Hi Rick, I think it's a little like a kite (except, it's a propeller) and the twine is actually a power line. How's that Kirk? ...sound right? Mike
Rick Littrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear Kirk, How does this work? A free flying generator would simply be carried along by the wind and generate no power. If you had an engine to hold it in place against the wind you would only get back the energy you used to oppose the wind minus friction loss. You'd have a net loss of energy. If you anchored the device to the ground and floated it like a kite you could generate power providing you could keep it stable and headed into the wind. I don't know if that is possible. What exactly is this thing? Rick Kirk McLoren wrote: >Windmills in the Sky >By David Cohn > > > >02:00 AM Apr. 06, 2005 PT > > >http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,67121,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2 > > >Australian engineer Bryan Roberts wants to build a power station in the sky -- >a cluster of flying windmills soaring 15,000 feet in the air -- but is having >trouble raising enough money to get the project off the ground. > >After 25 years of research, Roberts has designed a helicopter-like rotorcraft >to hoist a wind turbine high into the air, where winds are persistent and >strong. The craft, which is powered by its own electricity and can stay aloft >for months, feeds electricity to the ground through a cable. >Roberts, a professor of engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney, >believes there is enough energy in high-altitude winds to satisfy the world's >demands. Wind-tunnel data suggests a cluster of 600 flying electric >generators, or FEGs, could produce three times as much energy as the United >States' most productive nuclear power plant. >Roberts has teamed up with Sky WindPower, a San Diego startup that is trying >to commercialize his invention. > >The company has Federal Aviation Administration approval to conduct tests of >the technology in the California desert, but needs $3 million to build >full-size flying generators. The company is having trouble raising the cash >because there isn't likely to be an immediate return on investors' money. > >High-altitude winds could provide a potentially enormous renewable energy >source, and scientists like Roberts believe flying windmills could put an end >to dependence on fossil fuels. > >At 15,000 feet, winds are strong and constant. On the ground, wind is often >unreliable -- the biggest problem for ground-based wind turbines. "For FEGs, >the winds are much more persistent than on ground-based machines," said >Roberts. "That's part of the benefit, more power and greater concentration." > >Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, >said tapping into just 1 percent of the energy produced by high-altitude winds >could satisfy a lot of the world's power needs. > >"It's absurd that all this time we have turned a blind eye to the energy right >above our heads," he said. "High-altitude wind power represents the most >concentrated flux of renewable energy found on Earth." > >At certain locations, the efficiency of a flying generator can be as high as >90 percent, three times higher than its grounded counterpart, according to Sky >WindPower. > >At this efficiency, FEGs could become the nation's cheapest source of >electricity, with an estimated cost per kilowatt hour of less than 2 cents, >about half the price of coal, according to the Power Marketing Association. > >Having conducted tests with models, Sky WindPower wants to scale up Roberts' >experiments and produce a commercial-sized flying windmill with four rotors. >The rotorcraft will go into the first layer of the atmosphere, called the >troposphere. Sky WindPower estimates the craft will produce 200 kilowatts per >hour of electricity in an area that at ground level would produce none because >of a lack of wind. > >Since strong high-altitude winds exist in many locations, the company's hope >is to find sites 10 miles by 20 miles in size that are not currently used by >commercial planes and turn them into restricted airspaces. Once in the air, >the FEGs' roll and pitch would be controlled to catch the wind most >effectively. Sky WindPower intends to use GPS technology to maintain the >crafts' vertical and horizontal location to within a few feet. The craft will >be brought to ground once a month or so for maintenance checks. > > >The project has already received FAA approval and needs only to finalize a >test site. Currently the company favors somewhere in Southern California. The >company declined to be specific, saying it has not yet applied for local >permits. > >"Our desert test site does not have as good winds as future intended >operational sites," said David Shepard, president of Sky WindPower. "But >starting there will enable us to proceed to more-difficult conditions with >less risk." ><a><img></a> > >However, the company has not yet raised the capital to build the craft. >Shepard said he expected the money would be found. > >"We do have reason to expect that we will obtain the funding necessary to >carry out our intended demonstration," he said. "I have reason to be >optimistic." > >Caldeira, whose high-altitude wind energy graphs can be found on Wind >SkyPower's website, said he was disappointed but not surprised the company is >having trouble raising money for testing. > >"Investors tend not to put money into a project that is risky or won't pay >within a few years," he said. Caldeira said there are lots of obstacles that >scare investors: testing, obtaining local permission and quelling fears of >possible danger. > >"Even if this is a far-out possibility, our society is remiss in not >vigorously investigating the potential for high-altitude wind power," he >added. > >The lack of initial investors is expected by some economists. > >"The high risk of investment is associated in terms of length before you would >see a return," said Stanley Stephenson, an economist for Litigation Economics, >an economic and legal consulting firm. > >Stephenson said there is also the fear that larger organizations, even oil >companies, could enter the market with alternative energy technologies, which >makes it more difficult to find investors who are gung-ho for small venture >startups. > >But Eric Becker, vice president of Trillium Asset Management, a firm that >specializes in socially responsible investing, believes that entrepreneurial >capital for projects such as Sky WindPower will soon start to flow. > >Becker cited EnviroMission, an alternative-energy company in Australia that is >building a kilometer-high solar tower. > >"It's as far-fetched as tethered wind turbines and they've managed to go >public and are on the verge of booking orders," said Becker. > >After low-altitude and wind-tunnel testing, Roberts doesn't believe his >invention is far-fetched at all. "It has all been properly done in an academic >sense. I've never had any criticism in the principle," he said. > > > > > > >--------------------------------- >Yahoo! Messenger > Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun. > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Biofuel mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): >http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
