How robots could limit the environmental impact of offshore wind farms

摘要

Spending on global offshore renewable energy infrastructure over the next 10 years is expected to reach more than US$16 billion (£11.3 billion). This involves creating an extra 2.5 million kilometres of global submarine cables by 2030. To lay and secure these cables against ocean currents involves ploughing the seabed and dumping rocks and concrete "mattresses" to serve as a base for the cables - procedures which are highly disruptive to the marine ecosystem that so many creatures call home. Installing wind farms offshore requires many such high-impact procedures, which are often undertaken with little consideration of their effects on the delicately balanced ocean environment -which over three billion people rely on for their food and livelihoods.