Map of the Week – Ocean energy
Today, on 29 April 2022, at the Shaping the Climate Transition event , European citizens presented their recommendations on the Climate Transition, sharing their ideas, concerns and expectations with the European Commission. The conversation revolved around what the Climate Transition looks like, according to European citizens, in terms of energy transition, sustainable mobility, and food and consumption. This event represented a key moment for citizen-engagement initiatives launched in September 2021 by the European Commission to foster an open and constructive dialogue on the Climate Transition. The objective of the event was to learn about citizens’ concerns, views and recommendations, and the trade-offs they are willing to accept for the climate transition.
One of such energy transitions is to make use of ocean energy, to harness it and turn it into electricity.
Marine energy or marine power (sometimes referred to as ocean energy, ocean power, or marine and hydrokinetic energy) refers to the energy carried by ocean waves, wind, tides, salinity and temperature differences. The movement of water in the world's oceans creates a vast store of kinetic energy, or energy in motion. This energy can be harnessed and turned into electricity to power homes, transport and industries.
he most widespread type of energy currently used at sea is wind. Wind power, in which a wind turbine converts wind into electricity, is one of the leading sustainable energy sources. As the winds at sea are more consistent and tend to blow harder, large collections of offshore windmills, known as wind farms, have the potential to generate a steady supply of clean wind energy.
Did you know you can zoom in on a region in the European Atlas of the Seas to look at the locations of both wind farms and other ocean energy projects?
Wish to know more?
- Explore the Map of the Week and zoom in to visualize wind farms locations and ocean energy project locations in your region.
- Read about the citizen-engagement initiatives launched by the European Commission in September 2021.
- Read the ‘European State of the Climate 2021 ’ report, compiled by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which analyses climate variability in 2021 in Europe and globally.
- Learn about Ocean Renewable Energy (ORE) acceptability , this are summarized results obtained through surveys and round-tables with citizens.
- Find out about Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) , the largest global network of ocean energy professionals.
- Discover the activities of the Education for climate community .
The data in this map are provided by EMODnet.