Quote:
Originally Posted by dcb
I have to wonder if the spinning blade is really the most efficient use of the real estate though. I mean if you had some large venitian blind looking thing that could store energy by being pushed in one direction with the "shades close", then open up and quickly move back to the starting position? Klunky? Sure, but it could react to every square inch of wind hitting it.
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But it would take energy to move the "blinds" to the open position, and you'd be losing efficiency for the time that it was resetting, versus wind turbines, which are spinning constantly, and some of the better (read: more expensive) ones can actually change the pitch of their blades, to account for varying wind density and speed.
There is probably a better (read: more efficient) solution for the real estate, but I'm sure "fluid motion" is the key, rather than reciprocation. To make the system as loss-free as possible, it would need to be generating at all times, extracting the most energy per unit of wind as could be extracted, and with as little frictional loss as possible. I'd imagine that moving in one direction is more efficient, in this sense.
What about a wheel with "flaps" the the wind acts upon, and 3/4 of the "wheel" is underground? as one flap is leaving the optimal area, the next flap is entering, etc... security might be a problem with a giant flywheel rotating in the ground, though, since some idiot might try to climb on it, considering the height it would need to be to get any real powerful winds.
My only question is this: If we're using wind to power a turbine, doesn't the wind lose some of it's energy in doing that? So it must slow down, then, right? If that's the case, and wind-energy is deployed on a large enough scale, could that in itself not alter the global climate by not allowing "normal" airflow? It's a stretch, but it's plausible, I think.
Same with tidal turbines... they DO extract energy from the tides, which (even if a miniscule amount) affects tidal velocity... which in turn affects...?