Par Nelly Sallibartan (Collège Germaine Tillion (91)) le 04 mai 2010, 21:53 - documents 5th form
Most of the British electricity comes from huge power stations across the UK.
They're
mainly powered by coal or oil, but there are many other ways of
producing power.
A reporter from the BBC went to Edinburgh in Scotland where experts
are developing a new cleaner method of making electricity - using the
power of the sea.
They've been nicknamed 'sea snakes' because
they're really long and winding and they create electricity from the
ocean's waves.
Politicians there have given the go
ahead to launch a number of power stations that sit on sea.
A
collection of giant metal tubes sit on the surface of the water, and as
the waves hit them, they move up and down.
That movement is
converted into electricity which is sent back to shore through large
cables that sit on the surface of the seabed.
The project is still in its early stages, with engineers in Edinburgh
putting the final touches to the wave machines before they are sent out
to work in the North Sea.
Once they're in place, experts reckon
each wave machine could generate enough power to run 500 homes.
Watch his video.
He even managed to walk
inside one of the giant metal tubes which was really bizarre.
Inside
the wave machine it was really dark and all he could hear was the echo
of my voice.
There were lots of computers and wires all over the
place and he had to be really careful wherever I stood.
Filming
down there was pretty tough, but it was SO exciting to see how the power
of the ocean could one day produce lots of electricity that will
eventually be used by us in our homes in dry land.