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> tl;dr looking at historic patterns I've seen many new forms of wind energy, they all didn't make it. What stays successful is doing almost the same thing more
by realusername 7y ago
> tl;dr looking at historic patterns I've seen many new forms of wind energy, they all didn't make it. What stays successful is doing almost the same thing more efficient and at larger scale.
This is the main reason: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betz%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betz%27s_law. Wind turbines are already very close to max efficiency, the only thing you can do is make them bigger and cheaper.
- barking 7y agoI don't like them, where I live we had a view like something from the sound of music and now we have 8 turbines in the foreground. Also they are visible from so far away that they have diminished the perceived scale of the landscape.
- einpoklum 7y agoBetz' law is not a restriction. The challenge isn't extraction of more of the energy. The challenges are: * Production cost $ * Production cost in terms of resources (e.g. renewable organic materials vs metal, rare earth etc.) * Maintenance $ * Complexity of maintenance * Necessary area / turbine * Necessary area / turbine * Necessary volume / turbine * Noise level * Usability in extreme environmental conditions ... and maybe other things I've missed.
- realusername 7y agoThat's still a big restriction, other technologies could have a breakthrough which makes them 10x more efficient, this will never happen with wind turbines.
- einpoklum 7y agoWe're talking about harnessing wind power. There is no "10x more efficient".