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What I want is to get a law passed that you can put your solar panels up anywhere in state and get paid back in terms of tax credits and local rates as if they were on your house. The idea of putting panels up west of the Cascades seems insane to me. There are transmission lines that pass through the SE of Oregon, the highest solar index and now I see the highest wind speed.

But it is all bullshit compared to the jet stream. Check out http://www.skywindpower.com/ww/index.htm The only problem with it is that it totally fucking awesome so no one will use it.

Dude, you forgot the links. This is actually a very interesting idea: put the wind generators where the wind is much faster and consistent (though not completely).

Magenn makes a rotating blimp thing.

Sky WindPower uses the turbine to fly as well as generate power. Here's an article at Stanford

Is this a good idea? I don't know how the economics really works out, but certainly there is a much higher energy density at altitude.

Winds aloft are far more reliable, which is why wind generators have their blades higher than is required for ground clearance and common sense safety. Even a few meters of elevation is an efficiency win.

But all the press is about wind power generated almost at ground level. I'm wondering why aerial generation via aerostats isn't getting a few R&D dollars.

http://skywindpower.com/ww/index.htm
is an interesting site. Only a dozen pages or so in total. It uses frames, and I more or less hate it, but the *content* is extremely interesting. To break out one frames page:
http://skywindpower.com/ww/page002.htm "Capacity Factor" breaks out capacity factors for locations, at 15,000ft and 10k. There's also information on tethers, safety, etc.

Have a look. It would seem that wind could be more reliable than many people realize.

Winds aloft are far more reliable, which is why wind generators have their blades higher than is required for ground clearance and common sense safety. Even a few meters of elevation is an efficiency win.

But all the press is about wind power generated almost at ground level. I'm wondering why aerial generation via aerostats isn't getting a few R&D dollars.

http://skywindpower.com/ww/index.htm
is an interesting site. Only a dozen pages or so in total. It uses frames, and I more or less hate it, but the *content* is extremely interesting. To break out one frames page:
http://skywindpower.com/ww/page002.htm "Capacity Factor" breaks out capacity factors for locations, at 15,000ft and 10k. There's also information on tethers, safety, etc.

Have a look. It would seem that wind could be more reliable than many people realize.

That wwas a few years ago. The best cell I know of, for sure, is 18% now. I've heard of one at Boeing that does 20%. That's in silicon, not thin films. And this year was the first time that more silicon was used in solar than in semiconductors. A breakthrough in thin film efficiency would be a something of a game changer.

But solar still isn't contributing as much as wind, and wind isn't contributing much yet.

But have a look at: http://www.skywindpower.com/ww/index.htm
I'm really surprised that I'm nearing more about high altitude wind power research. This approach sounds as if it could outperform solar by an enormous margin, if you look at fixed infrastructure costs. These people are talking as low as 2 cents per kWh. The whole site is only a dozen or so pages, and worth a read.

It seems much more doable than covering vast regions of desert with solar voltaics, at would would be enormous cost, even after economies of scale.

Even so, in terms of energy density, it is hard to beat hydrocarbons, and the distribution system is already in place. Since the algae consume as much CO2 as is produced by the combustion of the diesel, there is no net increase in greenhouse gasses. It is effectively solar power, with an efficient energy carrier. In addition, the OPOC diesel engine, allows for very small size and high efficiency. (it is ~1lb/HP, or ~0.6g/W ;) More details are available here.

Also, when flywheel energy storage matures a bit more, it should allow for some great improvements in electric and hybrid cars. Flywheels have extraordinary power density, and can be charged and dischared in seconds, which allows them to recapture ~80% of the energy during braking, and provide for decent acceleration. There is some information at AFS Trinity, though the site could be a bit better. The basic ideas behind this flywheel tech are fascinating in themselves, but I've already wandered far enough off topic...

Sea-basing the Gyromills means you have much more expensive support requirements, transmission cabling, the works. Skywind mentions cities all over the North American continent, so I doubt they are restricting themselves to off-shore sites; for their initial trials, perhaps.

(from another /. post)

The idea of tethered high altitude wind power generation has been around for a long time. The people behind Sky Wind Power Corporation (http://skywindpower.com) have been developing their technology since 1979.

They do not use kites but a tethered electrical generator, like a helicopter with 2 fifteen foot rotors and no cabin. The documentation on their site seems to cover a lot of questions that would come up here, especially about the tether etc.

It is just sad to see another australian inventor having to go overseas to try and get their idea noticed.