New energy creation

As oil and gas companies lobby in the US to do anything to delay changing our reliance on oil and gas, the world around us is full of floods, fires, and droughts - all affected by the climate crisis. Profits might just matter less if we don’t have a world that is habitable.

But in other places, there are attempts at solutions. We are familiar with the large towers with huge blades either from travel or pictures. I saw some of these in upstate New York in wilderness environments and they even had a majestic look as they moved slowly. I can understand why some might object to noise if they lived too close to them - but we are entering a world where costs and benefits are always going to compete.

Nevertheless many of these towers are offshore - and that means they have to be in places where the wind is greater and also where it is challenging to build wind farms. A typical turbine is composed of a pole and three huge blades. The design is based on windmills. It reminds us that when we create something new we tend to model it on something that we know - like the design of early automobiles that looked somewhat like horse drawn carriages. The poles have to be tethered to the seabed - and that has meant that the can’t necessarily be positioned where the wind is the strongest. What if the turbines could float instead?

Enter the Norwegian company, Wind Catching Systems. Starting in 2017, it wondered if there might be an alternative design. Could a collection of smaller turbines do the job as well. They tried out a model on a sailboat. They have now launched a prototype that is 1000 feet high and has 100 small blades. The turbine can be anchored in deeper water and can generate five times as much energy as a current pole and blade model.

It’s good to have some news like this. Let’s hope that prescient investors move away from oil and gas. This means you, governments and corporations!