Posted 06.25.2009 at 11:51 am
3 Comments
Kite Power
Ben Sheppard, via PhysOrg.com
With the US granting wind power plant leases off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware, the UK planning to overtake nuclear power with wind in five years, and even coal loving China getting in on the act, all the talk about wind power these days has focused on offshore wind farms. However, a new study suggests that the wind power mother lode may be up in the sky, not off in the sea.
Sure, high altitude wind power isn't the newest idea in the world. Not only has the tech been around for a couple of years, but companies like Kite Gen and Sky WindPower are already trying to break into the market. However, this study is the first to identify the best spots to place the high-flying turbines.
The authors took wind speed data from across the globe, recorded at heights from 263 feet to almost 40,000 feet over the last 30 years, and calculated which regions would generate the most power. According to the study, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and New York City all sit on a goldmine of stratospheric wind power.
During the summer months, Delhi and Mumbai could also benefit from sky high turbines. But unfortunately for India, the gusts die down in the fall and spring, reducing the energy density in the atmosphere.
Right now, no country has any plans to take advantage of the wind patterns this study uncovered. But when they do, wind high altitude wind might provide enough energy to turn NYC into Riyad on the Hudson.
[via PhysOrg.com, read the study here]
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from avondale , az
thats cool an all but i wish i culda read this on my G1 pop sci app. oh wait u dnt have one!! wat the heck?? u shuld seriously make an app not a widget but an app. itd really b a good way not to miss out on good articles wen im outta town
*sigh* yes lets harness wind power for industry...but for home use the government will probably never let us develope power for single home use becasue they cannot control us thru the grid or with fuel prices. I am appalled by the degrees to which the government has manuvered us. The technology existed nearly 100 years ago for alternative power sources. Tesla proved many things were possible. Thanks to governmental scientific censorship no one else would have even think of such inventions and today many of his ideas are dismissed as theoretical nonsense.
IF you think you are always being told the truth
WAKE UP AMERICA!
We are fed lies on a daily basis..."for our own good" As an educated adult I prefer to decide for myself what is "for my own good" Please help put a stop to educational censorship write you representative make your position clear.
We have a right to the technology without governmental interference. Oversight yes, Interference no!
It's deja vu all over again. I had sketched out a rotating blade kite such as the illustration several years ago when I heard that an Australian was working on harnassing high level winds. I tried to e mail him but got no reply. My twist on it was that the tether(s ) were continuous loops turning the heavy generators on the ground,thus avoiding the problem of keeping all that weight aloft.