The power of the ocean could soon be used to power homes in the U.S.as scientists prepare to test an untapped form of renewable energy. The U.S. Department of Energy has invested$ 112.5 million to advance the commercial readiness of wave energy technologies by harnessing the powerful waves of the Pacific Northwest. The first-ever facility, equipped with open water testing is set to begin operations off a seaside Oregon town next summer, Burke Hales, a professor of oceanography at Oregon State Un