I wish Anthracite was still around…
Have you ever seen those twirly signs some merchants put in front of their stores? They’re rectangular and have an S-curve along the longitudinal axis. The breeze hits them and they spin around “animating” the ad. No electricity necessary.
Suppose you hooked a generator to one of these signs, or something that resembled the signs in structure. Suppose you had long rows of them built into the centre dividers in freeways. They would be spun by the enormous amount of wind generated by passing vehicles. Natural breezes might also turn them during slow periods. It seems to me that they would be generating the most power during the day – when electricity is most needed.
Freeway work is constant here in So. Cal. “K-barriers” are replaced occasionally and they are also installed temporarily when other road work is going on. What if these concrete barriers were specially-built units that incorporated generators?
The cost would be enormous because cables would have to be laid, the units would be more expensive than just big blocks of concrete, and there’s a lot of miles to fill. They would also be prone to damage in a collision and would offer less protection from vehicles crossing the freeway. But I think they could be built as modules so that replacement would be easy once the infrastructure exists. The generators would emit no pollution. True, cars and trucks pollute; but why not get some more value out of them? There’s an incredible amount of energy generated that’s being wasted.
Is this feasible?
As you stated, the cost would be enormous.
Wouldn’t each spinner require its own generator? And this power would be directed where? How much voltage would each generator produce? All of this power would have to be sent to some kind of voltage regulator, meaning cables leading from each spinner to the regulator. Of course, the further along the cable the energy travels, the more energy is lost. So there would have to be some sort of facility to gather all this power every couple of miles, if not every few hundred feet.
Interesting idea, but I strongly doubt the feasablity of it.
Additionally, having the twirly things along the center divider (even without the neon colors and ‘Hot Coffee’ or ‘Car Wash’ flashing) would be pretty darned distracting. Many municipalities bar animated signs nears major roadways.
A better idea, along similar lines, would be for tall building to have large windmills on their roofs. Anyone who’s been on an observation deck can attest to the fact that prevailing winds are fairly constant at thirty and forty stories up. The windmills could generate enough power to run something in the structure.
I just heard about the rooftop generators on NPR. Someone in Chicago wants to put them up and also mount solar panels up there. Speaking of solar power, there are a lot of flat roofs in So. Cal. and a lot of sun (too much sun for my taste). It would be interesting if businesses could be enticed into putting solar panels and turbines on a large percentage of them.
Hangars, studios, skyscrapers, warehouses…
Johnny, the main problem is that solar and wind power is much, much more expensive than just buying power from the grid. So why would any businesses do this? Or are you suggesting that they should be subsidized by the government to make it cost-effective? That would drive up taxes. Ain’t no free lunches.
I’ve been around, Johnny L.A., much to the chagrin of a couple of people.
Essentially, the arguments against it thus far in here are the same ones I would use. There is a lot of “low quality” power available in the World, but it is difficult to use it economically, and difficult to justify the capital cost of equipment. I have no actual numbers on the costs of mini turbines on the highway, but my “gut” tells me they would not generate enough to even pay for their maintenance, let alone their capital cost.
I’ll bet sailor has some better ideas on this.
I recall reading about exactly this proposal in Popular Science / Mechanics about 5 years ago. Can’t recall how feasible the engineers thought it was back then. Good luck finding any reference to it.
I also recall a PopSci feature on artificial volcanoes built within cities. They would funnel hot air up the strucure, and air conditioners would pump mass volumes of cool air out the bottom. Just like we have today! (Well, maybe not.)