permaculture

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

     Flying windmills -- power from the sky

A Worldchanging post rounds up three different airborne power-generation 
systems -- a flying windmill, a windmill-equipped zeppelin, and a 
kite-based windmill.

     According to their figures, one flying windmill rated at 240kW
   with rotor diameters of 35 feet could generate power for less than
   two cents per kilowatt hour--that would make them the cheapest power
   source in the world. For greater power needs, several units would be
   operated in the same location--Sky Windpower says that an
   installation "rated at 2.81 megawatts flying at a typical U.S. site
   with an eighty percent capacity factor projects a life cycle cost
   per kilowatt hour at 1.4 cents." And they would have far better
   uptime than most windmills--since the jetstream never quits, they
   should operate at peak capacity 70-90% of the time. Output would
   also be less dependent on location than it is on the ground, simply
   because terrain doesn't matter much when you're at 35,000ft;
   however, since the jetstream and other "geostrophic" winds don't
   blow much at latitudes near the equator, it would be useful
   primarily for middle- and higher-latitudes.

Link <http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004052.html>
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.25/247 - Release Date: 1/31/2006