In July 2009 I wrote a post about wind-powered vehicles that travel directly downwind faster than the wind, giving links to videos explaining why this surprising idea is in fact possible.
I've now noticed that in July 2010 a fantastic team of enthusiasts fasterthanthewind.org indeed demonstrated a single-person wind-powered vehicle that goes more than twice as fast as the wind, directly downwind. Don't you just love engineers?!
4 comments:
Dr. MacKay, I do love engineers, and I'm honored to be named among the "fantastic team of enthusiasts".
Also, I downloaded your book last night. I'm extremely glad there are a few rational people worrying about the things that are going to be extremely important to the future of intelligent life. I sure hope it catches on with the folks it will surely affect.
Your dedication says it all:
"to those who will not have the beneļ¬t of two billion years’ accumulated energy reserves"
I wish people understood just how scary that sentiment is.
Best regards,
Rick Cavallaro
Has to be a scam. They start out from a standstill, wind coming from behind. They accelerate up to "twice the wind speed".
Surely someone of your ability should realise that there comes a point after they start at which the relative wind experienced at the prop is zero? - at which point no further acceleration can happen let alone acceleration into what would thereafter become a head wind!
If this device works, then they could run it on a circular track in zero wind by giving it a push to start it off and it would then be a perpetual motion machine. Come on!
This is great, and feels like light relief when the discussion about efficient and sustainable energy use can be heavy going!
We often ask questions like "is it greener to boil water using an electric kettle or gas stove?" - read for the answer!...
So the idea you can use the wind's energy to travel faster than the wind, is terrific. (Would be great for my sailing!)
Thank goodness for the engineers. We apply our own to push the uptake of renewable energy via solar panels, and we sincerely hope HomeSun.com can make a practical difference in making energy use greener. Imagine if we could harness more energy from the sun, we'll keep trying.
Richard, Homesun
http://www.homesun.com/
Dear Nick Palmer, "has to be a scam"? - no. Yes, it sounds impossible. Obviously I have had all the thoughts you mentioned about why it sounds impossible. But then I thought carefully, listened to the explanations, and: I think it is possible, and not a scam. Imagine that you didn't know that "sailing upwind" is possible! (eg by tacking). I bet you would have exactly the same reaction - "how can you possibly accelerate upwind into a headwind?!" But you would be wrong. Tacking is possible. Some ships (with turbines) can sail directly upwind. And sailing directly downwind faster than the wind is possible too. To understand, You have to have a change of view of what the turbine is doing. Once the speed is greater than the wind, it's not acting like a standard wind turbine, getting work from the wind - it is acting as a thruster. There are lots of good explanations out there on the net, so try reading them before you shoot from the hip.
Post a Comment