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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg “The resource is really, really phenomenal,” said Christine Archer of Cal State University-Chico (wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/highaltitudewindpower)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/magenn_machine.jpgAlexis Madrigal - WIRED (wired.com) - June 15, 2009

This would make for quite a sci-fi skyline -- Ed.

The wind blowing through the streets of Manhattan couldn’t power the city, but wind machines placed thousands of feet above the city theoretically could.

The first rigorous, worldwide study of high-altitude wind power estimates that there is enough wind energy at altitudes of about 1,600 to 40,000 feet to meet global electricity demand a hundred times over.

The very best ground-based wind sites have a wind-power density of less than 1 kilowatt per square meter of area swept. Up near the jet stream above New York, the wind power density can reach 16 kilowatts per square meter. The air up there is a vast potential reservoir of energy, if its intermittency can be overcome.

Even better, the best high-altitude wind-power resources match up with highly populated areas including North America’s Eastern Seaboard and China’s coastline.

“The resource is really, really phenomenal,” said Christine Archer of Cal State University-Chico, who co-authored a paper on the work published in the open-access journal Energies.”There is a lot of energy up there, but it’s not as steady as we thought. It’s not going to be the silver bullet that will solve all of our energy problems, but it will have a role.”

For centuries, we’ve been using high-density fossil fuels, but peaking oil supplies and climate concerns have given new life to green technologies. Unfortunately, renewable energy is generally diffuse, meaning you need to cover a lot of area to get the energy you want. So engineers look for renewable resources that are as dense as possible. On that score, high-altitude wind looks very promising.... http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/highaltitudewindpower/

Interesting, but how do you anchor it in place? Certainly they aren't planning to build a 30,000 foot tall tower-or are they?



I suppose you could anchor it in several places-upwind and either side of the wind, and then use a wing shape to give it lift. I'm guessing that is how the blimp in the picture works.
Charlie

Interesting, but how do you anchor it in place? Certainly they aren't planning to build a 30,000 foot tall tower-or are they?

It's a long cable. The cable splits off in a Y configurations and the balloon spins like a wheel. There are a few bugs to work out and personally, I'm not betting on seeing them in large scale production. Think about it. If this thing is up at 40K feet, that's at least 7.5 miles of cable. You factor in that the balloon moves with the wind direction, that means you'de need a 15mile radius cleared at all times. I could see them spaced out over the ocean somewhere, but not over any populated areas. Then you have to consider severe weather, and what would happen if the cable broke loose and fell back down. It's and interesting and thought provoking idea that could be made to work, but I won't be investing my money in the technology.

Looks like it would prove to be an interesting obstacle course for jetliners and very similar in layout to the barrage balloons used to deter attacks by enemy aircraft in WWII.

Looks like it would prove to be an interesting obstacle course for jetliners and very similar in layout to the barrage balloons used to deter attacks by enemy aircraft in WWII.We should have had this deployed on 9/11 ;)