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31 Comments
- Arkyll, on 07/16/2009, -1/+19Wonderful idea!
- rusty0101, on 05/22/2009, -0/+10Interesting idea. Of course this means that every outfitted tower now needs step up/down transformers to convert the power generated by the turbine to the voltage that should be on the lines, and phase synchronization hardware to make sure that the energy harvested is used to increase the available energy on the line rather than decrease it. Neither are trivial, though also not truly formidable, but I don't see anything that looks like it would be providing that in the designs submitted. Again, I like the idea though.
- novenator, on 05/22/2009, -1/+10Ingenious!
- gamepr0, on 05/22/2009, -1/+9seriously,... had noone thought of that before?
- KatherineVolk, on 05/22/2009, -1/+9Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant
Kudos - ramilehti, on 05/22/2009, -0/+6How about about running a parallel lower voltage wire alongside the the high voltage ones?
Then having transformers where they are now. It should probably be better shielded than most wires though.
Anyway a good idea worth developing. - ripple123, on 05/22/2009, -0/+5you could do that. or just add another line for the wind power to the existing tower.
- Culyt, on 05/22/2009, -1/+5It actually doesn't make as much sense as it appears to. It's another example of faulty green 'oh it has a wind tower it must be good for the earth' thinking.
* It would probably cost less to take the money from the increased cost of these wind power towers and build a similar or even greater number of regular wind towers in a central location.
* You could choose a location that has good wind they would generate the more power. Wind turbines need to be put in places with high levels of wind, that means coastal areas, thats why many are built offshore. These power lines tend to be inland.
* Each tower would have to have the electronic stuff required to enable the wind turbine to feed back onto the grid, surge protection and so on as such each wind turbine would cost more, the only saving would be the cost of the frame for the tower and the stand for the wind turbine. Its more complicated than just plugging a wind turbine into the electricity cable.
* They would not run in some kind of 'distributed' way, the electric grid doesn't work like that. If you have solar panels on your house and there is a blackout you loose power still (unless you have an expensive inverter, and even then there are safety issues as someone could be working on a line they expect to have no power).
* Also these things require maintenance, they are much easier and cheaper to maintain in a central location where our engineers don't have to drive many km to oil ball bearings or whatever.
* You would probably do better with solar panels on top for most locations, but even then its still better to put them in one location.
These kind of ideas only make sense when wind turbines are cheap enough, right now they are not. They probably will be since it will always be cheaper to build them in bulk at a central location.
About the only thing I can say for these is they they don't ugly up the landscape (well more than a tower). Wouldn't it be better to put the cables underground? - Moralogic, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3This is one of those things where it isn't really genius, and everyone who should have thought of it but didn't is face palming themselves. There are so many things out there were common sense needs to meet with modern technology. Things like this just get overlooked too often, or else this would have been done years ago.
- estebancortez, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3Fascinating article, and truly worthy of the (all too frequently ascribed) title of 'Next Generation' technology. The integration of wind technology into already existing structures is something that has been on the cards for a long time, and something that we at the Wind Energy Association have followed with great curiosity. What I and my associates cannot understand is the disposition referenced in the article that renewable energy sources are often opposed to due to aesthetic factors (they are eye-sores or destroy the natural planes) without renewable energy before long there will be no vast natural planes nor will there be any people to enjoy these natural phenomena. We are currently undertaking research into community attitudes (both online and offline) regarding this issue of eye-sores and how best to balance further renewable energy with the dual aims of producing sustainable energy in a manner and design that is widely accepted, not just acquiesced. We have posted a thread in conjunction with companies and agencies within the energy and utilities industries on http://meettheboss.com/Discussion.aspx?discussionI ... please come and have your say so that we may all work together for a brighter and greener future created in democratic unison.
- Maxplosion, on 05/22/2009, -1/+4Awesome, I've always been a big fan of the vertical tower design. Now I'm glad to see it finally getting some well deserved attention.
- ViscidGobs, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3I think you mistaking the article for the TV show "Pimp My Ride".
- DeceasedVirus, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3I have yes and also putting a wifi repeater on every power line pole too, I just haven't made 3d models and submitted it to win something!
