Bili Buzz - Popular Science, Nature, Medicine, Archeology, Future & Myths

The higher up in the air you go, the faster wind travels - so naturally the further from the ground a wind-turbines gets, the more efficient it can be. Thats why the idea of a flying wind-turbine is a such a win-win (or win-wind) proposition. Combining wind power with floating blimps, Selsam has been hard at work expanding the horizons of alternative energy with a revolutionary new breed of SuperTurbines that promise to take wind power to new heights.

Resembling a field of wind-swept reeds swaying on the horizon, these floating wind spires boast an ultra-efficient design that flexes with the wind, taking advantage of air currents along the length of their shaft to generate electricity. Selsam’s prototypes produce 6000 watts in 32.5 mph winds - six times more power than a similarly sized seven foot single-rotor turbine can produce. The turbines can be easily deployed by land and by sea, and their effectiveness can be amplified even further via an air-born blimp.

We’re currently at a bottleneck in the wind turbine pipeline, with GE reporting that it is unable to make turbines fast enough to meet demand. It’s no wonder, since the largest turbines have a propeller size that surpasses the wingspan of commercial airliners and require an intricately machined gearbox. This amounts to a time and resource-intensive engineering and assembly process that has production struggling to deliver on a $12 billion backlog of orders.

Selsam’s SuperTurbines offer an innovative approach to the problem with a scaled-down system of multi-rotor stalks that are extremely versatile, more efficient, and cheaper and easier to produce than than large lumbering windmills. The design relies upon economy of scale to maximize efficiency, employing multiple rotors along a lightweight, flexible shaft that allows it to shift and move with wind currents. Since the turbines rotate at higher rpms than traditional turbines, a small and light direct-drive generator can be used instead of a hulking gearbox.

Selsam’s most recent designs are optimized for sea deployment and consist of a rotor-studded shaft stemming from a floating base that is anchored to the ocean floor. The system is designed so that turbine’s base rotates similarly to the human spine, thus the turbines won’t twist and spin out of control. In an ingenious answer to stormy weather, the turbine’s base can fill with water, submerging it safely beneath the ocean’s surface.

In addition to producing energy, the multiple rotors act in unison to keep each stalk afloat; if you’re in need of a visual metaphor, Selsam’s website supplies them in spades: “Like a flock of geese, each rotor favorably affects the next in line. Like a set of louvres, the tilted rotors pull in fresh wind from above, deflecting their wakes downward to insure fresh wind for succeeding rotors and, like a stack of kites, to add overall lift which helps support the driveshaft against gravity and downwind thrust forces. The rotors act as gyroscopes or spinning tops, stabilizing the driveshaft where they are attached.”

When we recently wrote about Sunhope’s solar balloons, many people suggested that they take advantage of wind energy as well. It turns out that Selsam is one step ahead of the game with this exciting technology. Let’s just hope they find a way to negate the turbines’ ominous implication as potential bird blenders.

Via : Ecogeek.org

Alternative-energy firm starts testing its innovative airborne wind turbines

The Canadian startup Magenn Power has started testing its airship-based wind turbines. The Magenn Power Air Rotor System, or MARS, consists of a blimp-like device that is tethered to the ground, and rotates about its horizontal axis in the breeze. This action generates electrical energy, which is sent down the tether to a transformer, and eventually routed through to the grid.

Magenn says that it’s air-based turbine system will surpass all the other wild airborne wind-power schemes out there in terms of cost, efficiency and more. The advantage over ground or sea-based turbines is that the blimps, floating at high altitudes, should be able to tap into stronger, more consistent breezes. Depending upon the size of the model, it should produce between 10 kilowatts and several megawatts of power. Of course, that’s assuming that it works.

The company recently tested a scale version in a massive indoor facility, and plans to move outdoors for testing soon. The first working versions will probably be at industrial sites, with commercial versions to follow. More on how it works here.

Via MetaEfficient

What to do with energy-draining server farms? A few creative minds tackle the problem in unlikely ways

While computing power consumption is not at the top of the list of the most egregious energy drains, it is a large enough source on the grid that it warrants creative thinking, especially in the context of server farms. Not only are server clusters a more concentrated power draw than individual computers, but the energy needed to house and cool them is a significant source in and of itself. Two new ideas—one in theory and one in practice—aim to address these questions with novel solutions.

Server centers need constant cooling to keep processors from overheating. Usually the resulting heat is vented outdoors and wasted. The first idea, in practice at a new IBM data center in Switzerland, captures the hot exhaust produced by the air conditioning system and routes it through exchangers to warm water for a nearby town pool. While the city helped pay for the system, it will get to use the heat for free.

The second idea comes from Andy Hopper, a Cambridge University computing professor. His idea is to physically relocate server farms close to sources of alternative energy. While subscribing to wind or solar power decreases reliance on fossil fuels, a lot of that energy is lost as it is moved throughout the power grid. By concentrating high-consumption computing clusters near the source, they’ll most efficiently take advantage of the clean power.

Neither solution is massive or mind-blowing, but they’re small enough to actually be implementable and both demonstrate a promising sort of innovation. Hit up the comments if you’ve got a like solution.

The maiden voyage of an unusual ship suggests promise for alternatives to fuel

With oil prices recently breaking the psychologically important barrier of $100 per barrel, commuters aren’t the only ones feeling the heat. Cargo vessels are responsible for moving 98% of all intercontinental goods, and a transatlantic crossing on fully-loaded 200-meter ship is not light on the diesel consumption. So far, at least two companies promise to deliver a technology not seen on massive ocean-going ships in quite some time: the sail.

We’ve written about one of those companies, SkySails, previously, and it recently completed its maiden transatlantic voyage to test the new system. The sail device looks like a puffy hang glider, about the size of a football field. It’s attached to the bow of a container ship by a high-strength carbon fiber rope and flies upwards of 100-300 meters into the sky. What makes it different from a traditional sail catching the wind is that the SkySail acts as a giant wing creating lift and translating that to a pulling force on the ship. The sail is controlled by a pod attached between the sail and the connecting rope, which automatically adjusts the angle and position of the sail to provide the most power to the ship. It can even operate at up to a fifty degree angle against the wind.

The company claims the sail is three times as efficient as fixed sails and that that efficiency only increases as the sail flies higher, taking advantage of winds not apparent at sea level. It promises to reduce annual fuel costs by 10-35%, which is great news for shipping companies; not to mention for the rest of us—burnt shipping fuel is estimated to account for 4% of global carbon dioxide emissions.