http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/ Engadget Comments for Eco shocker: Turbine Light concept uses wind to light highways 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/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Perhaps. But it looks like the windmills are mounted pretty high up. And I doubt anything less than an 18-wheeler doing 85 could down one of those poles.]]>Feb 6th 2010 1:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 1:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
We should put mini-wind turbines in all of our electronics that get cooled by fans. I could probably power my cable box with the massive amounts of air coming out of my xbox 360. ]]>Feb 6th 2010 2:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 4:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Forget the cost of someone hitting one; that can be mitigated. Look at how many light poles are required for 100' of roadway.]]>Feb 6th 2010 7:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Wouldn't that creaet a back pressure of
sorts making the fan less effective?]]>Feb 6th 2010 9:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/They are installed that way in case you run into one off them.
you would not like to hit one that is not going to to move as it would
kill more people on the highways in minor crashes.
(PS if you knock one down in NY you pay for it.)]]>Feb 17th 2010 11:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 7th 2010 10:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Its just a marketing demonstration. There's no way they'd put strobe lights on the highway.]]>Feb 8th 2010 9:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/This is one time when speeding should be allowed]]>Feb 6th 2010 2:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
I'm sure there will be a backup supply. And even when there is no wind, the idea is that the cars on the road would generate wind to help spin them even a little bit.]]>Feb 6th 2010 10:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Seems like piezoelectric pressure plates would work better simply because they could be powering the lights ahead of you instead of the ones behind you. Of course that may make for a bit of a bumpy ride . . .

Anyways, this whole set up might work well enough if there's a battery system backing it up . . .]]>Feb 6th 2010 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Hopefully the light wouldn't be generated directly from the turbines themselves. If the person who designed this had a brain he or she would use a battery system. One could easily charge the batteries by both solar AND the wind power. As for lonely highways, simple: add a light sensor. If there are no cars, the lights dim or turn off. If headlights can be seen from some distance, turn them on for a few minutes or until the car passes. Also a battery system means DC which means LEDs which can be far more efficient. But anyway, most highways that I've seen that have limited traffic don't have lights anyway. The cost benefit just isn't there.]]>Feb 6th 2010 12:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 12:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/works perfectly, actually. Think of it like spinning a broom handle between your hands. One hand pulls back, the other pushes forward.

^ |
| o |
| v]]>Feb 6th 2010 11:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
I also tried it with a pen, a chopstick and a wooden spoon. It all works very well. q.e.d.
]]>Feb 6th 2010 11:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 5:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Gotcha, little early in the morning on a saturday for me haha]]>Feb 6th 2010 10:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
It is not ingenious, it is ill conceived. This happens repeatedly when design people don't run things by the engineering dept before they release their marvelous ideas...

There's no bulk velocity to extract outside the boundary layers on the vehicles, which are very thin. (Stand 15 ft from a freight train, do you feel anything? No) The turbines are not going to extract any energy from stray vortices either. So the turbine will just not work as envisioned. Period.

Let's talk about using them as normal wind turbines. Vertical turbines are needed for size constraints, yet they suck. Each one is powering 2x 1kw street light?. IF those turbines are to scale, they'll maybe do 200-400 W on a windy day. This low to the ground, the average output would be more like 100-200W. In other words, you'll add thousands of dollars to the infrastructure to meet 10% of the load in the best case. Maybe you could use this to meet a good fraction of the load in high, windy areas, certainly not the situation pictured.

The same money could be spent on a distant 1MW turbine to power 500 lights.]]>Feb 6th 2010 10:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 11:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Actually you are quite mistaken about the wind forces coming off of cars traveling at highway speeds. Where I drive every single work day there are 4, 6 and 8 lane sections (each direction) of highway that are seperated by nothing more that a permanent concrete wall styled after the movable barriers. The top of the wall is lined with reflective flexable strips and you can watch thembend over and snap back as cars pass them even in the second lane over from the wall. When driving along the wall I often feel my car buffeted by trucks or lines of cars on the other side of the wall as they pass me. When I feel the need to grab the wheel with both hands in my SUV then I can tell you that the wind forces are extremely strong as even in moderately strong gusting conditions the electronic steering control almost completely eliminates any gusts reaching the steering wheel.

