Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Wind Turbines Take a Lesson From Lance Armstrong
ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 24 November 2009 | Phil Berardelli

Posted on 11/25/2009 9:23:06 PM PST by neverdem

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

1 posted on 11/25/2009 9:23:08 PM PST by neverdem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: neverdem

They’re still ugly and I would not want my local hospital to have to rely on wind “energy” for round-the-clock operations.


2 posted on 11/25/2009 9:25:49 PM PST by rabidralph (http://www.thealaskafundtrust.com/ http://www.sarahpac.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

They’re running on one nut?


3 posted on 11/25/2009 9:28:43 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

I look at those contraptions and think sliced and diced birds.


4 posted on 11/25/2009 9:30:03 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

We could have resolved this in '04

5 posted on 11/25/2009 9:31:17 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
"The study revealed that the most efficient arrangement involved alternating the rotational direction of the turbines: a clockwise rotation in the lead turbine, say, with two counterclockwise rotators next in line, followed by three clockwise rotators, and so on."

Makes sense. Like rotating gears, the turbines redirect the airflow. The air leaves one turbine on an altered direction and engages the next one, etc. I wonder if the optimal placement will be found to depend on the velocity of the incoming air.
6 posted on 11/25/2009 9:36:30 PM PST by Windcatcher (Obama is a COMMUNIST and the MSM is his armband-wearing propaganda machine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

That arrangement works fine if the wind is always coming from the same direction. If you put all of them on a big lazy susan and rotated it so the array was always pointing into the wind, maybe that would work :)


7 posted on 11/25/2009 9:37:09 PM PST by ModelBreaker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Why did this Lib article use Lance Armstrong as an example of drafting?

Why not Dale Earnhart Jr?

Libs would laugh the idea if drafting out of the room as a worldwide solution it it was Earnhart, but put a bicycler on the face of it and it is our energy salvation

8 posted on 11/25/2009 9:37:18 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Whether it's Lance Armstrong bicycling behind his teammates in the Tour de France or a storm of fish slicing their way through the ocean, animals benefit from drafting. The leader breaks through the calm air or water, while the followers enjoy the reduced resistance in the leader's wake.

a kernal of truth wrapped in enviroclaptrap

9 posted on 11/25/2009 9:41:26 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ModelBreaker

It aint gonna work.

In their model EVERYONE’S a winner.


10 posted on 11/25/2009 9:43:20 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
study how a new type of generator, called a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT),

Silly journalists/engineers/students: "new" is for something ...errrm, ugh, well, not old.

Mother Earth had plans for small scale vertical turbines back in the late 1960s/early1970s.

They also had plans for longitudinal turbines of the same basic design, laid flat on its side, and mounted lengthwise along the ridge of a roof.

11 posted on 11/25/2009 9:58:42 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Such tightly packed VAWT arrays can produce as much electricity as conventional windmills, all while using as little as one-hundredth of the land area. "I don't think I expected to see as great an improvement in the land use," says Whittlesey.

Elephants in the room. Land mass and the wind dont always blow.

I propose we build the darn things on Whittlesey and Dibaris property.

Bournoulli shake his head.

12 posted on 11/25/2009 9:59:33 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Same concept, but much better....

http://www.helixwind.com/en/product.php


13 posted on 11/25/2009 10:04:06 PM PST by UCANSEE2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
I bet you could do the same thing in less space and more efficiently if you ducted it and laid it our horizontally on the top of a building.

but at what cost to production value?

14 posted on 11/25/2009 10:06:32 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

A horizontally ducted system on top onf a building would be more aesthetically pleasing and most likely more efficient because the air is ducted.

I still dont think you can get your money out of it unless you can sell dreams to folks


15 posted on 11/25/2009 10:11:46 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: mylife

. In fact, using a new mathematical model they developed from the Glendora data, the researchers found that arranging the VAWT arrays just like schools of fish produced the best results. Such tightly packed VAWT arrays can produce as much electricity as conventional windmills, all while using as little as one-hundredth of the land area. “I don’t think I expected to see as great an improvement in the land use,” says Whittlesey.

The study revealed that the most efficient arrangement involved alternating the rotational direction of the turbines: a clockwise rotation in the lead turbine, say, with two counterclockwise rotators next in line, followed by three clockwise rotators, and so on.

“these things have all been done in the study of cavetation”


16 posted on 11/25/2009 10:18:29 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: rabidralph
They’re still ugly and I would not want my local hospital to have to rely on wind “energy” for round-the-clock operations

Wouldn't they be storing energy for such times - and/or, not be the only energy source, but supplemental.

As for home use - If cap and trade goes through and they control your thermostat - there will a lot of folk who would dearly love some of these in their back yard.

17 posted on 11/25/2009 10:27:20 PM PST by maine-iac7 ("He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help" Lincoln)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: maine-iac7

You are proposing added cost for autonomy.

And thats all these systems are good for at the moment.

When the Govts done you wont even have autonomy, just the added cost.


18 posted on 11/25/2009 10:33:08 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

It’s another scam in the subsidized wind power industry. To date, VAWTs must be built much larger and more expensively than HAWTs to produce the same amp-hours of power.

As for building horizontal axis turbines on my own windy properties, NIMBYs, shut up! You won’t stop me. You’ll all be out of revenues and resources soon and shouldn’t have made so many enemies with your anti-property-rights, socialistic, free-traitor, anti-family, anti-American ways.

Nag about one of my wind turbines, and the next ones will be built with gigantic, scary, wooshing rotor spans right next to the roads! There’s US Code against your invasions of property rights, and our lawyers will take your future communistic/fascistic revenues away for your meddling!


19 posted on 11/25/2009 10:37:38 PM PST by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

I go through this OVER and OVER with FReepers.

IT IS NOT EFFECIENT. Can it give you the personal edge? Yes, but it is not efficient


20 posted on 11/25/2009 10:38:15 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson