A WHOLE NEW KIND OF WIND
This Floating Wind Turbine Looks Like a Stubby Shark; Its inventors say it can reach more powerful winds than boring, land-based turbines.
John Metcalfe, February 4, 20015 (The Atlantic CityLab)
“…[Altaeros Energies], a company founded inside MIT and still based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, believes the best way to [access the strongest winds high off the ground] is not by making turbines taller—something the wind-energy industry is striving to do—but by sending [the "Buoyant Airborne Turbine," or BAT, an inflatable turbine] up to harvest the all-powerful gusts…The colossal, doughnut-shaped craft has a helium-filled shell that holds it aloft and provides stabilization. Turbine blades jammed in its central orifice generate juice, which is transmitted through a cable to a docking station on the ground. Three stronger tethers hold the atmospheric drifter in place. In the event a storm snaps all of them, Altaeros assures it will automatically vent gas and descend…A comparable tower-based turbine generates only about half the power of this short-bus blimp…The present prototype reportedly can light up a 12-home community that might otherwise rely on pricey, emissions-spewing diesel…” click here for more
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