I have also never seen this 'data' about how windmills are frivolous, and I've looked. All I can ever find are individuals that have no personal knowledge of the systems making unfounded claims. Certainly there are instances of poorly planned 'windfarms' that, because of lack/over abundance of wind don't work properly, or because of regulation and electric company resistance are cost prohibitive. Personal/home units (where they can be erected, and have proper wind conditions) can be great, especially for off grid living. It magnifies the possibilities of a solar system because it generates when the sun isn't out (like when there's a storm) using the same battery system and inverter/converter system the solar uses, so there's little added cost. If you got into solar early enough, the rebates available made the systems a great deal (in some cases, nearly free after the rebate). My system, which cost me a ton of cash, has paid for itself in under 8 years (if you don't consider that electricity rates have gone up considerably since I bought it, if you do count that it was closer to a 6.5 years for full payback, with a minimum 20+ year system lifespan) thanks to rebates and tax breaks...and the systems are far cheaper today than when I bought mine. I've also not lost hundreds (or thousands) of dollars worth of food due to numerous week long power outages, like my neighbors have.
I often consider adding a smallish wind turbine so I have more generation power, especially needed when the power goes out during a storm, which is exactly when a turbine could shine. My issue is jackhole neighbors that would likely not give 'permission' to erect the mast, or would complain about the turbine noise (reasonably or not).
So, in my semi-educated opinion, turbines CAN be a great solution when done right, and can also be economical, especially when compared to the electric company. Of course you can find instances of poor planning making them poor performers, but that's not the norm.

A friend of mind put a windmill up on his property with a solar array and is completely off grid now. No more power bills.

To date I've seen no such data to make me feel that windmills are a waste or frivolous. Feel free to provide some figures and links.

I don't see windmills as a blight or waste of space. The Bloom Boxes look great and I'm glad that they work well, but they still need a fuel. Windmills do not.

This is heartbreaking. Kenyan ingenuity is amazing (as it is everywhere in the world where people can't just throw away things and buy new). The vehicles they use would have been condemned decades ago here in the UK, but without a big spares network, dealer servicing or even a garage to work in they keep them running.

He's following his dream and good for him. It's just so painfully obvious that he's never going to get there. Anyone who looks at what he built and even think 'maybe...' is obviously completely oblivious to aeronautics!

There are some great examples of awesome, life changing technologies which have been created out of scraps in the African bush, like the kid who built windmills in Malawi: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8257153.stm

But it seems for every person who does great things, others fall by the wayside.

I'm glad I don't have to live like they do in Kenya, but I wouldn't mind a bit of their spirit. Dude's built more than I have...

Ok, so is the giant clear ball with it's mount, the specialized miniature solar cells able to handle focused sunlight, and the tracking device cheaper than normal PV cells with normal trackers? I can't imagine it is, so while neat, I fear this tech won't fly in normal applications. Maybe in designer homes and places with high wind, but high wind areas should probably be using windmills/turbines and flat mounted solar.

TRY PLAYING CHICKEN WITH THIS WINDMILL BEOTCH!!

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Windmill-Destroyed-By-Wind

3 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

This video has been declared a duplicate by the original submitter; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof declared by pumkinandstorm.

Cool video but sadly has been sifted http://videosift.com/video/Windmill-Destroyed-By-Wind

The heyllll you talkin' bout, can't flow together? The entire basis of "power moves" in breakdancing is being able to sustain rotational momentum while nearly seamlessly chaining them together. I would be of the opinion that is one form of flow.

Not trying to be a dick, but if you're really saying that nothing new has been invented in the past, I think you have to regain some perspective, and you're also missing a lot of nuance. 15 years ago people doing straight windmills would be somewhat impressive. It wasn't much more than five years ago that air tracks (0:38) became common. People were not doing that shit in the 90s. And certainly not doing it on just one elbow, while grabbing their other leg and sipping a cold Coke all at the same time.

People do moves, and then other people figure out ways to add a little something on top of those moves, and so on and so forth. I think there is definitely an artistic aspect to it, in that there's an exploration there of the limits of the human body, and dancers have taken things much further over time.

I think to some extent breakdancing has been played out, when it kind of resurged in the 2000s. It's also frequently taken out of its larger context of hip hop dance, where it's just one aspect of many different styles.

Anyway, yeah, I guess I'm kind of defensive about breakdancing.
/former breakdancer

What was the point of the wind lights again?

Engineer 1: "Oh look, there's enough wind coming off of passing cars to turn some windmills, what should we do with that energy?"
Engineer 2: "Why don't we put a light at the middle of the windmill. That way, passing drivers will know that there are windmills on the side of the road generating just enough energy to inform the drivers of their presence."

That is not how windmills work!!!

>> ^jqpublick:

I think it's more likely that this system extends the drive time of whatever battery cells he has installed in the thing. It's not that he's getting free energy, it's just that at 40 the system is going fast enough that even though there's a net loss, the additional energy stored in the batteries gives a longer running time. I think that's just about all that there is here.
>> ^rkone:
>> ^Drachen_Jager:
That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

Agreed. I'd downvote the video if I could. People, if you're in doubt, think of it this way - if the fan could generate more power than the loss of pushing it, then you could just keep adding more fans until it becomes a perpetual motion machine..



Problem, nothing happens at 40 miles an hour in physics for a decrease wind resistance and drag. If anything, the faster you go, the more of a problem wind becomes. There is no possible way that this is extending his drive time. This is exactly equal to holding your hand out the window. If you could turn that blockage into electricity, it will always be less energy than the amount of momentum it sapped via drag. Or else ALL CARS WOULD ALREADY DO THIS! The reason you don't is because it doesn't work.

A simple instance where something like this IS used is the emergency ram air turbine for jumbo jets. When there is a complete loss of power, a ram air turbine drops down to generate emergency power for the hydraulic systems. This increases drag, but it is so small that it isn't a problem. But it is also why air planes don't have windmills on them, anything you use to block the wind is slowing you down more than any recoverable amount of energy via electric conservation of kinetic energy. This is physics 101, entropy, it's a bitch!

Now, if he compressed the incoming air, added a combustion chamber with kerosene or gasoline, then he would have himself a turbine engine for his car, but now, he just has a lesson in why physics is hard.