Slashdot Mirror


Water From Wind

ghostcorps recommends a writeup in The Australian by columnist Phillip Adams about a new windmill design that extracts water from air. The article gives few details of how it works, because patent protection is not yet in place, but what is revealed sounds promising. "[Max] Whisson's design has many blades, each as aerodynamic as an aircraft wing, and each employing 'lift' to get the device spinning... They don't face into the wind like a conventional windmill; they're arranged vertically, within an elegant column, and take the wind from any direction... The secret of Max's design is how his windmills, whirring away in the merest hint of a wind, cool the air as it passes by... With three or four of Max's magical machines on hills at our farm we could fill the tanks and troughs, and weather the drought. One small Whisson windmill on the roof of a suburban house could keep your taps flowing. Biggies on office buildings, whoppers on skyscrapers, could give independence from the city's water supply. And plonk a few hundred in marginal outback land — specifically to water tree-lots — and you could start to improve local rainfall."

8 of 411 comments (clear)

  1. Dune by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow. Reminds me of the Windtraps from Frank Herbert's Dune.

    Next thing you know, we'll be harvesting spice.

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
  2. it's a competition by macadamia_harold · · Score: 5, Funny

    [Max] Whisson's design has many blades, each as aerodynamic as an aircraft wing,

    Yeah, but you know Schick is just going to add one more blade and totally steal his marketshare.

  3. Where's the need come from? by Lazerf4rt · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does this country face a more urgent issue? Will the world have a greater problem? While we watch our dams dry, our rivers die, our lakes and groundwater disappear...

    Forgive me for being unaware of this impending catatrophe, but is there really an urgent issue? Is this mainly happening in Australia? I thought floods were going to be the next big problem, due to global warming.

    What should I be bracing myself for? Floods or droughts? I need to know what I should panic about. Thanks.

  4. Re:Interested.... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Funny

    > Why should we think this is anythign but a scam?

    So, what you're trying to say is:

    [Morbo]
    "Windmills do not work that way!"
    [/Morbo]

    Chris Mattern

  5. Re:Hand out the Moisturizer by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Funny

    Around here, we have a novel system for collecting moisture from the air in the dead of winter.

    We have a widespread system of asphalt-covered concrete which collect the copious moisture, extracted from the nearby lake due to atmospheric pressure differentials, in the form of a thick residue. We then dissolve large amounts of highly soluble compounds into this residue to prevent it from freezing solid, and then the mixture is processed by repeatedly compressing it under several hundred pounds of weight.

    We use the resulting product to support both the automobile and landscaping industries, by using it to rust out car underbodies and kill treelawn grass.

  6. Re:Interested.... by general_re · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would also like to know how this works. Any speculations here?
    I understand these moisture vaporators are similar to binary load-lifters. Get the right droid to program them, and you're good to go.
    --
    ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
  7. Re:Interested.... by pizzaman100 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your air here is only MOSTLY dry. There's a big difference between mostly dry and all dry. Mostly dry is slightly wet. -Magical Max

  8. Re:But why not? by putaro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, the best would be more of a turbine like arrangement, but then the shit would really hit the fan.