Obviously cost/benefit assessment would be a part of new technology development. And one would expect anything with moving parts would need replacements.
Just as existing energy technology equipment requires regular parts replacements. Hydroelectric generators,steam turbines, boiler components, drills, pumps, refineries, just to name a few.
Naturally cost benefits would be directly related to the cost of existing legacy fossil fuel systems. Same thing applies to the tar sands projects in Canada, which have now become quite profitable in light of the gigantic increases in fossil fuel consumption.
For those of us who are energy bulls, the prospects are quite interesting, indeed. It also remains to be seen whether wave-action energy generation is environmentally sound. I venture to guess it will prove a lot more environment-friendly than the stripping of the tar sands, the mining of coal, or the drilling pumping, refining and burning of fossil fuel, a volatile, corrosive material, itself. |
