Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Giant Wind Turbines

re: Giant Wind Turbines
TB — (archived)

I don't know enough about aero to be sure, but I'm not sure you can maintain the velocity through that much constriction without the airflow "stalling" on you to some extent.

The principle seems sound--basically you're concentrating the force in somewhat the same way as a hydroelectric dam does, as opposed to, say, building a waterwheel on a normal river.

In some ways, most wind farms already do this a bit, by building in passes or other geographical areas where winds tend to be focused in a narrow area.

Speaking of that, if you can find a natural feature like a canyon or a pair of high hills near each other, you could save a lot of effort on tower construction by using the features for most of the loads and height.

I'd like to see this further explored, but I have my doubts on getting anything close to a 1,000 MW nuclear plant. On the other hand, any way you look at it, it would probably be a cheaper construction project than a nuke.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (42 posts)