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VIVACE generates big power from small currents

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/uom-td112108.php"><img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/12/vivace-20081203-600.jpg" alt="VIVACE generates big power from small currents" /></a><br /></div> These days people are looking everywhere to find new, cheap, and plentiful sources of electricity, and while you wouldn't call it <em>new</em>, the ocean is certainly cheap and plentiful. Plentiful too are the people attempting to convert its <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/03/scientists-create-sea-power-generating-anaconda/">motion</a> into power by <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/19/searaser-floating-pump-will-use-the-oceans-waves-to-generate-po/">tapping its waves</a> or <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/08/self-propelled-glider-uses-oceans-heat-to-power-itself/">extracting its heat</a>. But what about lesser waters moving at a leisurely 3 knots? Those lazy flows make up the majority of all currents and are exactly the target of VIVACE, a series of tubes (seriously) that relies on vortex induced vibrations (the VIV) to create clean aquatic energy (the, uh, ACE). The idea is that the cylindrical shapes create turbulence in slow-moving water, oscillating up and down in electricity-generating ways. It's all the brainchild of Michael Bernitsas, a professor at the University of Michigan, and is partly funded by the US Department of Energy -- your tax dollars at work, you eco-pioneer you.<br /><br />[Via <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/12/03/vivace-vortex-hydro-energy/">inhabitat</a>]<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.engadget.com/category/gadgets/" rel="tag">Misc. Gadgets</a></p><p style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/03/vivace-generates-big-power-from-small-currents/">VIVACE generates big power from small currents</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.engadget.com">Engadget</a> on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:39:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/uom-td112108.php>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/03/vivace-generates-big-power-from-small-currents/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.engadget.com/forward/1390309/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/03/vivace-generates-big-power-from-small-currents/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>

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