Cavusoglu Ahmet-Hamdi, Chen Xi, Gentine Pierre, Sahin Ozgur
Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York, 10027, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York, 10027, USA.
Nat Commun. 2017 Sep 26;8(1):617. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w.
About 50% of the solar energy absorbed at the Earth's surface drives evaporation, fueling the water cycle that affects various renewable energy resources, such as wind and hydropower. Recent advances demonstrate our nascent ability to convert evaporation energy into work, yet there is little understanding about the potential of this resource. Here we study the energy available from natural evaporation to predict the potential of this ubiquitous resource. We find that natural evaporation from open water surfaces could provide power densities comparable to current wind and solar technologies while cutting evaporative water losses by nearly half. We estimate up to 325 GW of power is potentially available in the United States. Strikingly, water's large heat capacity is sufficient to control power output by storing excess energy when demand is low, thus reducing intermittency and improving reliability. Our findings motivate the improvement of materials and devices that convert energy from evaporation.The evaporation of water represents an alternative source of renewable energy. Building on previous models of evaporation, Cavusoglu et al. show that the power available from this natural resource is comparable to wind and solar power, yet it does not suffer as much from varying weather conditions.
地球表面吸收的太阳能约50%用于驱动蒸发，为影响风能和水能等各种可再生能源的水循环提供动力。最近的进展表明，我们已初步具备将蒸发能转化为功的能力，但对这种资源的潜力却知之甚少。在此，我们研究自然蒸发可提供的能量，以预测这种普遍存在的资源的潜力。我们发现，开阔水面的自然蒸发可提供与当前风能和太阳能技术相当的功率密度，同时将蒸发水损失减少近一半。我们估计美国潜在可利用的功率高达325吉瓦。引人注目的是，水的高比热容足以在需求较低时通过储存多余能量来控制功率输出，从而减少间歇性并提高可靠性。我们的研究结果促使人们改进从蒸发中获取能量的材料和装置。水的蒸发是可再生能源的另一种来源。基于之前的蒸发模型，卡武索格鲁等人表明，这种自然资源可提供的功率与风能和太阳能相当，但受天气变化的影响较小。
