Inventor builds Wave Generator at Home
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 01. 8.07
Inventor Christopher (he keeps his last name secret and fudges his patent numbers) has built a working wave generator, right down to the bicycle wheel flywheel and home-made generator. He says "There is unlimited ocean energy to be captured and it’s happening all over the world right now. It will fix a lot of global problems. Burning and refining fossil fuel is polluting the air we breathe the water we drink and the fish we eat, not to mention the oil spills that devastate our coastlines. Nuclear energy is a quick fix that could ruin the earth for future generations.Burning down the Amazon to plant other plants we can burn [ethanol and bio diesel] kind of defeats the purpose of trying to reduce CO2 because the Amazon is what will turn the CO2 back into Oxygen. The waves in the ocean can't be used up. We humans can save our planet if we can CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK !" ::Swellfuel via ::Make
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The energy of the oceans is not limitless. Tidal energy and wave energy are produced by the gravitational interaction between the earth and the moon and sun. Pulling energy from those will slow the earth's rotation and its solar orbital speed. This will lead to longer days and nights and will deteriorate the orbit of the earth, leading to a decrease in the distance between the earth and the sun.
The only truly safe method of getting energy is solar since it relies on energy that would otherwise be wasted.
That's if you want to get really, really technical.
In regards to the first comment: I'm no expert, but I think your logic is flawed. First of all, this generates gets its power from waves, not tides. Waves are primarily formed due to wind, which is primarily caused by the uneven heating of the earth by the sun.
Even if this WERE a tidal generator, it wouldn't slow anything down. The gravity already affects the water, we are just harnessing the energy in the water. By doing so, the energy we are taking away is some of the momentum in the water, and thus its impact on the shores.
Now, solar power we don't collect isn't "wasted" any more than wave or tidal power. Instead of being turned into electricity, it is used in photosynthesis, it is turned into heat, or it is reflected into outer space.
Just FYI: My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek when I wrote that.
But tidal friction does slow the earth's rotation. 65 million years ago, the day was only 18 hours long, and the moon was significantly closer.
Harnessing the tide isn't any worse than harnessing the wind; there are already TONS of things that slow down the tide (biggest one: the coasts of the continents!) and things that slow down the wind (trees, mountains, hills, buildings).
Whatever power we get from them is insignificant in comparison..
to ug333,
You are very wrong about the length of the day at the end of the Cretaceous (65 million years ago). At this time the solar day was 23.6 hours. To get back to an 18 hour solar day you'd have to visit Earth approximately 1.1 billion years ago (http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/9905049).
Tapping into wave energy would have extremely insignifcant links to slowing the spin of Earth.
All i have to say to this guy is good job man. Keep up the good work and start investing in a more professional / mass produced product. shoot, people could put these in their pools, atleast they would charge up a battery to run their pump for later use :p
Thank You Treehugger, my web sight and youtube got 5000 hits in one day. My intention with my invention is to show the world how we can save our planet. One day I realized that just trying to be conservative would only delay our extinction. To live past this industrial revolution we must change. Can one guy working in his garage effect this change, time will only tell.
Christopher [ the inventor of swellfuel]