Eco shocker: Turbine Light concept uses wind to light highways
By Laura June 
posted February 6th 2010 10:13AM
posted February 6th 2010 10:13AM
posted February 6th 2010 10:13AM
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say stop to global warming
I really love this idea, it looks fantastic, and it's relatively easy to achieve. I also love that we're actually making progress with our forward thinking in regards to our energy infrastructures. With that being said, the idea for these turbines is to mainly be powered by the wind created by passing cars, problem is, we're not going to be able to power our cars for much longer. The world's oil supply is well past peak, meaning we are in the decline stage. Once it's gone, it's gone. So, unless we figure out a way to alternately power our vehicles, these light turbines will be a pretty moot point.
@Hbishop
Dude,you don't awesome, rat-rod like motorcycles? Too bad.
Every time I keep seeing ECO friendly technologies like this. I don't even see it on any road or any state with real live pictures or videos. So what's the point of making something like that and it won't be in the streets all over the STATES ROADS? It probably won't be out for a long or couple years.
Finally some of the futuristic technology we were promised for the 21st century.
By the way, anyone remember that show "beyond 2000"? What ever happened to half the tech they showed scientists working on!?
thats cool
Oh, goody! I great new place for throwing sneakers!
Who'da thunk we could make such good use of cars passing wind?
That's is a cool idea.
While the idea sounds awesome, the highways here in Toronto, ON, Canada are always in "traffic jam" mode so...no speeding cars to create wind unfortunately...
I think the base assumption that the highway should be lighted from above is flawed. I've driven on many roadways that were lit and not lit. It appears to me that it's more light pollution than light solution.. (ya like that one? I thought it was a stretch too.. aaaannyyway) I had seen a story not too terribly long ago about self-contained solar powered LED cat's eyes. If they're flat enough, they won't suck and can be added to existing roadways. Not everyone has HID headlights that cast daylight on the next 100 miles of road in front of you. (Obvious hyperbole) If you could see the road as dotted lines of white, yellow, and red (the oncoming lane would see them as white from the other side) and you're not overdriving your headlights, you would be better off. Also, the overhead lighting makes it harder to see at night when it's raining hard. It's just glare and nothing more.
I just think this is an attempt to make a bad habit more efficient. If you're going down that path, you're much better off just swapping out the lights with plasma bulbs.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/luxim-plasma-lifi-light-bulb-led-cfl.php
They're more efficient than LED lights. Light pollution is one of the biggest wastes of energy a city has. If lighting were done more intelligently, then we not only wouldn't need this particular solution, but we might even be able to see a couple more stars at night.
It took this long for someone to think of something like this?!
Someone tell them a small solar panel (charging a battery) might work too...
so.... if you got a traffic jam at the highway then it can be sure a dark night will accompany you
The idea is good enough to let streetlights power themselves and generate extra power. The main problem will be cost of course. If they cost far more then a regular street light, this won't work. I also imagine that they would also need a lot more maintenance then regular street lights.
But if they keep testing the technology, work everything out, mass produce it and get the cost to near a normal street light, then if any streetlight gets replaced it should be a green one. Something like this will take a long time before it gets cheap and durable though, i don't expect these things to get mainspread use within the next 25 years. But after that, yeah, go green streetlights.
very cool idea.
It's good idea!, and they look nice too.
I like it, but I know that it would not fly in my town, the ultra liberals just past an ordinance banning wind turbines in the city limits. I find it Ironic that they really want green power, as long as they do not ever see it.
@AlaskanHandyman
There are ultra-liberals in Alaska?
@ScentOfUnderstanding Unfortunately there are ultra-liberals everywhere... thankfully Alaska has less of them than most places that I have lived. The town that I live in though seems to be unproportionally liberal compared to the rest of the state.
It looks nice and I do love the idea. But there is no way this is cost effective. This sort of "why couldn't we" thinking is lovely but frankly doesn't mesh with actual data or economics.
The turbines must be situated below optimum heights to take advantage of whatever air movement might occur due to vehicle traffic. And keep in mind this is just a concept - nobody has proven that there is any usable air flow due to traffic.
Even assuming that works, the cost of the turbine, back up battery, LED lighting, and power connection to the grid makes this a horrendously expensive proposition. Hell, right now the only reason anyone is purchasing LED roadway luminaires is because of government stimulus money. They are wicked expensive... I should know - I design them for a living.
I think it is far to easy to overestimate the energy generated by either solar or wind power. Currently, no roadway luminaire can be fully powered by solar. They just can't. And wind turbines are only effective when properly placed and built to take advantage of wind conditions. That's not to say that they can't help reduce energy usage - they most definitely can. But honestly, we are talking around $5.00 per year... Nowhere near the amount needed to provide a feasible ROI. Right now, if you do it, you're doing it because you either have the money to burn or you need the greenwashing.
LED lights? :o
Lighting the highways is wasteful considering that all of the road legal vehicles has head lights!
ydnt they have 2-3 per pole
I wonder what's the break even point for carbon emission to make one of those turbines. How much power do they need to produce to compensate for the carbon produced during the manufacturing process?