Question

Differences in surface water and deep water temperature can be utilized for power generation. It is proposed to construct a cyclic heat engine that will operate near Hawaii, where the ocean temperature is 20°C near the surface and 5°C at some depth. What is the possible thermal efficiency of such a heat engine?

Answer 1

T_H = 20°C = 293.2 K; T_L = 5°C = 278.2 K

This is a very low efficiency so it has to be done on a very large scale to be economically feasible and then it will have some environmetal impact.