It’s unbelievable to know that an ordinary childhood pastime could cause such a breakthrough in renewable energy! Researchers from the Delft University Of Technology, Netherlands have made this come true after their success of flying a 10 square meter kite to a generator that could produce 10 kilowatts of power. All credits go to them for making free flying kites a major source to provide energy that could help all of us power our house.
The system at Laddermill use these flying patterns to maximize power the kites can generate. Estimating that they could generate power at less than 4p per kilowatt-hour, which is comparable to coal power and less than half the cost of electricity from wind turbines. Flying kites in a figure of eight pattern means the air flowing over them travels even faster than the wind speed. When a kite needs to be reeled in, it is angled so that it falls out of the sky like a glider, without the need for much power.
This invention is promising because kites are made out of inexpensive materials and can harness enormous amount of energy, as high altitude wind carries hundred times more energy than the ground. Also it’s easier to run a kite plant economically in comparison with a wind turbine which turns out to be an expensive deal and it’s brilliant that we are using energy supplies that are offered to us by nature itself. Future plans also include using a 50 kilowatt kite and a 100 megawatt array called the Laddermill that could potentially power 100,000 homes! However the project leader of Laddermill said that, the commercial systems could be operational within five years only if the money was made available; otherwise the technology would languish in the lab for a decade or more.
Via: Inhabitat
Comments
oh WOW! This is so good.... I remember reading about an experiment where Siemens has setup wind turbines in sea where wind is stronger and that project looked very promising but this beats that too. Obviously theres more wind ”up there” and this looks even more doable... and using joystick to fly kite.. too good :P
Ya! This is very promising and we save so much money as kite is made out of inexpensive materials. They also generate power at less than 4p per kilowatt-hour, which is comparable to coal power and less than half the cost of electricity from wind turbines. This is one of my favorite at eco-friend.
This new research done on renewable energy may carry multifold uses after some years. As soon we all will need such kind of energy to survive on this planet.
Ya I know this is brilliant and so cheap in comparison to wind turbines. Another thing is that they don’t take up space unlike wind mills. This new invention only has merits! More inventions like this should come up to improve the condition of our planet.