Saul Griffith on kites as the future of renewable energy
http://www.ted.com In this brief talk, Saul Griffith unveils the invention his new company Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes and “Lost” producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10
Duration : 0:6:29
Posted in 
Tags:
kites rule
kites rule
You shouldn’t be …
You shouldn’t be uncomfortable with it though. There has been an enormous amount of improvement making nuclear plants more safe then any modern fossil fuel plant. Also, nuclear waste is really not a problem. Most of the radioactive material is already removed by the time it is classified as waste. It only needs a place to cool down, which is easy to find places for that. i.e. the deserts in Nevada where no one lives.
BTW Personally I’m …
BTW Personally I’m a bit uncomfortable with nuclear energy … thought new technology have proved to be more efficient especially in the production of nuclear waste .. nuclear waste is still a problem … not a easy one to get read of. I realize people might disagree with me
yes we have to be …
yes we have to be conscious and it will take time but birds and fish are smart enough to learn about new hazard and change there patten and I think we ca afford more “no fly zone “. if we continue to shoot down any new ideas before is actually fully develop we will stock in a global paralysis and considering both the energy crises and the clime crises is a luxury we simply can not afford
After reading all …
After reading all the comet on this page I realize that probably the biggest problem here is that we all need to agree to change our current comfortable way of life and allow space for new solution to grow and fully develop.
i was wondering if …
i was wondering if a similar concept couldn’t be used for hydro power… using a big ‘bucket’ on the string to capture tide or river currents, and opening the bucket to reduce the drag as its heaved back in…
Yes. That is …
Yes. That is precisely how it works. The robot that flies the wing flies the wing back into position after angling the wing off-wind.
It’s actually a very simple concept and they could have these wings stationed far from cities.
1:02 He took the …
1:02 He took the words right out of my mouth.
Nice premise… But …
Nice premise… But, It would take up an awful lot of sky & land space to generate any real amount of energy. There’s would have to be so much distance between each kite to stop them from flying into each other.
dude, it’s WIND …
dude, it’s WIND POWER… the wind lifts the kite up, the winch brings it down. it doesn’t need much energy to bring it down if u change the angle of the kite to reduce the lift generated by the WIND..
well, It seems like …
well, It seems like the way you described it, it would take energy to fly it up, winch it out, then it would take that energy back to winch it down. I think I’m missing something, because it sounds like you’re describing a perpetual motion machine
did u even watch …
did u even watch the video? they’re working on automated systems… the computer that controls the kite also controls the winch…
so wait, someone …
so wait, someone has to be there to wind up and down the winch?
the winch is the …
the winch is the spool with the kite string wound around it… like a fishing reel… u turn the handle one way (using the motor) to wind in the string and bring the kite down, or let it spin the other way to let more string out so the kite goes higher…
How is it different …
How is it different from any other motor? I mean, what does the “winch” part mean?
it works like any …
it works like any motor, u put electricity in and it spins, or u spin it somehow and it produces electricity. pretty simple stuff…
well, I don’t …
well, I don’t understand how a winch motor works, so I can’t really make any comments pertaining to what you’ve said.
i think the …
i think the generator is the winch motor… angled to the wind a certain way, the wing creates lots of lift which pulls out more cable, turning the generator.. angled another way the wing produces very little lift, so the cable can be wound back in using very little power…
Bullshit. When …
Bullshit. When talking about total negative energy returns then Nuclear would be the one giving the lowest netto energy.
There is an assessment for kite option. Kunstler just assessed it wrong. ‘Kite option’ IS ‘wind energy’ he just didn’t anticipate such huge developments made on it.
They were also …
They were also talking of higher wind speeds at elevation above 300ft. The kite is the method of getting a wind turbine up there.
I don’t think …
I don’t think that’s it, because he was talking about the reason why it’d be more effective is because the plane itself will cover more physical air than a grounded turbine. That inference suggests the mechanism is not on the plane itself, but what it’s attached to on the ground
I haven’t read the …
I haven’t read the book, but isn’t it hydrogen that he talked about as having a net negative energy return? Wind turbines can’t have a net negative return, once they are up you just let them run. I’d have thought that the real problem was that “renewable” sources don’t provide enough energy to make up for the shortfall once the oil runs out.
I think the kite/ …
I think the kite/wing supports a turbine up there.
I like the pretty …
I like the pretty marbles at the the end of this video
I don’t understand …
I don’t understand the mechanism that he’s trying to put in place for power. does it have to do with the differential between the wings creates tension on two different points and it pulls in a circle? I really don’t get it….
also, wouldn’t you need some kickass cable to hold up a freaken 747′s wing suspended in flight by the wind?