Environment
OWEL is designed to be an environmentally friendly device that converts ocean wave energy safely to electricity. In doing this, all the electricity produced will reduce the amount required from fossil fuels. The carbon offset by doing this is explained below.
In addition, since these OWEL devices will be moored about 10km from shore (as a minimum), and will only protrude 4-6m above the sea, the visual impact will be low, and consenting problems due to concerned local population will not be a problem.
Environmental Impact
We will be carrying out a study on the marine demonstrator, and so will have much more information on the environmental impact than we do at the present time. The structure will be environmentally benign. In operation, there will need to be an exclusion zone around the machines, so we expect that the additional undisturbed habitat will attract marine flora and fauna. We will be monitoring the environmental impact during the demonstrator programme.
Carbon Offset
All renewable electricity generation technologies emit CO2 at some point during their lifecycle, from extraction and refining of raw materials, to manufacture, transport and construction; CO2 from renewables is non-operational, and we calculate that our machines will pay back the carbon used within a few months of operation.