A Look at Floating Wind Farms: Harnessing Offshore Energy

[mistersmith6000]

So a cable goes under the sea..to the mainland. Brilliant. I guess it kills a few birds everyday, but maybe they could find a way to stop that too. Brilliant.

[mrHockeyplayer666]

Matt was here.

[GulfOilDisaster2010]

The Department of Defense made a statement around a month ago that large wind turbines obstruct the ability of our defense radars... creating a dead zone.

watch?v=ktEdHxQgSEU

[Rod934]

@GulfOilDisaster2010 that is solvable.

[Terje1337]

Statoil is a partially state owned company, formally completely state owned. What that means, is that it aint never gonna happen. It is a showcase for Norway. They talked about this for several years. They have made several plans for offshore (and onshore) wind farms. None offshore and few onshore have been assembeled. Norway got the technology and the money, but they got some socialist morons running a over taxed country in the government.

[Terje1337]

@Terje1337 *Previously* state owned, have no idea why I wrote formally.

[ananiasacts]

I think they should be designing these to become artificial reefs which they seem likely to become whether they take that into account or not. Furthermore, it seems lame to try exporting the power when we have plenty of uses for it that could take place on the same floating platform, like server farms, data storage, satellite relay, air traffic control, etc. It seems like a great idea: invisible mutualistic infrastructure. What's not to like?

[truvelocity]

Mole! 

[dumbnetworks]

OMG I HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS!!! They are robbing us god damnit

[truvelocity]

@dumbnetworks Its grants not tax dollars. Its OK.

[MrSpitfireUK]

Surely it's not beyond us to create a structure that can take advantage of both wind and tidal/kinteic power at the same time. I would suspect that these floating towers are going to do a lot of wobbling and/or bobbing, and we could harness that energy at the same time.

[SabreTooth123]

@MrSpitfireUK Good thinking.

[Rod934]

@MrSpitfireUK the main problem with also trying to get tidal energy with it would be salt water corrosion. Another thing to consider is it's length and weight which will most likely reduce the overall bobbing and wobbling. I'm sure there are ways in which it could be done, however I think it would be something they would add at a later date to reduce cost.

[MrSpitfireUK]

@Rod934 I didn't think about the corrosion problem, but I managed to think of two designs where the mechanisms wouldn't be susceptible to corrosion (i.e. the mechanisms themselves would be above the surface). Whether they'd actually work, well, probably not actually. It'll need a greater mind than mine, but I'm sure there are plenty of those out there already.

[raihein]

wow

[hitheresunshine]

Offshore wind energy~! Tidal energy~!

Sigh... clean energy. <3

[PeterSodhi]

Superb, unlimited free energy.

At last something decent from Fora than the usual facist Iran and Muslim Holocaust incitement they normally spew as Oil runs out in 2050.

[wordavee]

There are a few on a hillside near where I live, I can't see them from my house, but I like to see them when I drive past, and support the idea of sustainable, renewable energy, but I have seen an area where there are about 40 in a couple of square miles and they really do spoil the landscape. So offshore windfarms seem to be a sensible answer.

[pleasesaymatt]

It's turbine. A turban is what Sikhs wear.

[frilink]

@pleasesaymatt

Then what kind of turbine does the Taliban wear????

[Zeno1999]

@pleasesaymatt >Turban has room for personal turbine to charge a cell phone, what a gr8 idea.

Energy flux density of anything but nuclear energy sucks. This idiot can not imagine, in case of storm, it will kill sharks or whales. New nuclear plants are safe and are the best investment for tax payers.

[hsafti]

@pleasesaymatt you're an apple

[aerobique]

awesome - more of these things

[spikesmth]

Why the hell would anyone thumb-down this video? What kind of morons could have something against wind power?

[Raxarax]

hopefully they'll end up putting these out in the middle of the ocean where no one cares. I don't think most of the people watching this know how annoying it is when you look out at the mountains and you see a wind farm instead...

Solar power is waaaaayyyyy better

[AussiePolitics]

@Raxarax your basis for arguing solar is better is because it looks nicer? go study a first year science course mate and you'll realise pretty quickly that solar power is far less efficient than wind.

[Raxarax]

@AussiePolitics See, you're one of those people I was talking about. I lived near the mountains in Montana. It's beautiful country... or at least it was till they put up 400 wind turbines. Then I moved to west Texas... ya, turbines as far as the eye can see in every direction. It's great! ... If you love looking at wind turbines more than the landscape. It's visual pollution (google it), yes we need power, but just because it's clean doesn't mean it's GREAT GREAT GREAT! in every way.

[AussiePolitics]

@Raxarax did i say that? no i did not. i said that solar power did not even come close to producing enough energy as wind power. solar is virtually a waste of time unless the technology improves dramatically, which it should have by now considering how much more has been spent on it.

[imre1000]

@AussiePolitics, the in this video made a few hundred million out of Solar power, with no gov help:

/watch?v=jCjM2leF5F8

It is possible, but it would work a lot better without Government intervening and trying to 'help'.

[AussiePolitics]

@imre1000 i merely said that wind power was a lot more efficient than solar. sometimes it makes sense to use solar power in certain situations

[hitheresunshine]

@Raxarax

I think the best solution is a combination of all the clean energy sources that we can utilize. :D Wind power, solar power, geothermal energy, tidal energy... All such wonderful prospects!

[Raxarax]

@hitheresunshine Ya, totally agree, just as long as people realize that they can't just go around and put an electricity generator wherever they want to. I be no one would argue that we need to turn yellowstone national park into a geothermal production plant. The same can be said for our coastline. I dont care about the turbines as long as they are placed somewhere where no one cares (ex: the middle of the ocean)

[MaximusProteus]

Nice. There are lots of these also around Dennmark.

[goog2k]

Very cool idea. BRAVO!!!

Good luck.

(BTW, what are the economics compared to coal fired plants?)

[joncl1]

ummm... 27 ft below water and 20 ft above water is ALOT less than 500 ft...

[Phelan666]

@joncl1 lol he fails math forever.

[Nibielari]

@joncl1 now he could be wrong but i am thinking that the turbine is this big and the balancing bar or what ever they would use would extend to 500ft. this is the only thing i could think of for him not to be an idiot.

[LordSlag]

Awesome video. FIRST!  Thumbs up.