reword it to avoid getting nailed for plagiarism – that happens a lot when eHow's creative writers tackle scientific terminology. After a brief tangential mention of wave energy, perhaps because he thought waves and tides are the same thing, Eric moved on to describe how to capture tidal energy (which isn't in any way part of the answer to the OQ). That's where he claimed that

"The tide which forms at the shore is trapped in big reservoirs behind dams..."

...which is bad grammar as well as bad tech. And finally, for some unknown reason, he wandered over to "Ocean Thermal Energy" before returning to "Tidal Barrages" and "Tidal Fences." Of the barrage technology, Bagai informed his readers that

"This system uses the principle of tidal energy to produce electric power. There are also two-way systems available which generate electricity from both the ebbs and flows of the tides..."

...which led the AN staff to wonder what idiot would build a one-way tidal generator. For this and for all his other scientific, logical and grammatical failures, Eric Bagai is the honored recipient of today's Dumbass of the Day award.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was    ehow.com/about_6504111_tidal-power-renewable-energy-resource_.html

copyright © 2016-2023 scmrak

SI - RENEWABLE ENERGY