The Department of Energy released a report examining the potential environmental impacts of ocean energy development.
The renewable energy sector, which includes wave, tidal and river hydrokinetic technologies, is still in fledgling development stages, and includes dozens of untested designs that could have a range of impacts on marine life and environments, according to the report.
The report (available here) describes nine types of environmental effects that may occur and describes how monitoring and adaptive management principles might be employed to evaluate and mitigate those effects. The report finds no conclusive evidence that marine and hydrokinetic technologies will cause significant environmental effects and highlights areas where further information and research is needed.
Because these technologies are not yet widely deployed, their environmental effects are not well documented.
Read New York Times coverage at the link below.
