----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Palmer"
BTW, I think the Kitegen concept is fantastic. Anyone who's ever
controlled a power kite for kite surfing or blokarting etc knows
the amazing controllability and power available from the 2/4
line airfoil kite...
It sounds pretty good on paper, but the recent crash of a private
airplane in NYC highlights the reason that such a concept - at
least the onshore version if situated in the USA - is dead in the
water.
Large kites and even occassional air traffic are totally
incompatible. All the more reason to look to offshore.
Offshore is were that "long and winding road" ends ;-)
The recent Stanford study of good wind farm sites indicates that
offshore sites are highly preferable for both steady winds and to
avoid problems with the "neighbors," whether they be avian or
bird-brained humans <g>
If I had any control over R&D funding, the first prioity for
wind-energy would be robust design for a standardized (mass
produced) offshore vessle - probably a catamarran and probably
with a ladder mill or ferris-type wing mill which is producing a
strorable liquid - as the energy transfer medium.
That stroable energy-transfer liquid could be:
1) liquid air
2) liquid air enriched in O2 (or LOX)
3) ammonia
or the currently favored (long-winded) concept -
4) midgrade HOOH (50% enrichment)
The feasibility of any of these is of course ultimately based on
cost and safety issues. It is impossible to judge which is
preferable without an extensive R&D program, which is why - as a
national priority - we should be engaged in this now. For HOOH to
be economicly feasible, that would probably depend on using sea
water - which might be feasible.
Jones
"Let it be wind ?" (with apologies to Paul)
The long and winding road
That leads us to be free
Will never disappear
Ive seen that road before
It always leads me here
Leads me to the sea
The wild and windy night
That the rain cannot wash away
Has left a pool of tears
Crying for lost opportunities
Why leave us standing here ?
Let us know the way
