Meet the Magenn Air Rotor System, or MARS. Created by Magenn Power, MARS is a new technology for capturing wind energy. This inflatable wind turbine tethers to the ground. can reach winds 1,000 feet above the ground, and operates in a larger range of wind speeds than traditional wind turbines. It can be deployed quickly, deflated, and reused without heavy machinery. It is also bird and bat friendly and has relatively low noise emissions. This new turbine address many of issues associated with traditional wind turbines. By reaching a higher altitude, it can harness more reliable wind. It allows for more choice in placement by offering the option to reposition it. Environmentalists' concerns for bat and bird populations are also addressed in this design.
This seems like an amazing idea to me. I read into it a little bit here : http://www.magenn.com/ and this design has a good number of advantages over the "traditional" wind turbines. MARS can be "easily" set up and taken down, which makes it a mobile wind turbine. This mobilization would be impossible with the traditional turbines, which take a good deal of heavy equipment and time to set up. One of the MARS target markets involves natural disasters or other situations of emergency in which the grid in an area would go down. MARS systems could be established in the area to bring power back online to those people. When hurricane Ike hit Houston a few years ago, I knew some people who were without power for two weeks due to the grid going down. A MARS setup sure would have come in handy then...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, this recalls many of the ideas put forward in the new AWT technology being developed by Makani: http://www.makanipower.com/
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