Technologies to utilize renewable energy such as solar, wind,
geothermal, and biomass sources have attracted great attention
recently. The large scale chemical energy stored as the salinity
difference between seawater and freshwater is another renewable
source which can be harvested. The major components of the
global water cycle involve distillation of water from oceans by
evaporation, precipitation, and collection of this freshwater in
rivers, lakes, and aquifers, with mixing of freshwater and salt water
in estuaries. Solar energy drives this cycle, creating a significant
salinity difference between seawater and freshwater. The entropic
energy created by the difference in water salinities is normally
dissipated when river water flows into the sea. This reduction in
free energy due to the mixing is estimated at 2.2 kJ of free energy
per liter of freshwater
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