Article ID: CBB270304954

Putting oceans to work: Tidal energy in the USA and the USSR, 1930–1970 (2021)

unapi

Felix Frey (Author)


History and Technology
Volume: 37
Issue: 4
Pages: 487-504


Publication Date: 2021
Edition Details: Issue Theme: Historicizing renewables
Language: English

Aspirations to convert the movement of ebb and flow into electricity have a long and checkered history. Proposals for tidal power plants at Passamaquoddy Bay (Maine/New Brunswick) and in the Soviet Murmansk region emerged in the 1920s and were discussed well into the 1960s. Considering that tidal power had to compete with established energy sources like coal, oil, and conventional hydropower, the longevity of discussions about the two tidal power projects is surprising. Their proponents tapped into questions of energy independence, economic progress, and international cooperation to keep the technology in the race. However, the decade-long negotiations did not result in the construction of major tidal power plants. The technology’s geographical immobility (the plants needed to be constructed where high tides coincided with a suitable coastline) and doubts about economic rationality halted tidal dreams both in the USA and in the USSR.

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Associated with

Article Ute Hasenöhrl; Patrick Kupper (2021) Historicizing renewables: Issues and challenges. History and Technology (pp. 397-410). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB270304954/

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Authors & Contributors
Ruediger, Mogens
Peter Holm Jacobsen
Trine Pallesen
John Cropper
Jean Gecit
Karl-Erik Michelsen
Journals
Historical Archaeology
Science as Culture
Publishers
Aalborg University Press
Harvard University Press
Concepts
Infrastructure
Energy resources and technologies
Technology and society
Development of technology; change in technology
Energy consumption
Technology and politics
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
19th century
Early modern
Enlightenment
20th century, late
Places
United States
Maine (U.S.)
Denmark
Soviet Union
Africa
Kola Peninsula
Institutions
Copenhagen. Universitet
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