Giant Kites as Free-Flying Wind Turbines - LEARN3

Saul Griffith dreams of giant kite turbines creating huge amounts of
clean, renewable energy.



Wind is the second largest renewable resource after solar. But the majority of wind power is in high altitudes, well above 300 feet - beyond the reach of today's wind turbines. We don't have a technology (yet) capable of tapping into this rich source of wind energy.

This idea was described by Miles L. Loyd in his paper "Crosswind Kite Power". He concluded that a free-flying wing [giant kite] can sweep through more sky and generate more power in a unit of time than a fixed wing turbine [today's wind turbine].

The dawn of the new age of kites has begun...

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/saul_griffith_on_kites_as_the_fut...