Kite Wind Power

Do you wonder what the title refers to? I initially thought my reference article, The Power Above: Kite Power Seeks High Altitude Power, was going to describe assisted propulsion for ships, as I have read that this being developed.....But No, kite wind power is a unique, and new to me, concept of generating electrical power.

The potential is amazing! Just a few short quotes hopefully will entice you to read the whole article:

Higher altitude winds blow more constantly than those at ground level. According to Ippolito, the winds he’s targeting are available for 6,000 hours a year, compared to what he says can average 1,500 hours for conventional ground wind turbines.

And any increase in wind speed yields an even greater increase in wind power, as wind power is the cube of its speed so even small increases in speed can lead to big boosts in power. If wind is streaming at 20 mph on the ground while traveling double that, or 40 mph, at 3,000 feet, its power at altitude would be 8 times the power on ground.

And for the wind equivalent of nuclear fusion, harness jet stream energy:

“It’s the highest energy density of renewable power source available on Earth,” says climate scientist Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University. He notes that the raw power of the jet stream can reach 30,000 watts per square meter and can typically be 10,000 watts per square meter, compared to an average of 300 watts per square meters for solar on the Earth’s surface.

This kind of thinking gives me hope for Earth and mankind......IF we can also more effectively deal with all our other major problems, like population growth, destruction of habitat, insufficient jobs, terrorism, inhumane treatment of others, etc.