- hiPpymIck, on 05/22/2009, -0/+3i want them to get designers to decorate\camouflage turbines and grids
eg
if you painted the power lines sky blue
and maybe painted the top of the pylon green with brown at the bottom - like a tree
you wouldnt actually think it was trees and sky
but theyd still be way less visually intrusive - ViscidGobs, on 05/22/2009, -0/+2There is usually dedicated land surrounding high tension wires, couldn't they either place the transformers in the ground or alongside the towers. The parallel lines running DC current to an outlet where you can charge your car?
- SystemicThought, on 05/22/2009, -1/+3Cool. This is a good idea. People are especially worried about the cost of setting up the grid. However, how the power plants would toggle their production to account for wind generation will have to be determined.
- hiPpymIck, on 05/22/2009, -0/+2hope all the engineers commenting will be making contact with non tech savvy green innovators ( - seriously)
- i believe theres a tendency for designers to gloss over practical problems ( and maybe engineer dudes like popping their bubbles a bit too much - haha )
but untill theyre both involved and cooperating at every stage
you will just end up with a lot of over-optimistic greenwash *eg - TFA
and i for one have had waaay too much of it already
\rant over - rusty0101, on 05/23/2009, -0/+2Just as a reminder, the step-up transformer is the simplest component of the process. You want to step the voltage up to the voltage provided by the lines, to provide for the least loss over distance. And while DC may be attractive for charging cars, and the like, there are several reasons why you want to work with AC instead.
Primarily the output of the generators is likely to be AC. Converting to then from DC takes a hit in loss due to conversion. How big a loss is dependent upon the actual equipment doing the conversion, but it will always be there.
The one reason you might want to use DC would be to charge batteries or capacitors on site to allow you to manage the variation of load between when wind is available, and when the demand for energy exists. There may be some opportunity to place a recharge system for EV at some power line poles, however the facilities to outfit a significant percentage are likely to be unreasonably expensive.
Stringing additional wiring for a secondary voltage level is possible, however it would need to be for limited spans, and is likely to induce stresses that were not planned for the original structures. Also depending upon the variety of wiring used, spans between high tension structures may need to be supplemented. The stresses involved (wind load, weight, modification of tower for mounting supplemental insulators and so on) will need to be reviewed by the same engineering review as the modification to allow the wind power generators to be mounted to the structure in the first place.
Having seen medium tension wood poles shatter due to wind loading, I suspect that for large portions of the US infrastructure, such a retrofit is unlikely to be feasible. I don't know what the situation is for the rest of the world however. - DeceasedVirus, on 05/22/2009, -0/+2Kevin?
- theblacknight, on 05/22/2009, -0/+2It didn't occur to me quite in that way. I just imagined having a traditional turbine on top of the normal tower; it doesn't look as cool, but it's higher up so it'll generate more power.
Along with running a low voltage line so you don't need a thousand more transformers. - ooch1ll, on 05/22/2009, -2/+3The definition of innovation.
- sampath3, on 05/22/2009, -0/+1good technology!
- Hellahulla, on 05/22/2009, -1/+2I like this.
One of the few good ideas posted on inhabitat.com. Normally they champion 200 floor buildings with trees growing out of the floors. - Rudegar, on 05/22/2009, -1/+2what about wind turbines on the side of bridges?
of cause it would cause jumpers to get sliced and diced :O - d66kid, on 05/22/2009, -1/+2Why didn't anyone come up with this before? Pure genius!
- qerplonk, on 05/22/2009, -1/+2Great! Now all we need to do is re-engineer the sun so it makes the wind blow all the time and we're SET.
- funkywood, on 05/24/2009, -0/+1The best idea is the double/triple helix vertical axis turbines and that has been thought of before but architects need to start using it. Stick shiny ones all the way down each corner of big skyscrapers where there is naturally a cyclone effect from the difference in pressures on each side. Localised energy where it's needed right there, no transmission needed and would look cool. Think of the swirling plastic bag in American Beauty.
- zoom1928, on 05/22/2009, -3/+3Exactly. That's why this idea was abandoned over thirty years ago.
- zoom1928, on 05/22/2009, -4/+2Copying a 30+ year-old design that is flawed and will not work is innovation? Do you work for Microsoft?
- nigelmansell, on 05/22/2009, -5/+3Great, with this simple design, we has solved the world's energy problem. Just build more high voltage power trasmission wires.
- JDLamb88, on 05/22/2009, -6/+1Nice, and they can slap some solar panels on the top too, and maybe they could ride along the power lines to get maximum sunlight. And also dispense bacon.
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