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Scientists Are Developing the World's Biggest Wind Turbine With 656-Ft. Long Blades (latimes.com)
An anonymous reader writes from an LATimes article: Efforts to increase wind power mean that turbine blades are getting bigger and bigger. But a new design in the works takes the idea to levels most people can barely imagine: Blades up to 656.2 feet long -- more than two football fields. Today's longest blades are 262.5 feet. The blades at Imperial County's Ocotillo wind farm, which sends electricity to San Diego, are 173.9 feet long. "We call it the extreme scale," Eric Loth, a University of Virginia professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said of the planned mega-blades. "There's nothing like it." The blades would look much different look from today's wind turbines. They wouldn't face the wind but would go downwind, aligning the blades to flow with the wind instead of fighting it. And instead of a single stiff blade, each blade would be broken into segments, allowing it to be more easily fabricated. In addition, the concept would allow the blades to "morph" -- spread out when the wind is blowing lightly to capture as much power as possible.
Back-converted units are funny.
But a turbine that big will steal all the wind power then make the Earth stop spinning while also propelling it further out into a wider orbit and we'll all freeze and die!
Yeah, it's called fusion and they're still working on it.
You could put this on the Eiffel Tower, but it's kind of short. The Eiffel Tower is 1,063 ft tall, the towers they're planning for this are 1,574 ft.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Make everyone wear beanies with propellers on top. Not only will it generate a lot of energy, but everyone will be too busy laughing at one another to start wars.
You are welcome on my lawn.
We can paint the turbines green, and paint the hub like a flower head. Would that help ?
If the technology works, Loth wants to avoid putting the big-blade facilities on land. Instead they would be put offshore — some 20 to 25 miles from the coast....
Even if the titanic turbines pass the subscale modeling tests in 2019, Loth said it would take "probably 10, 15 years" before the first facility would be up and running.
It's at least 15 years away and they know they'll never get approval to build them on land. But still a reasonable approach where the conditions are right. It's almost like they're trying to find a workable and cost effective solution, unlike other alternatives that depend on subsidies.
I just cringe, thinking of all of the Cesnas and Pipers that will be taken out when they try to land on this thing.
Fusion is about 8 and a half minutes away.
Personally I find windmills much more attractive than smog but that's just me.
From TFA:
The project raises concern among bird lovers, who have long decried the number of birds and bats killed by wind turbines. The proposition of humongous facilities makes conservation groups nervous.
"The higher you go, you start potentially impacting more migratory birds that otherwise would have flown over the tops of [smaller] turbines," said Michael Parr, vice president and chief conservation officer for the American Bird Conservancy.
Researchers acknowledge the anxiety over how 656.2-foot blades â" officially called Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotors â" would affect the environment.
If the technology works, Loth wants to avoid putting the big-blade facilities on land. Instead they would be put offshore â" some 20 to 25 miles from the coast.
"I really want to focus on going far enough offshore that we're away from the migratory patterns of the birds," Loth said.
But Parr said an offshore wind farm might not be an improvement.
"The problem with offshore turbines is that it's virtually impossible to know and track over time what impact they're having [on bird deaths] because any birds that get struck will fall directly into the ocean and be washed away by the currents or get eaten by sharks," he said.
- seriously...
I wonder if these bird lovers ever considered what coal and diesel power plant pollution does to birds, migratory or otherwise? How many birds die, I wonder, because of the pollution that is spewed into the atmosphere by the billions of tons around the world?
This turbine is a fine concept I think, though I think nuclear is the way to go of-course, why not build more wind turbines, especially in the oceans. Do it if it works. The birds will learn to avoid the turbine blades but they definitely cannot do much about the dirty air that we produce.
You can't handle the truth.
Regarding dangers to wildlife, will dragons be safe from it?
That you can fly an RC-Aircraft or a manned aircraft made out of fiber compound, aluminium is only possible because of putting mineral resources & energy to work.
All the things you wear all the things you use are made with energy because for example aluminium processing takes huge amounts of energy.
Making of all kinds of plastic takes huge processing plants - that are lit up 24/7 for safety.
That you can have fun with your RC-Aircraft is the very product of a very long and sophisticated stream of engineered processes.
Your RC-Aircraft is a by-product of these engineered processes.
And the time your vision comes true - in 50-70 yrs. - many people will be "unemployed".
And we don't have the warp drive to shoot all people into the sky.
