Marine Structures: consuming and producing energy

Seventy percent of the surface of our planet Earth is water. This space is of immense importance for maintaining a reasonable standard of living for an ever increasing global population. Utilization of the oceans is vital because: • The oceans have a huge importance for global exchange of goods; the current global trade could not take place without the use of oceans as a transportation medium. • The oceans have large potential for exploration and future cultivation of living resources in the form of fish and plankton. • The oceans and the ocean floors have large reservoirs of raw materials and hydrocarbons. • The oceans receive 70 % of our primary sustainable energy source, i.e. the radiation from the sun; this thermal energy can be harvested in the form of thermal, wind, current or wave energy, salt gradients etc. To exploit these possibilities marine structures are required.