Comments on: Harvesting the Energy in Intermittent, Gusty Winds

By: Anumakonda Jagadeesh

Anumakonda Jagadeesh — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 01:34:00 +0000

Wonderful design to capture intermittent Wind John Saavedra. I liked it. Every effort should be made to harness Renewables in an innovative way to supplement conventional energy.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
Wind Energy Expert
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:24:00 +0000

The physical connection between the vehicle and the generator in this application is a column of air.

Adding objects which impede the movement of that air will increase the energy needed to push the air. You would be using the vehicle to push air against a “sail” rather than against easier to move unencumbered air.

A headwind will cut your gas mileage, a tailwind will improve it.

By: Brian Kramer

Brian Kramer — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:36:00 +0000

It’s really not much energy though, and the force of the air being pushed is upwards, not forwards. It would have to be very close to the truck to be able to get any kind of transfer of force. A solar panel works with no traffic, which this does not. It has no moving parts, while this has many. It requires new manufacturing and infrastructure changes, which solar does not. Please explain How this is better than a solar panel setup? In my state, most signs like this aren’t lit up anyway, they are just reflective.

By: Seamus Dubh

Seamus Dubh — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:20:00 +0000

Unlike your bike generator there is no physical interaction between the vehicle and the generator in this application.
This is using the air already displaced by the vehicle as it travels.
If you stand next to a road and a car flies past you, you get hit by a gust of wind pushing on you. You didn’t push on the car at all to feel this did you. You didn’t add to the energy it needed to use as the car past you.
Same principle here.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 20:59:00 +0000

I well remember the bike wheel generator. It made it harder to pedal.

The question I’m left with is whether placing more resistance in the path of a moving vehicle by adding a harvesting/generation system will cause the vehicle to use more energy than is produced by the ‘wind machine’.

Might not you be asking the trucking company to purchase fuel to drive your ‘wind flapper’?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:43:00 +0000

Interesting concept.

By: Brian Kramer

Brian Kramer — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:49:00 +0000

No offense, but ideas like this are what make people doubt the renewable energy can work. What possible benefit does this have over a simple PV panel and battery, which has no movings parts, costs probably 10x less, cannot break or fall, and works whether there is traffic or not?