Scientists hope to hugely reduce the cost of wind energy by removing the blades from wind farms, instead taking advantage of a special phenomenon to cause the turbines to violently shake.
Vortex, a startup from Spain, has developed the tall sticks known as Bladeless — white poles jutting out of the ground, that are built so that they can oscillate. They do so as a result of the way that the wind is whipped up around them, using a phenomenon that architects avoid happening to buildings and encouraging it so that the sticks shake.
They do so using vortices, which is where the company gets its name from. The bladeless turbines use special magnets to ensure that the turbines are optimised to shake the most they can, whatever speed the wind is travelling at.
As the sticks vibrate, that movement is converted into electricity by an alternator.
Wiggling Poles of the Wasteland Harvest Electricity For Power Hungry Humans
These also look like they would cause fewer problems for birds and bats.
This is really cool.
They leave off the important note that when the wind rises, each pole makes a sound like a hundred vuvuzelas roaring at once. In the post-apocalyptic world of the future, villagers will speak in hushed tones about the Roaring Plains, and caution adventurous travelers to stay well away.
I appreciate how they essentially invented very useful yet alien-looking screaming pillars. Science continues to make some suspiciously sci-fi shit.
Anonymous: Do you celebrate Epiphany in the Netherlands?
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I personally don’t, but I know some people do. We call it Driekoningen, which translates to “Three Kings”.
I have no idea what the holiday is about, what it involves or how it came to be, so based on the evidence available I’m guessing three kings had an epiphany one time and it was so good that it was worth celebrating?
oh so that’s what ya call it in other countries? we got that in Mexico - A-
The kings (wise men) are the ones who deliver the gifts instead of Coca Cola man and we eat rosca de reyes on the Jan 6th night… so our holidays last until the 7th - .-
Anonymous: Do you celebrate Epiphany in the Netherlands?