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--- Water Wars


OTEC solves water wars

Choi, 08 (12/12/08, Charles Q., Live Science, “The Energy Debates: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion”, http://www.livescience.com/3155-energy-debates-ocean-thermal-energy-conversion.html)

Most of the planet is covered by the oceans, and they absorb a staggering amount of energy from the sun each day. Ocean thermal energy conversion, or OTEC, taps into this energy to produce electricity. Ocean thermal energy conversion relies on the fact that water near the surface is heated by sunlight



while seawater deep in the dark is much colder. OTEC plants use warm surface water to heat ammonia or some other fluid that boils at a low temperature. The resulting gas is used to drive turbines that produce electricity. The gas is then cooled by cold water pumped up from the ocean depths and the resulting fluid is recycled to help generate power. As OTEC relies on temperature differences, it works best in the tropics, where the surface water is hottest. As long as the temperature of surface water and the deep water differs by roughly 36 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), an OTEC system can generate significant amounts of power. The idea for ocean thermal energy conversion was originally proposed in 1881 by French physicist Jacques-Arsene d'Arsonval. The first OTEC plant was later built in Cuba in 1930 and produced 22 kilowatts of power, enough to supply roughly two typical modern households. Although a handful of OTEC plants were created following the oil crisis of the 1970s, funding for them dwindled after the price of oil dropped, and none are now operating. Still, rising fuel costs have revived interest in these devices. In September the U.S. Department of Energy awarded its first grant for OTEC in years. Pros If less than one-tenth of 1 percent of all the solar energy trapped in the oceans could be converted into electric power , it would supply more than 20 times the total electricity the United States consumes every day, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "It could easily supply all the energy we wanted," said Terry Penney, a lab program manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. "The process is very low efficiency, just 2 or 3 or 4 percent, but all that energy's free." Unlike wind and solar power, OTEC can provide constant power that utilities can depend on any time of day. The electricity it produces could also be used to drive chemical reactions that generate fuel such as hydrogen, ammonia or methanol, Penney added. It might especially benefit island communities or military outposts that rely heavily on imported fuel. Depending on how OTEC plants are set up, they could provide copious amounts of drinkable freshwater, Penney said. Also, the deep seawater that OTEC plants suck upward is naturally loaded with nutrients from all the organic matter that sunk down from the surface, which could be used to benefit aquaculture farms. "Experiments done in Hawaii showed lobsters and salmon grew much faster with this nutrient-rich water," he explained.

The impact is global power wars

Rasmussen, 4/11/11 (Erik, CEO, Monday Morning, Founder, Green Growth Leader, “Prepare for the Next Conflict: Water Wars”, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-rasmussen/water-wars_b_844101.html)

We are terrifyingly fast consuming one of the most important and perishable resources of the planet -- our water. Global water use has tripled over the last 50 years. The World Bank reports that 80 countries now have water shortages with more than 2.8 billion people living in areas of high water stress. This is expected to rise to 3.9 billion -- more than half of the world's population -- by 2030 in a 'business as usual'-scenario. The status as of today is sobering: the planet is facing a 'water bankruptcy' and we are facing a gloomy future where the fight for the 'blue gold' is king. The growing water scarcity is a primary driver for insecurity, instability and conflicts and is currently setting the stage for future water wars -- unless global action is taken. This was the main message from a report released last month from the US Senate "Avoiding Water Wars: Water Scarcity and Central Asia's Growing Importance for Stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan". The report warned of coming water wars in Central and South Asia due to water scarcity and predicted that it "will be felt all over the world".

2nc Water Wars


The counterplan solves water wars

OTEC, not date cited (Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation, “Future Initiatives”, http://www.otecorporation.com/index.php/future_strategic_initiatives.html)
Fresh Water Production The associated production of large quantities of fresh water is one of the great attendant benefits of both Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants and Seawater District Cooling (SDC) facilities. An OTEC plant can produce up to 800,000 gallons per day of fresh water per Megawatt (MW) of installed gross electric power capacity. Thus, a 5MW OTEC facility could potentially produce as much as 4 million gallons of fresh drinking water each day. Fresh water production in conjunction with OTEC and SDC systems is also environmentally superior to traditional water production methods utilizing local surface water sources to feed the desalination units. This environmental advantage arises from the more efficient mult-use of the source water, as well as the extreme dilution of brine (water containing large amounts of salt), thus rendering such brine discharge concentrations nearly undetectable and harmless to the environment. With the world’s demand for fresh water growing rapidly, the economic opportunities and humanitarian benefits of this technology are substantial. Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation stands ready to meet that growing demand.



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