But we have some spare nukes, that could solve the problem for once and for all.
And being a N.E.R.D. means that the computer NERDS have a CRAY2 in their Backyard and that mech. NERDS have a wind turbine in their back yard! ;)
. If you're complaining about birds dying then why don't you and your 11 kids disconnect from the grid and go live in a forest somewhere.
Where they'll likely... eat birds. Better rethink your suggestion. ;)
Americans are more familiar with feet, so it makes sense to convert them. The problem is converting them too precisely. The blades are rarely going to be within 3cm of those lengths. Even fibre glass blades will expand a little due to temperature changes.
650ft and 260ft would have been sensible approximations.
As for a more sensible comparison; the blades would rise above the Empire State building's observation deck. Much easier to visualise since people have a general idea of how tall famous skyscrapers are.
But not longer than two Canadian football fields!
I think wind farms are beautiful.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
Sounds like heatstroke talking. You're spending too much time in the sun.
Ezekiel 23:20
Well, 200m is one furlong. I'll leave it to you to make some other comparison to a fortnight.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
What is 0.2 of a foot? A toe of course.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
You could put them out to sea, but it costs more. Given the choice, I think I'll take turbines over large plants with cooling towers and chimneys etc.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
That would be 0.00000000000055 light-fortnights, of course.
Well, 200m is one furlong. I'll leave it to you to make some other comparison to a fortnight.
A furlong is roughly 201.16m, actually.
who will be the first BASE jumper to die jumping from the tower and how many days after its built will that take place?
Or do both :), a pic of our local windfarm, with 53 meter blades these are presently among the largest:
http://www.windparknoordoostpo...
Obviously some people want them so far offshore you won't see them from the beaches but with a 200 m. tip hight that's quite an added expense.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
The end zones are in bounds and part of the playing field.
Could we find a way to keep this wonderful planet surface beautiful? Dig down power cables, make generators inconspicuous. And leave airspace free to birds, manned and RC aircraft.
It is hard to make a coal-fired generating plant inconspicuous. They are typically a square mile or two of blackened earth. And the garbage they spew into the air. . . Do you really want them to 'make it inconspicuous', or would you rather be able to see you major source of particulates, heavy metals, radioactive particulates (yes, on average, more than nuclear)?
In California, the wind-farms are primarily in the desert – usually in a pass between a couple of mountains. That is, they are far away, and no one ever sees them unless they drive through the desert to Vegas or whatever. Even then, it's just briefly.
Power-lines are often buried already. It's the legacy ones that remain—Replacement costs money. Those 4 kV trunk lines? They are cut through forests and such, and are kept above ground for maintenance and security purposes.
And as for birds. . . Well then:
* Domesticated cats kill more birds than wind turbines.
* Air pollution from coal-fired power plants kills more birds than wind turbines.
* Power-lines, especially those away from cities, and on moonless nights, kill far more birds than do wind turbines. Why is this issue of bird being brought up about a century too late?
* Once we stopped spraying DDT along the sides of roads, the wildlife came back. I see hawks in my urban neighborhood and along the interstates frequently now. In the 1970's, I never did.
* Oh, pigeon-poop buildup occasionally causes a short and explodes a transformer, sometimes killing some wildlife in the process.
* Last, skyscrapers kill tons of birds. Every morning at 5:00 am, every skyscraper has someone pick up the dead birds before people arrive for work. At night, they are dark. Or would you rather that they keep the lights on (using more electricity) 24/7?
The Sun has been using it for some years now...
Or do both :), a pic of our local windfarm, with 53 meter blades these are presently among the largest:
http://www.windparknoordoostpo...
Oh no. Oh no, no, no.
Your wind park looks to be in the Netherlands, where they've been a fixture for centuries. But over here, in America (i.e. USA), we absolutely cannot have the plebs capable of generating their own electricity, much less have them use corners between farm-fields to generate excess electricity!!!
That would completely disrupt the State-sponsored monopoly that the dinosaur-burning power plants currently enjoy. It would be chaos. Cats marrying dogs. People wearing hats on their feet. This energy independence must be stopped at all costs!
If we all had some way to collect and store all the methane from farts, we'd be all set for fueling powerplants.
This is being done adjacent to garbage dumps all over the place. It's a good thing.
Historically, once a garbage dump was "full", it would be capped with a layer of soil, but not before installing several vent-stacks to let the methane out, keeping the dump from exploding. Why it is only now that we've realized that we can capture and use that methane (CNG), I have no idea.
