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The Crazy Colombian
Note: If you have come here with the need to compare my original article to that of NucFluens, you’re in for a surprise. I have taken some of NucFluens improvements, and incorporated them in this post. In the near future I plan to include an archival copy of the original article (no photo, headers, and original title) for those of you interested in the nature of the improvements. If you want to see a copy of the old post, go here (link)
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Image: Dancing Kites by coolabanana |
In the topic of renewable energy, there is a heated debate about whether solar, wind, and other environmentally-friendly technologies will ever provide an alternative to coal-generated power. The key issue at stake is whether the renewable sources provide sufficient energy with enough reliability to replace coal in the provision of ’base load’. In case you’re new to the topic, base load refers to the minimum amount of energy required by our cities. It is the baseline-level required to ensure no parts of our cities and rural areas have a blackout. Think about it as the minimum wage required by our electricity needs.
Base load: A problem for alternative energy sources
The problem with base load is that we need to ensure our generation facilities always provide at least that amount of power into the grid. But the sun doesn’t always shine; and the wind doesn’t always blow. There are several articles that explain in detail the problem that this poses for the development of a sustainable, renewable energy generation system (link). There is a team of scientists based on California that believes there is an alternative. I found out about them via Robert Cringely, a published author & columnist who has been writing on the Technology field for over 20 years. In his weekly column ’I Cringely’ of the 12 of October 2007 (link) , Bob describes the approach that ’Makani Power’ (link) is taking.
Makani Power: Creating a better future
The basic idea is simple enough: They want to build a super-kite to be flown at stratospheric altitudes, where the wind always blows at high speed; and attach power-generating turbines to the kites. If they succeed, the area required to generate ’base load’ for the whole of the US will be entirely within their means, as it will be for many other countries - Australia included.
Google: An unlikely ally
This is very exciting news for those of us worried about global warming; and it was fascinating to read that of all the companies that could have invested into Makani Power, it was an unlikely investor that took the plunge. Their name? Google
The concept is simple; more than enought money has been provided; there are technical experts that are luminaries in the field; and the company backing this new venture is renowned for an unprecedented level of success. The only remaining question is When will it be ready?
For our own sake, I hope the answer is sometime very soon!
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7 responses so far ↓
1 Baekho // Feb 8, 2008 at 3:40 am
That’s amazing
2 . // Feb 19, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Baekho,
thanks for your comment. It is truly an amazing idea; I only believed it because it was reported by such a trustworthy source (Bob Cringely)
By the way, I loved your execution of this article in NuncFluens. Your use of images, and the slightly more polished language made a very big difference to the article. Well done, mate!
3 pierre // Feb 21, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Just like you, I was stunned by this amazing project. Even moreso because being a kite artist and designer myself an I have met Pete Lynn,one of the Makani engineers, on a couple of occasions when he was younger, at kite festivals were he was assisting his father Peter Lynn the most famous kite inventor and kiteflier of our generation.
With the background Pete was raised in and his training in engineering, no wonder he has been able to develop himself a great concept for harvesting the wind’s energy using kites. Along with the other kite experts at Makani, Don Montague and Saul Griffith himself, and with all the other telented engineers in the team they have buid up, I just cannot find a reason why they wouldn’t succeed.
(Except maybe because of thunderstorms; what would happen when a lightning strikes the power line linking the kites to the ground?)
How long will it take? These guys obviuosly do things fast, they take their ideas directly from the brain to the workbench… They also already have enough funding to do almost whatever they want. For sure they’ll be much faster than the Italians currently developping the Kitegen project which is in my opinion bound to fail anyway.
However, the winds are so wild up there that it isn’t going to be that easy.
My guess is that it could take easily 5 years before a fullscale functionnal prototype is made and successfully tested.
10 years before the system is implemented worldwide…
4 . // Feb 22, 2008 at 10:11 am
pierre,
Thanks for leaving such a comprehensive comment. It must be very exciting to know someone like Pete Lynn ‘in the flesh’, even if it was at an earlier time.
I concur with your assessment: This group of people has a very real chance of making a massive difference. Although to some people 5-10 years may sound like an eternity, it is nothing when you think in the time scales that advances in Alternative energy sources / Climate change have happened.
I was also unaware of the Kitegen project (link); I found it very interesting to see the difference in ‘web site & content richness’ between the 2 projects. Maybe Makani has elected to devote every penny to the actual development project; whereas Kitegen appears to have a more comprehensive PR & Marketing budget.
I will keep an eye on developments and report back when something exciting happens. Thanks again for participating in the forum!
-The Crazy Colombian
5 scott wherritt // Apr 13, 2008 at 5:55 pm
we probably will not find the perfect energy source for a will some day oil will run out and all other forms of energy will be used up even water the bible sais our water will turn to blood meaning unusable at the very least to drink probably for fuel to also it sais without devine intervention no flesh shall be saved at the point of devine intervention we will begine to live in harmony with god when adam and eve lived in harmony all was provided god tells us to reason things out take all scriptures us them for proving and refoving to find the truth i do not believe he intended for us to fly kites to get the massive amounts of energy we need on earth but you get an aaaaaaa+ for creative thinking keep up the good work scott w
6 The Crazy Colombian // Apr 14, 2008 at 9:24 am
Scott: Thanks for your comment. The lack of punctuation made it difficult to understand your points, so I hope I didn’t miss any critical issues you raised.
Thanks for the aaaaaa+ on creativity. I hope you keep visiting ‘Reflections of a Crazy Colombian’. You may want to consider subscribing via email or on an RSS reader (see links at the top-right of the web site)
Best wishes,
-The Crazy Colombian
7 invest in new energy sources // Jun 2, 2008 at 11:43 pm
[…] (included in a long list of articles about alternative energy sources[…]
RESPONSE FROM DIEGO:
I was tempted to delete this comment, as it was a trackback from a long list of articles about alternative energy sources. I am not sure what is the value of these lists, as they seem to be compiled by a machine. If you like looking for a needle on a haystack, I strongly recommend you visit the referring web site (click on the author’s name above). On the other hand, if you prefer to read well researched, edited, and published content, there’s a couple of sources you may like:
Happy reading!
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