Project Sea Tree: Harvesting Wind Power Using Sailplanes Tethered to a Moving Root

ISBN-13: 9781463666118 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 128 str.

Dennis Wakefield Stevens

Opis

Project Sea Tree will dramatically increase the production of power from the wind. The concept will harvest power from the wind using sailplanes tethered to a moving root. It advances a concept for a manned sail-craft propelled by the wind faster than any such existing vessel, and for harvesting more power from the wind than any existing device of the same size. Why Is Project Sea Tree Astounding? The power from this system using 67.4 square meters of wing area would exceed that from 26,409 square meters (over 61/2 acres) of rotor area in a horizontal-axis wind turbine. A land-vehicle version of this system would be capable of ground speeds well in excess of 90 meters per second (201 mph) with a wind speed of only 6 meters per second (13.4 mph), far and away breaking land-sailing speed records. The threshold wind velocity required to operate this system is a leisurely, uphill-walking pace of less than 1.2 meters per second (about 2.7 mph). It will be hard to find doldrums so calm as to fail that requirement. The ocean version of this system takes advantage of the higher-velocity and steadier wind at sea using acreage which is virtually unlimited in scope and costs nothing. The generated power at sea is used to synthesize hydrocarbon in a process analogous to photosynthesis, that not only avoids the emission of carbon dioxide as a byproduct, but instead, it consumes carbon dioxide as a feedstock.