July/August 2010 Parking - 46

Ocean Tides Power New York Garage
By Charlie Munn, CAPP CPP ,

Getting It RITE:

You’ve surely heard of solar power and wind power… but moon power? The “Motorgate” in New York City (NYC) may have been the world’s first tidal-powered car park. The facility, located on NYC’s Roosevelt Island, was the scene of a pilot project to determine the feasibility of generating electricity from turbines submerged in the adjacent East River. “During phase two of three [phases] of our Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project, we provided power to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s (RIOC) Motorgate—a parking and service garage,” says Trey Taylor, president of Verdant Power. “Phase two has been successfully completed.” Verdant Power, according to its Website, develops projects and technology with the potential to deliver clean, renewable energy

from the currents of oceans, rivers and manmade channels. The firm was established in 2000 and is based in New York City. The company’s approach marries emerging technology developers with utility industry veterans possessing advanced experience in constructing and operating hydropower electricity-generating facilities.

which generates no power at night or on cloudy days, the tides are almost always in motion. “What’s great about tidal power,” Taylor says, “is its reliability and predictability for the next 200 years.” Hydropower is hardly new, of course. The power of flowing water was harnessed centuries ago to produce energy to run grain mills and pump water for viaducts. Today, larger scale systems produce 19 percent of the world’s power, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Traditionally, hydropower installations have been deployed where gravity is the driving force: water flows downhill from mountains to the sea and this motion spins turbines to produce electric current. Verdant and other alternative energy pioneers, however, are experimenting with taming the Earth’s powerful tidal forces. The idea is deceptively simple:

Roll Tide, Roll
While the moon may be far away and only a quarter the size of the Earth, it generates a significant gravitational pull on our planet. This drag on Earth’s orbit is seen most prominently in the ocean’s tidal forces. The moon literally pulls water up and away from the Earth’s surface and drags it across our planet as it circles the Earth in orbit, producing tides. Unlike wind power, which can only produce energy when the wind is blowing, and solar power,

National Parking Association PARKING July/August 2010

July/August 2010 Parking

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