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48 Comments
- awesomename, on 10/11/2007, -0/+26Linda: I'm sure those windmills will keep them cool.
Morbo: WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY! - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15Great idea. More ideas like this, please, mankind.
- geekchic, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14There could also be a secondary power generator in the base of the unit to tap into the wave energy, which should be significant in the sorts of locations they seem to be thinking about.
Not something to be added in the prototype, but maybe could be considered for the future evolutions. - Aensland, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6...for the same reason people don't go around blowing up power stations now. They're even right smack in the middle of civilisation, not out at sea; other than the odd graffiti-coated wall, I don't see anyone blowing those up.
- Tias, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5If one of these things break its mooring, I suppose they'll drag it back to where it belong. Oil Riggs are floating too, it breaking loose is hardly the biggest risk.
- TGun, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I saw a program on the discovery channel about this. Apparently there's a test farm already in place of about 30 windmills. Seems promising!
- cliffski, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I'd rather terrorists knocked over my local windmill, then blew up my local nuclear power plant.
- chris9902, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3upOxWWsY
- kungfumaniac, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Didn't these guys see the SeaQuest series finale?
Somebody get Roy Scheider on the phone or we're all doomed. - dusanmal, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Winds are sometimes stronger away from the land,... Sometimes land mass causes wind to increase and the closer locations are better. Whichever the case, these things are not ugly and the temporary fashion should not be deciding factor where they are. (People living during the Eiffel tower construction considered it an abomination, yet it is now all "fame and beauty"). Something gives me pollution free energy: it is beautiful just for that fact, do build one close to me.
- oblivinated, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2They're doing that in Manhattan, look it up, it's actually pretty interesting.
- Chewie67, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2The Exxon Valdese killed far more birds than a windmill ever will.
So does the pollution from burning coal. - dacheetah, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Australia should seriously consider this also, to the south of Aus, east of Tasmania, there is an area with winds known as the "Roaring Fourties". All day, every day constant strong wind, always in roughly the same direction.
- LostOnion, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1with very long extension cords.
- spoonyfork, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Why don't they combine these devices with wave energy gathering technology?
- cfuse, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Animal rights activists = stupid turds. Throw them into the blades!
- SuperCujo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Rent-a-cops?
Are you suggesting that rent a cops would change the mind of someone looking to blow a power station up? - chaosmachine, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1how do you get the power to shore?
- cfuse, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Don't forgot the friendly security staff (and these days, usually military support on anti-terrorist squads as well) armed with machine guns.
- wang1011, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1“It’s attractive to have windmills out at sea, out of sight of land, away from birds’ migration routes."
what about...fish? - chris9902, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1no it will be "windmills using DRM to rotate blades. ***** RIAA suck my dick" "title says it all"
- LostOnion, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I think you posted this to the wrong article.
- RabidFurby, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1They could maybe put a fan like thing at the bottom of this for more energy production if possible.
- fairfax, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1There is a couple of guys in Texas (yeah, THAT Texas, the home of Big Oil) that are trying to do something really similar to this. They are recycling oil rig platforms and attaching large windmills to them. I believe that the energy is transferred to chore via underwater cables.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.02/wind.html - Chewie67, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I love these ideas.
What I don't love is that the story always goes " is PLANNING TO..."
This has been discussed for decades now. When will they actually happen? Let's get to it already, and stop just talking about it... - dadimwit, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1So do these windmills have lights on them to keep ships from running into them at night? What happens when there's no wind at night to power the lights?
- wildcattdw, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Oh lord enough with the damn BIRDS. The wind turbines are not that much of a factor, I want to say none, but a dead bird found here and there, OBVIOUSLY from getting smacked with a blade, has happened, and I don't want to get lampooned as a naysayer.
- abramsv, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1more pics and also info on their installation:
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/01/wind-power-in-stormy-waters.html - Zippo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's dead, Jim
- Tsujigiri, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1They really missed a great opportunity by not putting wave harnessing generators on the submerged bases of those. That way you would be getting wind power and also hydro power from each unit.
