Alternative Energy: Tapping into the power of the sea brought to a halt by David Cameron in Britain

In Great Britain and other European countries, companies are preparing to use the energy of ocean waves and tides to produce electricity. The UK is hoping to produce as much as 5 percent of its electricity needs with tidal power plants.

Great Britain had hoped to soon be able to take the global lead in tapping the power of tides and produce clean energy. This single power plant was expected to cover 5 percent of the country's electricity needs by providing 8.6 gigawatts of CO2-free electricity, the equivalent of about eight nuclear power plants -- but without the pesky waste.

The tidal range at the mouth of the Severn, Britain's largest river, is 15 meters. The previous British Labour government of Gordon Brown had wanted to put this enormous force to use with its Severn Barrage project. The barrage was planned to hold back water at high tide like a dam, and 216 giant turbines -- each about 9 meters in diameter -- and to be powered up as the water ebbed.

Tidal power could also be put to good use in Germany, argues Kai-Uwe Graw, a professor for hydraulic engineering at the University of Leipzig. Graw says sufficient flow velocities -- around three meters per second is optimal -- can be found on parts of the island of Sylt near the German-Danish borner.

Graw began raising awareness about tidal power's potential back in the 1990s. In his opinion, tidal power plants can easily be compatible with coastal conservation efforts. One benefit is that the facilities extract some of the energy from tides, which could help to reduce the kind of beach and coastal erosion that has been a major problem for Germany on North Sea islands like Sylt in recent years.

Unfortunately the new British Conservative government of David Cameron sounded the death knell for the world's largest tidal energy project – to be built across the Severn estuary between Somerset and south Wales – when it recently ruled out the use of public funding for this, what they considered,  controversial euro 23B plan.

The announcement obviously pleased some environmentalists, who were worried about the impact on bird life in the estuary, but others say such spending cuts made a mockery of David Cameron's pledge to be the "greenest government ever".

For more: EU-Digest