And the freeways are almost always filled with a good amount of traffic into the 2am range. I am sure there is some sort of storage battery involved much like the solar powered light poles. ]]>Feb 6th 2010 11:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
You are mistaken. The force is not from the inertia of the wind, so it cannot be used to drive a turbine. Some type of peieo electric converter may be able to do it, albeit at 1/100 the efficiency of a turbine. Back to square one.

There is no free lunch guys. That's why energy is a big problem.]]>Feb 6th 2010 11:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/And in your opinion which "green" technologies are worth the investment?]]>Feb 6th 2010 12:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Geezer and Scent (and unfortunately most people) have no idea that this contradicts simple physics. In a few rare cases the ideas in these kinds of posts might have some positive contribution, but most of them are Steorn. There is no free energy, or free lunch (and these lessons seem to go hand in hand - most people understand both or neither). At least they look cool.]]>Feb 6th 2010 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Oops that was @EusebioD

And I forgot to say how discouraging it is that Engadget posts this stuff - at least explain some of the physics so that the people who read and have no idea understand it a bit. I know this is supposed to be entertainment, not physics class, but really.]]>Feb 6th 2010 12:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
BULL!

Have you ever broken down the the side of a highway? Obviously not.
There is wind the rushes by you every second a car flies by.. unless its a super aerodynamic lambo or something..

A Train has close cars which only really creates wind at the beginning of the train,

Cars are separated, there is wind.. plenty of it]]>Feb 6th 2010 12:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/No free lunch huh? How about a free fridge for your beer?
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention-in-nanotech

Any way, its a pretty sweet looking tech.]]>Feb 6th 2010 12:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
I don't care about no free energy. It doesn't apply here. The child swinging the jump-rope is exerting energy. It makes no difference if it inefficient or not, the kid is going to do so whether I hold the pinwheel there or not.

or you are saying that if i am floating in the pool on an innertube and my crazy neighbor Bobby Joe Elroy does a cannonball into the pool with a beer in each hand, that the ripples in the water will never move me at all. Been there and done that, and it moved me clear across the pool.

A car driving past you on the road at highway speeds will just about knock up over. I really don't understand how that is something that has no value and can not be used for anything. It isn't free energy. But the millions of cars are going to drive past if it is there or not. Even if they are gasoline or electric powered. ]]>Feb 6th 2010 1:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Traffic is not going to move a turbine that's ten feet off the ground and ~ten feet sideways from any vehicle.]]>Feb 6th 2010 2:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
If you're wiring them into the grid anyway, then you might as well power them with a more efficient wind farm, solar facility, or far more practical nuclear power plant.

Why the tree huggers oppose modern nuclear facilities is beyond me. Its so clean, compact, and self contained that submariners and aircraft carrier seamen can live right next to one for years.]]>Feb 6th 2010 2:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Stand in the center of a highway sometime, and answer the question for yourself... its really easy, pull over, get out, post.]]>Feb 6th 2010 3:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
I agree with the Nuclear Power being a great choice that we never should have stopped advancing and deploying. I spent 13 years in the US Navy riding Ohio class submarines and crawling into missile tubes with D5 missiles and if I never had any health issues with close proximity to both those potential sources of radiation then I personally feel they are safe for public use. The reactors not the missiles. ]]>Feb 6th 2010 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 4:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 9:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/
Judging by the height of the car, the VAWTs appear to be only 1.5m or so off the ground. I'd also guess that the lighting is only 100W or less per pole if using LEDs (and by the fact that so many poles are needed).

Of course, this is an old idea, and lamps like this that use a combination of VAWT and solar are already available.]]>Feb 7th 2010 8:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 10:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/LED lights are pretty bright! Haven't you ever seen a car that has LED headlights or brake lights? IMHO they are too bright directed in my face and kind of piss me off. But they will be amazing for lighting up a road. ]]>Feb 6th 2010 10:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 11:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/06/eco-shocker-turbine-light-concept-uses-wind-to-light-highways/Feb 6th 2010 11:57AM