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Old 10-09-2010, 01:58 PM   #58 (permalink)
cfg83
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talldudenumber5 -

It sounds like it won't work, but I still like your question.

Someone else posted this a long time ago, but your thread made me think of it :

Tiny, Plastic Wind Turbines Suitable for City Dwellers : TreeHugger

Quote:
Like many places in the world, Hong Kong does not have strong wind speeds, so wind turbines have not been widely installed there. But now engineers at the University of Hong Kong and a private renewable energy company have developed a new micro wind turbine that can generate electricity even if wind speeds are as low as two meters per second.
Lucien Gambarota, the main inventor of the technology, says the small turbines are ideal for crowded cities such as Hong Kong because they can be installed on rooftops and balconies. Their design is simple: plastic gearwheels, each about 25 centimeters in diameter, are linked to one another and turn, moved by the wind. Groups of gearwheels can be arranged in an array of shapes and sizes, ranging from about two up to thousands of square meters, depending on how much energy is needed and how much space is available.
The "how much space is available" is what caught my attention, because engine bays are usually cramped. I can imagine a scenario where it is used to make a single row of fans that are oriented to exit the air to the underside of the car :



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