This wind turbine has no blades — and that’s why it’s better

Grist.org ^ | 20MAY2015 | Amelia Urry

[dsc]

“That’s awesome! I was hoping someone would invent a wind mill which sucked even more at capturing energy!”

Anything to get rid of those hideous windmill farms.

[dsc]

I just kept wanting it to stop.

[jack308]

The explanation of the principal of operation was as clear as mud. Any body have any insight as to how it is supposed to work?

[steve86]

They claim 6-8 months for regular wind turbines here in the Pacific Northwest.

[dsc]

“They claim 6-8 months for regular wind turbines here in the Pacific Northwest.”

Is that plausible?

[Rodamala]

IT'S A FESTIVUS MIRACLE!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

This is true — a colleague once calculated the temperature drop in Europe if all European energy were generated by windmills. It was a few Centigrade degrees.

[onona]

Ah, there you go. You had to remind us about the old unintended consequences thing.

Buzzkill Yardstick

[CtBigPat]

Gizmag Article

[GOPJ]

Plus, the turbine has no gears or moving parts; theoretically maintenance could be much easier than a traditional bells-and-whistles spinning one.

Sounds promising....

[DB]

Yes - with massive taxpayer subsidies...

Otherwise not so much...

[dsc]

So, the government is committing fraud again.

[353FMG]

Isn’t anyone in Congress concerned that, building more of these windmill farms could make this country take off and fly away?

[ctdonath2]

Glad somebody else sees where this is going...

[dsc]

“Isn’t anyone in Congress concerned that, building more of these windmill farms could make this country take off and fly away?”

Look on the bright side: maybe we’d land on Iran—right on the Wicked Ayatollah of the East.

[353FMG]

It’s a matter of thermodynamics: removing energy from the wind in order to create work will result in a temperature loss of the air.

[steve86]

The sub-year payback is independent of any subsidies. It is simply time to pay for itself. A million kWh over a year raises a lot of revenue.

[dsc]

So the things can pay for themselves.

[steve86]

No mechanical interfaces but it does have inherent material strains which will lead to fatigue and eventual failure.

[Tucker39]

That doesn’t sound quite right, if I may say so. What causes wind is a high barometric pressure in one area and a low pressure in another and the air rushes from the high toward the low. As it rushes through a wind farm it may be deflected momentarily by a windmill blade or a “stalk of asparagus”, but once it has passed the impediment the barometric pressures are the same as ever and it rushes on again, just as before.