OTEC for Fresh Water, Hydrogen and Greening of Barren Land
Because of climate change, an explosive population increase and significant industrial progress, 31 countries in Asia and Africa are suffering from water shortage, and this is predicted to increase to 48 countries by 2025. OTEC provides not only electricity but also other by-products: freshwater created from deep seawater for drinking and agricultural use; mass production of hydrogen, a key component in new clean fuel technologies by the electrolytic processing of the fresh water; lithium and uranium extracted from deep seawater; nutrients in deep seawater used for aquaculture, enriching fishing grounds and the production of materials used in cosmetics and medicine; and the cold deep seawater used to cool nearby buildings. An OTEC operation is sure to act as a catalyst for new local industries. As the former president of Saga University, Dr. Uehara puts it, OTEC offers far better economic advantages when applied for multi-purposes than for power generation alone; therefore, OTEC is a gold mine for solutions to the problems we are facing today.