[OT] Windbelts - The Next Cool Energy Technology

re: [OT] Windbelts - The Next Cool Energy Technology

Glenn Berry — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:50:22 GMT

Even if you don't believe in climate change or "peak oil", it makes economic sense to conserve energy by doing simple things like using CFLs, programmable thermostats, and upgrading your insulation.

Just like I don't like to see inefficient queries or wasted resources on a database server, I don't to see people (or society in general) being needlessly wasteful for no good reason.

I really hope that technology continues to improve to the point where renewable energy technology becomes affordable enough to see widespread adoption.

At least right now there are lots of rebates and tax incentives available that make energy efficiency an easier economic choice.

re: [OT] Windbelts - The Next Cool Energy Technology

KKline — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:45:12 GMT

Great point, Glen.

I have to be honest - the main reason I switched to CFLs wasn't to save energy, but was for the longer lifespan. I got tired of constantly changing out incandescent bulbs, literally a couple every week. Now, it's one CFL every few months. But now that I see the cost savings on my energy bills, it makes a lot of sense to conserve energy. In fact, that's probably the biggest single potential savings we as a society can achieve, by simply using less.

Thanks for the comment,

-Kev

re: [OT] Windbelts - The Next Cool Energy Technology

David (Dyfhid) Taylor — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:02:32 GMT

This is an extremely interesting concept. I'd love to know more about it. I have spent the last hour between teh Jetsongreen.com site (and it's plethora of comments) and humdingerwind.com, Frayne's site. Like the Jellyfish Wind Turbine, this looks like it could scale and be something that, while not take you off the grid entirely, would at the very least drastically lower your energy bill and carbon footprint. Thanks, Kevin, for bringing it to my (and our) attention!

re: [OT] Windbelts - The Next Cool Energy Technology

Adam Machanic — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:02:17 GMT

I'm interested in any technology that stops us from using as many natural resources, so this sounds great (except for some of the comments where people mentioned a buzzing noise--is that real?). Another interesting technology is cars that run on compressed air. I saw a couple of extremely interesting videos about a year ago, then never heard anything else. I hope those projects are picking up steam as well.

re: [OT] Windbelts - The Next Cool Energy Technology

Rajib Bahar — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:15:21 GMT

Anyone running their datacenter with this technology?

Here is a up-close picture of the windbelt I found at another site [http://cooperationearth.com/earth/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/windbelt.jpg]

re: [OT] Windbelts - The Next Cool Energy Technology

KKline — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:02:58 GMT

Thanks for pointing out those other websites, David. I'm looking forward to checking those out.

Adam, I remember that when cars were first being built by tinkerers that there were lots of means of powering them. Batteries, motors running everything from kerosene to alcohol, wound spring coils like giant wind-up watches, and compressed air. It seems like everything old is new again. UPS actually used compressed air powered forklifts in their warehouse logistics. I didn't check for the URL but I remember Car & Driver recently doing a 3 or 4 page story about the technology.

Rajib, thanks for the other link.

-Kev