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To Anonymous and other nay-sayers,

Every new technology has its drawbacks, but OTEC's problems look like they can be handled. The biggest question is not finding a solution but finding a cost-effective solution.

The historical pattern, which I hope we see broken for OTEC and other renewable sources of energy, is this: Fossil fuels get cheap and research shuts down until the next price surge. People now recognize that the price of oil will rise when the economy improves, so they are more willing to invest in alternatives that are more expensive at the present time.

Past and present energy "boondoggles" (to the nay-sayers of their time) that "panned out" or are likely to pan out, in part thanks to heavy government investment in research:

• nuclear fission -- still concerns about waste disposal, safety, and proliferation. The safety issue may be overstated, but it still represents a political obstacle
• wind -- the fastest growing renewable source worldwide. Government funding more in areas of incentives than research
• solar -- also growing and becoming cost effective in many applications
• "clean" coal -- another technology that seems to have no insurmountable problems but cost-effective CO₂-capture has not yet been demonstrated

One that hasn't worked, but still attracts researchers:

• nuclear fusion

The differences between boondoggles and boons are often seen only in retrospect. A lot of entrepreneurs are willing to risk their time and money on OTEC at the moment. If they are right, their payoffs will be substantial and deserved.

Fred Bortz -- Science and technology books for young readers (www.fredbortz.com) and Science book reviews (www.scienceshelf.com)