Engineers' dreams and fossil energy replacement schemes can come true. Man has been tapping the energy of the sea to provide power for his industries for centuries. Tidal energy combined with that of waves and marine winds rank among those most successfully put the work. Large scale plants are capital intensive but smaller ones, particularly built in China, have proven profitable. Since the initiation of the St Malo project in France, similar projects have gone into active service where methods have been devised to cut down on costs, new types of turbines developed and cost competitiveness considerably improved. Tidal power has enormous potential. The book reviews recent progress in extracting power from the ocean, surveys the history of tidal power harnessing and updates a prior publication by the author.

From the reviews:

"This work by geoscientists Charlier and Finkl ? is a comprehensive survey of state-of-the-art activities related to extracting useful energy from the ocean. ? discusses many ancient and modern designs, which are based mostly on capturing tidal flows. The authors also explore the theoretical attractiveness of wave energy, as well as exploitation of the ocean's temperature differential at different depths. ? This volume includes many illustrations and 94 pages of 'annexes,' including an extensive bibliography ? . Summing Up: Recommended. All levels of readership." (J. C. Comer, Choice, Vol. 47 (1), September, 2009)