OTEC matters 2015

For mankind as a whole, and in many respects, the world is becoming a better place each year. In both rich and poor countries the standard of living has improved steadily for a very long time. This progress has a serious drawback, the negative effects on Earth’s climate. It is clear that the only way we can live sustainably is by consuming much less. However, this is not enough: there is an undeniable need for new energy sources. As the world’s population grows, many countries will also face more severe shortages of food and of fresh, disease-free water. Most developing countries are situated in tropical regions and are therefore hit hard by increasing tropical storms and similar weather-based disasters, adding to these problems. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology has been proven to be an ideal candidate for addressing and resolving all of these problems for small island developing states (SIDS), and a few months ago, the EU set aside€72 million euros for constructing OTEC plants outside Martinique. Built on a much larger scale, OTEC can, as the only technology known to man, supply the world with its total energy and fresh water needs, increase seafood production many times over, and cooling off parts of the sea surface when they become too hot – all this without any atmospheric emissions. Thus, it is with great excitement that this very first issue of the only journal dedicated to OTEC is being published. The publication covers many facets of OTEC and related matters, such as OTEC technology, sustainability including gender and other social studies, renewable energy, marine biology, metallurgy, and research on developing countries. The publication is aimed at two different audiences, scientists directly or indirectly involved with OTEC technology, and a more diverse group of people consisting of scientists from non-technical fields, industry people, politicians, investors, educators, and more. This volume is published as part of the publication series of the University of Boras, a progressive Swedish university with a high interest in and knowledge about sustainability.