Osmosis

A new osmotic power plant in Norway may be the future of renewable energy. Although small now, the plant claims that osmotic power could produce about 1,370 terawatt-hours per year. Osmotic power is the process of using diffusion (when a substance passes through a membrane into another area that contains less of the substance, ie... tea from tea bag diffuses into cup) to create power. In this case, salt water particles diffuse into freshwater when rivers meet seas and in fact, create heat energy. With a membrane between the two types of water, water particles diffuse and create osmosis. 

Though reverse osmosis has been around since the 1950's, using osmosis as energy was only created later on. It has been called a "very clean process" by Friso Sikkema and Statkraft, the company who created the osmotic power plant, believes in it so much they spent over $12,000,000 and ten years on it. Unlike some other renewable energy options, the process of obtaining osmotic power does not produce any carbon, still though, there are concerns that if this expands, it might effect marine life. Additionally, membranes may be too expensive for big-scale osmosis. Still, for now, it is an optimistic route for the future of renewable energy.  

As osmosis has been growing in popularity, NASA has begun using osmotic systems to take care of wastewater on spaceships, Hydro-Quebec is teaming up with Statkraf, and Japan has opened a Osmotic Power Research Centre. Also, as osmosis advances we can now create a "natural battery" by using PRO osmosis to replace RED osmosis. RED osmosis is the process of capturing the energy of mixing fresh and salt water using positively and negatively charged membranes, while PRO osmosis uses complex machinery to do the same thing. However, PRO is much more expensive, and RED will most likely be a more popular alternative.

So with all these upsides, why hasn't osmotic power become a big success? Well, the materials needed for an osmotic plant are not only expensive but many. Additionally, much space is needed for even a small osmotic plant and it is an excessive amount of work to find water clean enough to support the membranes. But there is still hope, for like other renewable energies, osmotic power, after an initial investment, will become a great success. Once cost-effective, osmotic power has the potential to power all of Russia as well as Eastern Europe.   

The next thing we need to do is create a bigger, more inexpensive plant and before you know it, maybe your house will be powered by osmotic energy.

For more information, check out: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/01/130107-osmotic-energy-norway/

Next week: Hopefully a video about daylight savings