This week's 1-Minute Climate Snippet "revolves" around offshore wind. Innovators like Bedrock, Orsted, Avangrid, Redwood Energy, and Vestas are creating the infrastructure for a renewable energy revolution — inclusive of offshore wind.
We're all familiar with wind energy, but what exactly is offshore wind energy?
Offshore wind energy is the energy taken from the force of the winds at sea that is transformed into electricity. Offshore wind speeds are typically faster than on land which in turn generates more energy.
There are countless benefits of offshore wind power, including proximity to Americans, high speeds, stable generation, energy potential, the influx of jobs, locked energy prices, and much more.
That being said, offshore wind farms can be expensive and difficult to maintain. The initial construction cost can be quite a burden that many contractors find hard to overcome.
In response, Bedrock, an OceanTech company, has engineered a portable autonomous underwater vehicle that allows us to acquire seafloor data pre-build. Their technology is optimized for ocean-based renewable energy products by conducting site exploration, site scouting, cable installation, operations, maintenance, and more.
Similarly, many other renewable energy companies like Orsted, Avangrid Renewables, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, Vestas, etc., are creating and scaling the infrastructure for our world’s impending clean energy revolution.
Grid decongestion is vital for modernizing our energy infrastructure, ensuring reliable energy distribution as we integrate more renewables and transition to a low-carbon future.
Buildings and urban environments need to be designed and retrofitted to handle extreme heat, ensuring they remain energy-efficient, safe, and comfortable.
Around the world, the impacts of climate change—rising temperatures, shifting patterns of rainfall, more frequent and intense extreme weather, and rising sea levels—are affecting all types of infrastructure, from energy and transport to water, waste, and telecommunications.