About Brian Polagye, Contributor to “Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies” – Hydrokinetics

The University of Washington’s Dr. Brian Polagye contributed to the book’s chapter on hydrokinetics.

His work focuses on responsibly harnessing the kinetic energy in moving water, in particular, developing a better understanding of the practically recoverable resource for tidal streams. He says, “There is no one energy solution that gets you all the way there. I mean, you wouldn’t legitimately expect to replace all the power we currently consume with a single source like in-stream river hydrokinetics. That being said, I think that river, tidal, wave, ocean current, all of these can make a valuable contribution, either nationally or regionally, to the electric grid. So I think it’s important not to discard an idea simply because it doesn’t solve all of our problems.”