Introducing the energy “wave” of the future

With the long term future of the Martin Drake power plant in question, organizations big and small are looking for more efficient ways to provide energy.

Representatives from large military installations to small towns are coming together to exchange ideas on how to meet those needs.

Solar panels is just one of a number of steps that Peterson Air Force Base has taken a number of steps to be more efficient.

“(We have) 559 roofs on military housing with a capability of 2.3 megawatts,” said Fred Brooks, the Environmental Element chief.

The town of Fowler has also taken steps to reduce its energy use.

Mayor Chuck Hitchcock said, “we’ve installed basically six solar array systems.”

Hitchcock and Brooks are among many leaders trying to meet future energy needs.

There are a lot of ways to generate energy, one of them is a fairly simple looking device that could one day wind up generating a lot of energy.

Mitchell Fait is with Tsunami Power Electric Company. He said, “(it) works off of floating at the top and bottom of the wave.”

An engineer by trade, Fait is also a bit of a hobbyist. One day an idea popped into his head.

“I looked at a picture of a wave and it seemed like it was real easy. Top of the wave, bottom of the wave you should be to generate energy with that.”

Each one of the pistons moves up and down with the wave as it rolls along, generating energy.

The goal is to make models that match up with the local conditions.

“If you wanted to place this off the coast of Australia where you may find wave as high as nine meters tall, the device will easily be nine meters tall,” said Fait.

And it could be a much larger part of meeting the world’s energy needs in the future.

Conservation Colorado says the state is well on its way to meeting Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for energy conservation.