- xxl3w, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Do you hibernate for 50 years at a time? Someone will find SOMETHING wrong with this. "it disrupts the water, causing stress on nearby plankton; therefore, it's indirectly killing whales. WHALES ARE SO CUTE"
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Entrepreneurs--I bet you you can do a deal with the DOD to do indoor water-based windmill testing at the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Maryland:
http://www.dt.navy.mil/hyd/fac/ - rizla420, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Alright, we'll I guess i'll throw out my idea that had been brewing. Instead of using a stationary floating platform, why not use mobile barges and install an array of wind turbines. Now the question is how do you store that energy you create. Answer: Convert the energy into hydrogen. It is a 'battery' after all and not a fuel source. So to put everything together, you create a mobile array of wind turbines. You monitor the oceans for where large areas of low pressure and High pressure interact. Ideally and area with very packed iso bars. Park your fleet of barges and move them along the path of the weather systems harnessing the max wind power being generated by the pressure differences. Tweak you gear ratio to account for the strength of the wind to not blow your turbines. Float the barges back to a port and unload the hydrogen into the grid. Profit. $
Now the catch, i havent worked out the math, its way over my head, but what i can see as the major point of contention is how much energy is being spent to move the barges into position and back to port for unloading. If the sum total of the energy output is less than the energy harnessed, then its good to go. Any thoughts? - Error601, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Nothing dependent on weather is a feasible alternative. It can only be a supplemental source up to about 10% of load. People don't seem to want to hear that but that's the science.
- hippy77, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Great idea. Surely no one can whinge about this one...?
- mydave, on 08/02/2008, -0/+0I think this is great idea.
http://www.crestonepeak.org/
http://www.devserve.co.za/
http://www.qbiogene.com - arndt85, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0http://www.ooobanana.com
- SuperCujo, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1"And when one of these things breaks its mooring and enters the shipping lanes?"
You goi and pick it up. How hard is that? - goneale, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0In Long Island, NY LIPA the power company is also working on a project but face some opposition because it will destroy the scenery according to opponents. It's supposed to be 3 miles out to sea though: http://www.lipower.org/cei/offshore.html
- VitriolAndAngst, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0WE have a good society in America, for the most part because people DON'T randomly hurt each other.
This should be a little more obvious to all the "Government is merely for protecting property crowd" -- which isn't what keeps our society peaceful -- it's opportunity and community that keeps people peaceful. - bovox, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2If this is implemented and coastal cities become dependent on them, what's stopping a vandal from going out to them on a boat or submarine, and blowing them up? It seems like a trivial thing to attach explosives onto their anchors and blowing them up. That would cause huge disruptions to the communities dependent on them.
- VitriolAndAngst, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0They use this idea for "wind kites" -- or drone airplanes that stay up in the trade winds and get constant power.
Anchoring in an area of the sea that gets a lot of wind is good. But to me, it seems like you'd spend too much energy chasing the wind. You'd have to have a drone or a pilot steer the ships, and you'd have to sail and maintain the parts in the ocean. Even after that -- it would be hard to "catch" much more extreme weather than you could get just sitting in one place. Moving at 10 to 15 miles an hour means you'd have to head towards weather systems before they arrived.
At the end of the day, you'd go through a lot more hassle and expense. Using a kite in a trade wind and a generator, however, gives you more of a pay-off because you don't have to chase the energy -- makes up for having some technology to keep it aloft. - chrisinsocalif, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0We have some windmills in southern California and animal rights activists make some of them shut down at certain times so they wont kill birds flying through/around them. They are suppose to be "environmentally-friendly" but there will always be something getting in the way.
- sinysteR, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Thats a really good idea. It's innovative and seems to be a very effective way to generate wind energy, as out in the see 50-100 miles away, the winds are much harsher than on land, plus you don't see the ugly things. If this is a big success, I think that there should be massive windmill farms all over the world!
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0Idiots commenting did nothing but Bash Bush, America and blah blah blah. Typical liberal bitch fest.
- brokenspatula, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1the next digg article will be "boat sunk my floating windmill"
- TheSmiddy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+0but will they blend?
- Bobski, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2Great until they find out there wasn't enough forward thinking, as when it was found that wind farms are killing birds - including endangered species - by the thousands.
And when one of these things breaks its mooring and enters the shipping lanes?
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