http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/ Engadget Comments for Proposals would turn highways into wind farms http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
I just hope those truckers pay attention to the height restrictions, should these be put in place. I mean look at the McArthur. ]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/that "mills" will slow down the air over or at the side of cars, making them consume more gasoline.
maybe I am missing something...]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
They wouldn't slow down the cars passing under or around them; the engine moves the car, the car moves the air, the air moves the turbines. The highway wind is the inadvertent result of an energy expenditure and it would be a pretty passive collection process. ]]>Apr 30th 2007 3:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 12:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
The fact that people think this is a terrible idea is astonishing to me. Is it a fear of change or something different? I think ideas like these are great because it creates use out of the waste everyone and everything creates anyway. We'll never stop inefficiency and waste but we can try and do something with it.]]>May 4th 2007 12:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/May 4th 2007 9:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.britishwindenergy.co.uk/ref/faq.html#efficient

Assuming the design passes safety standards, if those 2 turbines delivered even half that, id say it would easily pay itself off in a couple of years.]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/ If wind turbines are so efficient, why do we need 4 to do the job of one.
If a turbine is running on average at 25% of its capacity, you need another 3 turbines to produce 100%. Instead of throwing millions of pounds into wind turbines spend it on tidal Barrages on estuaries, these produce constant power and don't stop when the wind doesn't blow.
To many people making big money from Euro Grants for wind turbines, so efficiency doesn't come into it. ]]>Jul 16th 2007 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/

what if we all had electric / hybrid cars? we are still moving thus creating wind....

"that "mills" will slow down the air over or at the side of cars, making them consume more gasoline.
maybe I am missing something..."


ummm, i think that for the .5 of a second you drive pass it , the SLIGHT resistance it would make really wouldnt be that noticeable...

]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
Bird death by windmill isn't as big a deal as people make it out to be:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/04/common_misconce.php]]>Apr 30th 2007 12:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
the overhead turbines seem like a good idea though, if done right... we need more thinking like this...]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 11:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 2:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 5:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
Yeah, hitler said something like that too.]]>Apr 30th 2007 11:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/

just kidding. I think this is a cool idea that should be explored further. Good point regarding how they might change airflow over cars and make them less efficient, but maybe they wouldn't. Why not traditional vertical windmills on the side of the road. Highways are already an eyesore, might as well keep the eysores together.]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 10:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/May 6th 2007 2:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 11:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 1:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 11:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
Not to be the cynic, because I am all for alternate forms of energy, but that government subsidy is already earmarked to help the poor unfortunate oil companies that are making record profits.]]>Apr 30th 2007 11:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
That seems to beg the question, why bother converting electricity into locomotion just to clumsily and inefficiently convert it back into electricity?

Energy isn't free. It comes from somewhere. And when you take energy out of one system to power another, you nearly invariably lose some in the exchange. That's exactly the kind of waste these supposed green technologies are supposed to prevent. These car-powered generators are just a semiinvisible tax on the people who don't understand how the world operates.

Way better energy gains can be had by simply gradually improving aerodynamics of the automobiles we have. The new Civic gained something like three miles per gallon simply by improving its coefficient of drag.

How someone can sell these things and claim they save energy with a straight face is beyond me.]]>Apr 30th 2007 11:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
We're going to have elctric/hybrids/gas/fuel cell cars, so why NOT take left-over energy that isn't connected to the grid, and recycle it into the grid? It's like having a USB-powered light connected to your laptop that's not plugged in, and only needs a few hours to charge (ok, maybe batterire aren't totally efficient yet, but what if you had a laptop or car that could go for 10-20 hours on a 3 hour charge?!)

Here's another idea, have the cars be electric powered via the actual road somehow, and then yes you're on the grid, but it could be metered just like your house, plus you put back into it via the wind or solar power, causing a never-ending loop of recycled energy! Ok, nuff ranting.]]>Apr 30th 2007 12:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 5:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
My only consumer driven concern would be, if this did work, would we see any cheaper power bills? Would we as citizens directly reap any benefits aside from a cleaner earth while we power local government facilities?]]>Apr 30th 2007 11:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
You only reach effective energy generation when there is vehicle after vehicle going by the generation unit. One vehicle will not generate enough movement to do anything significant (you have to over come static friction -- Once it's moving, kinetic friction and blade momentum create efficiencies)

These generation units eliminate much of the "draft" efficiency that you get with the vehicle after vehicle traffic pattern. Think about the air around the freeway being pushed along by the vehicles... They "ride" in this current, and therefore are more fuel efficient (lower wind resistance).

No current, lower efficiency. Great -- You generate some electricity, but each vehicle consumes more fuel. And the system losses dictate that the additional fuel consumed ends up generating less electricity than would be generated by dumping that fuel directly into a power plant.

In Detroit, once they factored in everything, they all decided that these power generation units didn't make sense. I guess it's time to go through the excercise again...]]>Apr 30th 2007 11:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/== No turbines: Car zooms by. Air is set in motion by moving car. Air moves.
== Turbines (idealized): Car zooms by. Air is set in motion by moving car. Air powers turbine and transfers all its movement to turbine.

So we'd have no wind around highways, and electricity instead. No drag on cars. While it would be impossible to get perfect turbines that suck all of the energy out of the wind, I think it would be easy to design the turbines in such a way that they do not add any drag to the car.

Ok?]]>May 1st 2007 1:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/ ]]>Apr 30th 2007 11:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Be wind my friend!!]]>Apr 30th 2007 11:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
Also, why design these to generate from the wind off vehicle movement, don't other people get plenty of natural wind on the roadways that these could be designed for?]]>Apr 30th 2007 12:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 12:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 1:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/"small blades, low surface area, lots of dead birds possible; very big blades, with large surface area exposed to wind, very few dead birds."]]>Apr 30th 2007 1:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 12:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 12:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Apr 30th 2007 1:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/Seriously, look up the efficiency of current gas motors, it's something like 20% power, 80% waste. anything to harness those by-products would be great.]]>Apr 30th 2007 1:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
Above the road turbines, rather smart.

Don't argue that taking the energy from cars and converting it to electricity through wind mills is bad for fuel efficiency. If you use your brain for a minute, you will realize that when you drive, you are constantly pushing the wind forward. Physics says energy is not created, but that refers more to the gas in your car burning to move the pistons. If you want to get really technical it mostly applies to atomic changes like nuclear power. Otherwise there are so many variables that they can't all be measured. Wind absorbed by a turbine overhead will not affect gas mileage.

Driving on the freeway does not produce a wind stream to cruise in. Have you ever driven behind a civic and moved to an open lane? If you are riding his ass there is moderate drag change, but everyone out there does not follow directly behind semis. You would think some of these people have never actually driven in a city.

The main genius behind this proposal is that the biggest problem with wind farms is the cost in tieing them back to the grid. Building along highways means easy access to the grid, also known as power lines. Power companies would probably front most of the cost in order to sale this back to the consumer as green energy.]]>Apr 30th 2007 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/
A better idea would be to construct curved walls to contain and funnel the draft along the highway, not strip it off. This idea is proposed every decade or so and the analysis is prety much always the same.]]>Apr 30th 2007 4:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/30/proposals-would-turn-highways-into-wind-farms/yea, what year was that?
EACH year traditional turbines become better at producing electricity based on tech. advancements that didn't exist then. plus your missing the natural wind effect and the reduced roughness class ratio that highways have. therby increasiing the overall efficiency of the turbine. the cars are only 1/3 of the equation. A better understanding of the entire picture and potential should be studied before shot down by "blog" experts.]]>Apr 30th 2007 10:44PM