Wave Power
Last week we talked about the small-town tradition of greeting neighbors having the power to transform your neighborhood. One component is a simple wave. I feel like we need to dwell on that a little longer. So please, Hold that Thought, and ponder this:
Did you really understand the power of a wave before 2020?
Me, either.
In the year of our seclusion, many of us discovered things about the world we hadn’t valued as much as we should. Commonplace things that we never realized hold so much power—
a hug, a handshake, the touch of another person,
the freedom to gather together,
a smile,
a wave.
In the global search for renewable energy, perhaps you’ve heard of Wave Power. If not, Google it. According to Britannica.com, it’s the term given to the electrical energy generated by harnessing the up-and-down motion of ocean waves.
While technology has not overcome the myriad challenges of safely and cost-effectively harnessing and transporting the energy generated by ocean waves, Wikipedia claims that the average annual power density of the waves off a coast like San Francisco’s is 25 kilowatts per square meter. Twenty-five times the power density of a square meter of photovoltaic solar panels or winds blowing at 26 miles per hour.
When you look it up, you’ll find all kinds of formulas for how that energy level extrapolates depending on the height and length of the surface wave crest.
If you are into science and math, I think you will find the possibilities conveyed by those formulas to be inspirational. How many waves are produced by the oceans on our planet? Hour after hour, day after day? Is wave power part of the answer to our quest for renewable energy?
For those who don’t want to dive into formulas or technical vocabulary, let me put it another way. If we could safely harvest and transport the energy of the waves off U.S. coastlines, we’d have enough power for 10 kilowatt hours of energy per day for every person in the country. Or at least, that’s what I found in my brief foray into Wikipedia. What did you find?
Still not getting a charge from this?
Okay, let’s look at the kind of energy created by the simple motion of a hand waving back and forth.
It’s not as hard to harness as the power of an ocean wave. It has no negative effects on the environment or the wildlife. And instead of being extremely difficult and costly to maintain, the more it’s used, the stronger its apparatus becomes. To top it off, the energy produced is manifested within and transported by one of the most important vessels in the world.
The human heart.
We saw endless examples of this type of wave power on the Internet in 2020. Video after video of a wave transforming loneliness into smiles and tears of relief and hope.
The power is in the connection.
Have you been on the receiving end of Wave Power? I have.
The waves of all the people who participated in the drive-by celebration of my retirement from my other career. The waves of my students when I see them at the grocery store. The enthusiastic wave of my neighbor last week. The waves of the people who drive past me when I’m out for my morning walk. Our 16-month-old granddaughter waving to us on our video chat.
Maybe the energy I’m describing isn’t truly scientific. It’s not easily measurable, as far as I know. But it is observable. And you can definitely reproduce it.
Furthermore, it regenerates itself, with the possibility of multiplying rather than decreasing every time it’s used.
And it manifests itself in the warmth radiating into, and out from, the human heart.
Maybe you haven’t felt that lately.
Well, possibly the best characteristic of this type of wave energy is that you can manufacture it yourself. Try it. Wave to someone and watch what happens. I suspect you’ll feel the warmth. That’s energy. And most likely, the energy they receive will be reflected in the wave they send back to you.
Feel it?
So will they.
And maybe, just maybe, it won’t stop there.
If you wave to the person riding the bus that passes you on the street corner, will they wave back? How about the elderly man sitting alone on his porch? Or the mail carrier walking through your neighborhood? The UPS guy? The traffic cop? The person holding the SLOW sign all day long in the sun for the road construction company? What happens if they all pass it on?
Now, that’s inspiring. Will the power of a wave become part of the answer to the quest for goodwill among all people?
