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Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource

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  • Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu

    (Columbia University)

  • Xi Chen

    (Columbia University
    Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York
    Department of Chemical Engineering, The City College of New York)

  • Pierre Gentine

    (Columbia University)

  • Ozgur Sahin

    (Columbia University
    Columbia University)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu & Xi Chen & Pierre Gentine & Ozgur Sahin, 2017. "Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-00581-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00581-w
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    Cited by:

    1. Fang, Ranran & Luo, Chongfu & Pan, Zhonglin & Li, Junchang & Xu, Fulei & Zheng, Jiangen & Mao, Xuefeng & Wang, Xiaofa & Li, Rui & Wei, Yongbin & Chen, Yijing & Vorobyev, Anatoliy Y., 2024. "Efficient harvesting of renewable evaporative energy from atmospheric air through hierarchical nano/microscale shaping of air-water interface," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    2. Gong, Biyao & Yang, Huachao & Wu, Shenghao & Tian, Yikuan & Yan, Jianhua & Cen, Kefa & Bo, Zheng & Ostrikov, Kostya (Ken), 2021. "Phase change material enhanced sustained and energy-efficient solar-thermal water desalination," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    3. Fan, Zeng & Zhang, Yaoyun & Pan, Lujun & Ouyang, Jianyong & Zhang, Qian, 2021. "Recent developments in flexible thermoelectrics: From materials to devices," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Qiang, Ziyi & Cui, Peilin & Tian, Chenyun & Liu, Runkeng & Shen, Hong & Liu, Zhenyu, 2023. "Enhancing power generation for carbon black film device based on optimization of liquid capillary flow," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    5. Ariel Ma & Jian Yu & William Uspal, 2021. "Generating Electricity from Natural Evaporation Using PVDF Thin Films Incorporating Nanocomposite Materials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, January.
    6. Darjan Podbevšek & Yeojin Jung & Maheen K. Khan & Honghui Yu & Raymond S. Tu & Xi Chen, 2024. "The role of water mobility on water-responsive actuation of silk," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    7. Fatima Mustafa & Saadia Zia & Dr. Umbreen Khizar, 2021. "Impact of Environmental Concerns on Environmental Attitudes among University Employees," iRASD Journal of Economics, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 3(3), pages 251-260, December.
    8. Xiaomeng Liu & Toshiyuki Ueki & Hongyan Gao & Trevor L. Woodard & Kelly P. Nevin & Tianda Fu & Shuai Fu & Lu Sun & Derek R. Lovley & Jun Yao, 2022. "Microbial biofilms for electricity generation from water evaporation and power to wearables," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    9. Emily Birch & Ben Bridgens & Meng Zhang & Martyn Dade-Robertson, 2021. "Bacterial Spore-Based Hygromorphs: A Novel Active Material with Potential for Architectural Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, April.

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