Super Efficient/Affordable Wind Energy (Not Turbines)

This is a popular mechanics video, so it is technically MSM, however i haven't heard about it anywhere else, and i just happened to come across it randomly.

Wind flutter effect, seems like an efficient cheap way to harness wind energy, you could actually make something like this at home, its quite simple in its design.

I know they work well on a small scale, but i am curious what kind of effect they have on a LARGE scale.



The conspiracy theme comes to me from the simple fact that this isn't receiving any attention, maybe its not feasible, I'm not sure, however i feel like it deserves more attention then its getting.


[edit on 8/14/2009 by Alaskan Man]

Star and flag!

Nice find! I'm always interested in alternative energies. Never heard of this one...

Thanks!

Good Post, really interesting,

The problem with wind energy is that wind is not a constant, therefore unreliable as a energy replacement. But, as a supplement to the grid this is an awesome idea. I can imaging these little gadgets attached to sides of buildings or bridges adding each little watt to the overall supply.

My tip to anyone who is trying to sell alternative energy sources. Do not politicize the invention. Just say "Hey its cheap and easy to use, here how", and not "this will free us from global warming, tyrannical oil rich governments, etc.". This only slows the progress of the invention.

Hope this guy gets a grant, it is money better spent than on the other crap that we are paying for these days...

Oh, very groovy. I am all for these bleeding edge ideas. I saw a specialized turbine once that was built as a chimney. surrounding the chimney was a circular region that was covered in a cloth about 9 feet off the ground. The result was the colder air at the top of the turbine fell too adjust for the warmer air under the cloth. The air blew out of the sides of the cloth. The turbine in the chimney was caught the current and make energy. It was an attractive facility and they were able to grow plants under the cloth, due to filtereed sunlight and dew moisture under the cloth, which means, depending on the crop, this could be used to dual task farm land.

As for the idea in the video, I would be really interested in seeing the efficiency of the mechanism. It looks like it would be at least if not more efficient than a standard turbine, but I couldn't tell without seeing amperage pull from the fan vs amperage pull from a full load.

reply to post by axiomuser


Honestly, I think the biggest problem *is* the grant idea. He should work on figuring out ways to scale up the invention, then write a business plan and start a small business selling it. There are probably lots of people out there willing to give him a business loan or invest in something like that.

I do agree with the idea of not politicizing it. People should just invent and sell and stoop the snake oil routine.

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Wow that's awesome, totally feasable idea - a wire tensioned over the ridge of a peeked house might be able to power the lighting system inside.

I did notice a few issues, number one he used a high powered table fan to blow a short wire, a vertical axes wind turbine would be going off the charts if it were to a similer scale - hehe powering a clock is an old cheat too, they use like 1/20th of an amp @ 1.5 V

The wind rarely rises to the power of a table fan where i live (England, no jest, see how much a table fan blows your hair when you look right into it!) however an aray 8 deep, 8 long in a windy spot might make a few amps @ 12v, enough if used spareing to power an LED lighting rig.

Not sure how extending the length of the wire (by harmonic factors no doubt) would scale the power generated - I fear that this might only work on a very small scale. Which in itself is good, small modular mass produced units could work out to be very practical - the eloquence of the design is a big factor in this, they look simple by modern stadards (no bearing, woot!) so if production was possible at a less than maybe fifty pence per unit, possibly even upto £2, an effective supply chain could be created which would see the overall modual cost per life time Amphour to rival even hydrocarbon based generation, although i doubt the scale could ever compare in terms of max output.

Overall i think this is a great invention which could have long term implications for the off grid power generation community (which will hopefully soon be the comunity at large ) however it's only a small part in a complex solution, this offers one more choice to the hundreds already out their.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention OP, i will follow this with great interest and hopefully find time to perform my own experiments - it's certainly going to get a mention in my ebook on esoteric electrical generation, when i get my van to start and can resume work on it that is

reply to post by Alaskan Man


huh, that is something else. I am still not sure about it, but it seems like it would be EXTREMELY useful and a money saver as well. I wish I could help with the technical part and I wish I could understand the dynamics of it, but I am just not big in that field and don't know much of it. I need to learn now..lol.. The wind is something that probably won't run out of gas.

Good Find, Alaskan Man
~TheMythLives

reply to post by axiomuser


yeah it wont work everywhere, but i think it combined with a home geothermal set up and solar unit, you could completely take yourself off the grid.

I like the device and the way it was presented, but:

a) I don't believe the claim that it's 10 times from efficient than turbines, I really would like to see the numbers

b) main problem in wind generation is not generation itself, but connectivity to the power grid, and that is a major cost factor. Just look it up.

c) I'm not convinced that this particular material will withstand elements for a long period of time. Plastics age under UV like there is no tomorrow. Then there is material fatigue.

e) does is really scale? If you make it 100 times bigger, what will be the forces to hold it together and prevent it from disintegration?

f) what will you do in the event of a storm or a hurricane?

It's a very neat toy.

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Thanks for this. I've got 5 days to do anything I want in my dad's workshop. I'll try to build one and upload my results.