Ben Franklin would be proud
TED talks are the best. Here’s a video of Saul Griffith from Makani Power talking about the giant kites he’s been working on. Kites with wind turbines mounted on them. These ‘kite turbines’ harness energy from high-altitude wind currents and send it earthward through cables. According to Griffith, a kite turbine 10 kilometers (almost 33,000 feet) high will capture nine times more energy than a pole-mounted turbine spinning 100 meters off the ground, will be cheaper and lighter, will make less noise, kill fewer birds and be more efficient. As impressive as that sounds, with new wind turbine technologies popping up every week, does anybody else get the feeling that we’re still muddling through the Model T era of this technology? What will the wind power scene look like in five years? Or in 20?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LguEk06Wb-U&w=507&h=370]
(via TreeHugger)
