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    A Less Obtrusive Wind Device

    By Donal on Thu, 01/20/2011 - 8:14pm | Technology

    Update:

    This video Resistance linked to is also interesting - recovering oil from plastic. Again, you have to evaluate whether he is spending more energy melting the oil than he is getting back, but it sounds good.

     

    Found this vimeo on Kottke. From New York Times Magazine: The 10th Annual Year in Ideas

    Oscillating wind panels ...

    are the brainchild of Francis Moon, a professor of mechanical engineering at Cornell University. He created a panel of 25 pads that oscillate in the wind, much the way leaves vibrate when a gust of air sifts through a tree. The pads attach to piezoelectric materials that produce electricity from each vibration.

    Moon and a team of undergraduates have a working prototype called Vibro-Wind, which functions in variable wind speeds and generates little noise, making it ideally suited for urban spaces. Moon envisions Vibro-Wind on the sides and roofs of buildings, powering electronics and ad displays day and night.

    There are already small wind gathering devices, so I'd be curious as to the relative energy produced and the embedded energy cost of such a device compared to those. It's interesting, though.

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    Technology

    Comments

    I thought the graphics were good; very simple and cute.

    What a great idea on the science side also.

    Maybe they could put some small capillary tubing into the panels, and move solar heated water. ......A design patterned off of the concept found in a leaf.

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention Donal

    Heres another I was shown. I don't know if it is real.........Japanese inventor creates machine to convert plastic "trash" back into oil

    http://www.flixxy.com/convert-plastic-to-oil.htm


    by Resistance on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 2:24am

    Fascinating.

    I wonder if the plastic to oil machine has residue and if you can use the gas you produce to run the machine?

    The wind machine is really interesting.


    by Richard Day on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 3:00pm

    What a glorious time ....

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwhD7jwwwkw


    by Resistance on Fri, 01/21/2011 - 6:20pm

    Donal, the plastic oil video is awesome!

    A kilo of plastic is about 2.2 pounds. That's quite a lot of material. You'd be surprised how much it is depending on the density of the material.

    And you're right about it being cost effective. The machine reminds me of a still...heat the mash, the vapors rise and travel up to a coil tube which cools the vapor to a liquid. The key here is how much time does it take to exchange 1 kilo of plastic into 1 liter of oil? And the conversion time uses a specific amount of power too. So is the conversion costs lower than the oil extracted? If it costs more to produce the oil then it's toy.

    Here in Germany, we have to separate paper, plastic/metals/tins, and food into separate, distinct containers for public pick-up. I know the Germans burn lots of food trash that has no productive secondary use in incinerators which I suspect produce steam for electrical power plants. I can see them doing this with plastics if it's cost effective in a large scale operation.


    by Beetlejuice on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 9:07am