Skip to comments.
Wind turbine blimp aims to replace diesel generators
Yahoo ^
| 4/20/12
| Randy Nelson - Tecca
Posted on 04/20/2012 3:53:08 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-31 next last
No joyriding!
There’s a lot of money flying around in the unharnessed wind market or so I hear.. including some of yours.. ;-]
To: NormsRevenge
“resulting in twice the energy production of a traditional, pole-mounted turbine.”
Would adding a pole dancer make it more competitive?
3
posted on
04/20/2012 4:01:57 PM PDT
by
Jack Hydrazine
(It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
To: NormsRevenge
"..it can be used to power remote villages, military outposts, or anywhere that would normally have to depend on polluting diesel generators..."
Except when the wind isn't blowing.
4
posted on
04/20/2012 4:01:59 PM PDT
by
Paladin2
To: NormsRevenge
I don’t know what the cost of this system would be, but it does make some sense in that the blimp could be raised or lowered into wind streams.
Terra fixed turbines are at the mercy of wind conditions on the ground.
5
posted on
04/20/2012 4:05:29 PM PDT
by
mylife
(The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
To: NormsRevenge
I'd rather have a powdered coal fueled diesel. At least you can count on it, if you can keep it in working order and have coal.
/johnny
To: NormsRevenge
Wind is never a problem with one of these since it can be attached to a truck and pulled around.
7
posted on
04/20/2012 4:07:04 PM PDT
by
palmer
(Before reading this post, please send me $2.50)
To: NormsRevenge
Some of the operating costs could be offset with advertising ☺
8
posted on
04/20/2012 4:09:17 PM PDT
by
mylife
(The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Rurudyne; steelyourfaith; Tolerance Sucks Rocks; xcamel; AdmSmith; ...
Thanks NormsRevenge.
Popular Science publishes something about this or something very like it every few years, presumably when the (alleged) brains behind this operation starts making the rounds again. “Future airborne wind turbines could spin with greater gusto in the faster winds found at high altitudes, and send power back to Earth...”
Blimp Power
Alternative-energy firm starts testing its innovative airborne wind turbines
By Gregory Mone Posted 05.13.2008
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-05/blimp-power
9
posted on
04/20/2012 4:09:17 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: palmer
10
posted on
04/20/2012 4:10:10 PM PDT
by
mylife
(The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
To: NormsRevenge
"So there I was, sitting out by the pool watching the kids swim, when this shadow approached. Soon I could see it, this huge blimp-like thing trailing two black cables that were dragging on the ground. Sparks flew from where ever they touched. I screamed for the kids to get out of the pool but it was too late. There was a huge flash and then a stark silence. I will remember it as long as I live."The plot of a bad horror flick? Perhaps, but I hope the team working on the fail-safe design have such an imagination.
11
posted on
04/20/2012 4:17:36 PM PDT
by
NonValueAdded
(Steyn: Obama sez: "Nice little Supreme Court you got here. Shame if anything were to happen to it.")
To: palmer
Wind is never a problem with one of these since it can be attached to a truck and pulled around. Now that, is some of the whitiest sarcasm I've seen in a while.
Well done!
12
posted on
04/20/2012 4:19:03 PM PDT
by
Las Vegas Ron
(Rush Limbaugh = the Beethoven of talk radio - http://www.istandwithrush.org/)
To: NormsRevenge
Altaeros Energies says that while the power its blimp provides costs more than getting it from the grid, it's actually more affordable than from generators that require a constant supply of gasoline, not to mention greener.Assuming, of course, the wind is blowing. And therein lies the number one problem with wind turbines: there's no easy, cost effective, way to store the output. Solar panels have the same problem at night.
Personally I think all this "green" alternative power stuff is sorta cool. Just don't use my tax dollars to fund it.
13
posted on
04/20/2012 4:19:25 PM PDT
by
upchuck
(Need is not an acceptable lifestyle choice; dependent is not a career. ~ Dr. Tim Nerenz)
To: NormsRevenge
Wind power, the clean energy!
14
posted on
04/20/2012 4:23:14 PM PDT
by
Clay Moore
(The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2)
To: Paladin2
"Except when the wind isn't blowing."
And nobody steals the copper wiring on the ground.
To: SunkenCiv
In the late 70s Peabody Coal Co. had an idea to use a balloon to hold the electric cables going to the shovel. It did not last long, as the weather took it out. I expect the same to happen here.
16
posted on
04/20/2012 4:29:42 PM PDT
by
taterjay
To: taterjay
" It did not last long"
Or
"Betcha a beer you couldn't hit that there blimp thingy." Aims rifle.
To: upchuck
Personally I think all this "green" alternative power stuff is sorta cool. Just don't use my tax dollars to fund it. It is cool technology. And when faced with US$20K to run power to my shack in NM, US$6K didn't seem so bad. The ROI numbers changed quickly.
As for your second point.... AMEN! NO TAX DOLLARS! SINK OR SWIM.
Solar makes sense in some cases. My shack in the mountains was one.
Here in suburbia? Oh heck no!
I couldn't make payments on a 2% loan for what I pay TXU for 'lektrikity.
/johnny
To: NormsRevenge
I can envison one of these things break loose in high winds, continuing to generate electricity as it loses altitude and discharge its’ load on whatever(or whoever)unfortunate enough to come into contact with it’s dragging cable line.
An mobile electric chair, if you may.
19
posted on
04/20/2012 4:41:05 PM PDT
by
RedMonqey
(Men who will not suffer to self govern, will suffer under the governance of lesser men.)
To: Deaf Smith
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-31 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson