Important Innovations

New Innovation - Floating Forests Protecting Vulnerable Coastlines Source: University of Queensland Dissipating Wind and Wave Damage This is new innovation from Australia designed to protect coastline areas from wind and wave damage during natural disasters like hurricanes.  Civil engineers at the University of Queensland have designed and patented what they call "Floating Forests".  The structure is a floating concrete breakwater topped with a windbreaker.  The breakwater dissipates the energy of the oncoming waves and the windbreaker of "trees" is composed of 65 foot tall tubes of concrete and plastic that reduce the force of the wind.  The structure is a half mile long and is specifically designed for coastal areas that get hard hit by hurricanes/cyclones.  For more details, go to my fellow journalist Ed Kane's blog at  Important Innovations Collection: Floating 'Forests' Protecting Shores : New Innovation from Australia Source:  Universi

Huge, Industrial-Scale Wave Power Project Just Announced in Italy Source:  Wave Power Stock Image Renewable Energy from the Force of Waves Eni, the Italian oil and gas energy company, along with the power grid group Terna, shipbuilder Fincantieri and state lending agency CDP just announced their plans to launch a huge wave energy power project.  They call it industrial scale.  It's composed of wave power stations and they say the application is immediate.  For more on this breaking news, go to Important Innovations Collection: Italian Wave Power Renewable Energy : Industrial-Scale Renewable Energy Project off Italy Source:  Waves off coast of Italy New Wave Power Stations Italian oil and gas ...

Rogue Waves: Becoming More Extreme But Less Frequent Source:  NOAA  Images from Huge Wave UK's University of Southampton's New Data Research UK researchers have documented that highly damaging, rogue waves are becoming more extreme.  But they're occurring less often.  For the first time, scientists have used long term data from a wide expanse of oceans to understand how these rare and highly damaging waves develop, occur and behave. They are a major force of destruction for coastal communities when they hit without notice as a tsunami and also as huge, flooding waves that overcome ships and coastal areas. New Big Data on Very Big Waves The UK team examined 20 years of data from sensor enabled buoys from Seattle to San Diego. They work in conjunction with the National Oceanography Centre.  They found that the rogue waves go up to 30 meters and usually come in calm seas.  The waves are much more frequent in the winter and in calm sea conditions.  Their innovative