SEAWATER AND ENERGY: A DEVELOPING INTEREST
I have a longterm and developing historical and ethnographic interest in the relationship obtained in seawater between vertical depth, temperature differentials, (deep) time, and the making of oceanic kinds of value especially from island environments.
For now, these interests are distilled principally in the processes of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), seawater air conditioning (SWAC), mariculture, and desalination.
OTEC and its attendant networked technologies of food and energy production in particular present a space for the consideration of historical cross-currents at the interface of natural and built environments. OTEC is a process restricted in potential application to mostly small, mostly tropical, islands. It also figured prominently in mid-20th century discussions of the potential contribution of renewable ocean energy to postcolonial economic development on independent terms. As such, OTEC stories might engage with efforts to rethink the operative logics and historical understandings of energy transition, small island development, and American and other empire.
For now, these interests are distilled principally in the processes of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), seawater air conditioning (SWAC), mariculture, and desalination.
OTEC and its attendant networked technologies of food and energy production in particular present a space for the consideration of historical cross-currents at the interface of natural and built environments. OTEC is a process restricted in potential application to mostly small, mostly tropical, islands. It also figured prominently in mid-20th century discussions of the potential contribution of renewable ocean energy to postcolonial economic development on independent terms. As such, OTEC stories might engage with efforts to rethink the operative logics and historical understandings of energy transition, small island development, and American and other empire.
“Makai’s Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Scale Up.” Credit: Vitafouge, Wikimedia Commons, 12 August 2019.
“View of OTEC facility at Keahole Pointe on the Kona coast of Hawaii.” Credit: State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
As a feature of these projects, I am interested in the many kinds of work that deep, cold, water does, whether chanelled toward the production of aquacultural envirnoments for coldwater fish, shellfish, and mollusks as in contemporary Hawaii and Japan, bound up in the making of other renewables projects, or circulated as a valuable base and additive for health- and wellness-focused food, cosmetics, and drinking water brands.
I have written, with Laurence Bashford, a bit about the varied political histories of seawater-based infrastructures (especially desalination) on small islands in, “Terraforming Beautiful China.” I will share more about this work in 2025.
If you’re interested in the historical or contemporary context of oceanic energy generation, especially when it moves across terrestrial and aquatic islanded environments, I’d love to talk about it.
I have written, with Laurence Bashford, a bit about the varied political histories of seawater-based infrastructures (especially desalination) on small islands in, “Terraforming Beautiful China.” I will share more about this work in 2025.
If you’re interested in the historical or contemporary context of oceanic energy generation, especially when it moves across terrestrial and aquatic islanded environments, I’d love to talk about it.
Juvenile Yezo Abalone shell hot-glued into the palm of a solar-powered tourist souvenir hula dancer.
Lato limu, foraged in the wild, for sale alongside Yezo Abalone at Big Island Abalone.