High-Flying Turbines Could Tap 870 Terawatts of Wind Power
Posted By Cameron Scott On September 9, 2010 @ 2:00 pm In green technology,Wind Power | No Comments
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You know where there’s a lot of wind that could be harvested for energy [5]? The upper layers of the atmosphere, which contain as much as 870 terawatts of power — that’s 870 trillion watts! Researchers, startups and even some established players are getting serious about capturing that energy, and they’ll be gathering for a conference [6] at Stanford at the end of this month.
[7]
The ideas are still in the germinating phase, to be sure, but atmospheric wind promises another significant advantage over down-to-earth approaches: less raw material needs to be used per watt of power, which translates into a lower cost per watt. Joby Energy [8], which hopes to launch a 500-kilowatt winged turbine next year, claims to be able to use just 20 tons of material per megawatt, compared to the conventional wind power [9] industry average of 96 tons.
But there’s a catch: keeping these funky contraptions from becoming more space junk. Joby’s plan to tether propellers with a cord sounds a little low-tech for such an ambitious undertaking, and competitor Makini Power [10]‘s glider wing proposal sounds pretty dubious, too. How about one of these balloons [11]?
+ Joby Energy [8]
+ Makini Power [10]
Via Greentech Media [12]
Images © Joby Energy
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[4] Image: http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2010/09/joby-ed01.jpg
[5] energy: http://inhabitat.com/energy/
[6] conference: http://www.awec2010.com/
[7] Image: http://inhabitat.com/2010/09/09/high-flying-turbines-could-tap-870-terawatts-of-wind-power/windpower-2/
[8] Joby Energy: http://www.jobyenergy.com/
[9] wind power: http://inhabitat.com/energy/wind/
[10] Makini Power: http://www.makanipower.com/
[11] these balloons: http://inhabitat.com/2010/08/04/gigantic-orbiting-balloons-could-solve-space-junk-problem/
[12] Greentech Media: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/power-from-the-atmosphere-is-it-real/
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