In the USA's mid-west, some local "ski slopes" are capped-off garbage dumps. Why? They're the tallest hills around.
Would you agree that they put it in the area where you live? To hear constant "chug, chug, chug,.." noise, to have a sharp fast shadow moving endlessly over the yard, and birds falling periodically from the sky.
Certainly not, it is better to construct them where other people live, who cannot to afford lawyers for fend them off. Instead of building gigantic ugly structures, it would be better to limit the size of a private house and a private car to sane figures, to produce energy by saving it.
Power-lines are often buried already. It's the legacy ones that remainâ"Replacement costs money. Those 4 kV trunk lines? They are cut through forests and such, and are kept above ground for maintenance and security purposes.
I doubt it makes sense to burry a 1.1MV power line.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
...describe a physical object?
They wouldn't face the wind but would go downwind, aligning the blades to flow with the wind instead of fighting it.
What the fuck does that mean? How does a blade "flow"? It is a rigid object. It sits in the wind flow. And if a wind turbine fights the wind, then it isn't really a turbine, is it? A blade has a length, width, and thickness. Which is aligned with the wind? Is the windflow axially aligned or radially aligned? What is aligned? If a typical wind turbine faces the wind, and you rotate it 180 degrees is it now facing downwind? No. It is still facing the wind, because the blades are shaped to only move in one direction in a windflow. You have just put the blades on the other side of the mast and generator house. Go back to reporting on firearms, you do a better job with that.
No they're exactly the same thing, they just have different operating environments. Different airspeed. Wings are shaped differently to enhance efficiency at different airspeeds.
Fixture for centuries indeed :)
The land to the right (=east) is reclaimed since 1943, a little south is the (very religious) historic island of Urk where some people complained this would irreparably damage the view of their village...
The life expectancy of windmills is 25 years.
I just read in a local paper that now the farm is ready people start to appreciate the advantages.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Have you ever seen a big modern wind turbine? They spin at such low RPM that it takes multiple seconds per rotation. It makes as much sound as a stationary object of the same size, and kills birds at the same rate. Also, they are never built anywhere near people's "yards" because real estate that could be used for habitation is expensive, and buildings interfere with the wind. They're off shore, or otherwise in the middle of nowhere with no obstruction. Aesthetically, they are rather prettier than a coal power plant.
wouldn't wind shear be a really big concern?
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
uh...what is "sane figures"? 2000 sqft? 1000 sqft? 100 sqft? How about those in power? Do they also get limited to the same amount of space? Those who already have houses above "Sane Figures"? Shall we evict them and force everyone to live in a concrete apartment structure? "Sane Figures" sounds good until you flesh out the details--then it's just another tyranny by progressives.
How do you get ten years? Depending on your distance from ground zero it's anything from microseconds to seconds away, it never even gets as high as minutes.
This article has a diagram of the proposed design:
http://www.sandiegouniontribun...
thats seems like a waste of perfectly good shoreline to me.
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Power-lines are often buried already. It's the legacy ones that remainâ"Replacement costs money. Those 4 kV trunk lines? They are cut through forests and such, and are kept above ground for maintenance and security purposes.
I doubt it makes sense to burry a 1.1MV power line.
Correct. Just space them several meters apart, high in the air, and use gigantic ceramic isolation-mounts of the lines to the gigantic long-distance power-grid structures cutting through the desert or forest.
FUN FACT: Maintenance or repair on such high-voltage lines is often done while they ate live. Yes, really. A helicopter brings up the linemen, who are careful to stay only an a single, particular line that they're inspecting, fixing, or whatever. (A flying helicopter is not grounded, and is thus at no risk of being part of a conductive path to ground.) Still, in the 100's kV or MV ranges, there is atmospheric loss. Workers say it feels a bit tingly to work on such lines.
Fixture for centuries indeed :)
Ugh. I meant the windmills used for centuries to turn grain-grinding stones.
You knew that though, didn't you? :-)
slashdot should have an automated Imperial to ISO converter...
Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
You mean wind turbines? I wouldn't have any problem with it because the minimum allowed distances to residential buildings are such that the noise from the street in front of my house overpowers any possible noise from a remote turbine.
Ezekiel 23:20
Sure I understood your reference. :)
I go one up, I bet that by the time these types of wind mills are getting obsolete some will ask for protection as monuments
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."