What is Digg?33 Comments
- shifte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16If being for lowering energy costs by 30x is a hippy, then call me a hippy!
- pu-z, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Man, I really, really read that as «Generating Power From Kittens»!
- jocnnor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"Even with a modest diameter of about 320 feet (100 meters), they estimate KiteGen can produce half a gigawatt of energy. Emulators for the scalable project envision a 2,000 meter-version that would generate 5 gigawatts of power."
Doc would only need about 400 meters to produce 1.21 gigawatts. This would eliminate the need of the plutonium powered nuclear reactor. You know, for when plutonium isnt available at every corner drug store. - nappingcracker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I think you missed the part about 1.5 euros per megawatt hour. The difference may make up the maintenance costs. Also, how much space do Nukes take up? Dams? Coal?
- Djerrid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I can't quite get the concept in my head yet. It says that the power is generated by having the 'marry-go-round' turn. But if all of the force is being pulled by one direction by the wind then there should be an equal amount of force being exerted on both sides of the axle.
What makes more sense to me is to have the kite spin like a pinwheel, with the two twisting guide wires used to turn a generator. That's how it appears to work in their flash animation:
http://sequoiaonline.com/blogs/ARCHIVIOscelti/kite.swf - zagnut007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I guess some people missed in the article that the angle of the kite is controlled automatically by a winch. The kites used by kite surfers and this idea can fly in more directions than straight downwind. It's like sailing. If you want to go in a different direction, you change the angle of attack of your surface. The kites on the "upwind" part of the turbine rotation would fly out at an angle as to not counter the kites flying "downwind".
- strings28, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The reason this works better than traditional wind/turbine generated power is that the blades on a tower have a consistent pattern for their turning and they can only react in a uniform fasion. Because of the controlled pattern of the kites that brings the ones 'not pulling' into a vertical and therefore low drag state. If you have watched kites in this more advanced form you will see that a huge amount of power can be generated when the kite moves in certain directions. This means that, given an ideal situation, you can really get the rotation of the generator arms going using physics that the kite operates under. This can also happen when wind is relatively low because you're using gravitational physics as well as the potential pull of the generator arms to keep the kites in motion. I see catastrophic storms as the only potential problem since they could potentially throw some problems into the expected wind patterns (but that's probably what the advanced sensors are for).
- one1plus1one, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Kite-flying as a past time always seemed, to me, to be the exact inverse of fishing, but somehow more innocent. It invokes great childhood memories.
The flash annimation post by Djerrid (above) is almost as mesmerizing and relaxing to watch as a real kite.
It is fitting that kites could potentially generate substantial energy for the future of planet Earth, and perhaps beyond Earth. Think of Mars with all its high velocity wind currents. To fly a kite on Mars would be something. To power a future Mars-colony with kites would be simply amazing. Perhaps there is a great future for our innocent childhood past-time on this Earth and beyond. - shark615, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Because there is a lot more stronger and constant wind at altitude then there is at ground or even 100 feet above ground level. These will produce far more pwoer then a ground based unit.
- dig412, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Innocent childhood past-time?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjNm7U63hoQ - MaddDog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Don't get too carried away.
"But -- and there are a series of buts -- it is still basically a concept on the drawing board. Feasibility has to be proven."
It's still two years away from any full scale version - I'll stay with the sceptics for the moment until they have it... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Anyone else read that as "Kitties"?
- kledge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Everybody ZetaVu is an expert on the subject he has already read the cost/benefit analysis please mr ZetaVu please tell us it will work
- whisperedlie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2generating power from farts? brilliant!
- trghpy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Sounds impressive...
Soon to be the biggest kite stuck in a tree. - LeDopore, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think another factor is that a kite can sweep out a larger area than a windmill. The kite captures a small percentage of the wind energy from a huge area, while fixed windmills are limited to capturing about 57% (the thermodynamic limit) of the energy flowing through the (fixed) area the blades sweep out.
Another way of seeing it is that a kite can pull with a great force while it's moving fast in the opposite direction of the pull. Since power is force times speed, a kite of a given area can produce much more power than a windmill of the same area. - DiamondIce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Did anyone else read "Kittens?"
- garyh84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Would be quite amazing to say the least.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Very interesting idea. Anyone know what happens when there is no wind at all? Those kites will fall back to the ground, how exactly are they suppose to relaunch them? I assume these devices are intended to be placed in remote locations and be self-regulating entities.
- MrBobby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ask Ben Franklin how well that worked...
- toxonix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Kite powered turbines are not such a bad idea, but the proposed design is pretty dumb. It would not self start or even turn at all according to the rendering.
There are other companies and designers working on better designs:
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:High_Altitude_Wind_Power - Ansible, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It seems to me that the concept is to use a computer control system to actively fly the kite. So when the arm is on one side of the generator, the controller puts the kite into an optimal strong pulling configuration. When the arm goes around to the other side, the controller puts the kite into a low resistance configuration. That way there is pmore pulling force on one side of the merry-go-round than the other, and so the whole device turns.
It looks like a pretty complex system. I think someone wanted to build a kite flying robot, and thought of a good excuse to spend money on it. I hope its all they say it is, but I'm a bit skeptical. - JorgeGT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Me. I expected a parody. I am disappointed...
Fusion FTW! - plush, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Through their incessant rubbing on artificial "fuzzy" legs, producing static electricity? Or just being tossed around together in a big bundle doing about the same thing?
- hutectro, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Just another stupid idea that some one farted up.
When sitting on the toilet. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1w00t the fck is this? This gonna give enough power for your house for a year :D
http://members.fortunecity.com/reactor1967/ - EzraSchwartz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0nevermind
- dbloodnok, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I'd rather be a ***** hippy than a celibate conservative.
- Smoov, on 10/12/2007, -4/+01. Hippies smell bad
2. Conservatives aren't celibate -- they have more kids than hippies
3. Conservatives are all for wind power IF it can be made to work economically and reliably.
4. Hippies smell really, really bad after about a week down on the commune. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Kite bashing is my favorite time, why I still remember when I was in elementary we always used to bash this one Kite kid in our class. good times!
oh wait, you were talking about the OTHER kind of kites. - ZetaVu, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1takes too much space, weather and birds will waste it, high maintenance costs, in what way is this an improvement over conventional wind technology? Someone really needs to look at those cost estimates with a grain of salt before publishing digging press releases
- mariusaz, on 10/12/2007, -17/+1***** hippies.
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