power-line mounted turbines?

Check out this winner of the 2008 red dot design awards by Nils Uellendahl, it's a concept for a helical turbine that mounts directly onto over-head power lines. It's quite interesting in two ways:

• it generates electricity directly into the line using induction
• It's actually horizontally mounted, however is actually a traditional vertical-axis turbine

I'm sure there are some large issues with the electrical connection and grid stability (to say the least!), and with the additional loading of the power lines, however it's a great concept.

24 October 2009 - an international day of climate action

In preparation for the December '09 Copenhagen round of international discussions on climage change, 350.org is busy preparing local actions around the world on the 24th of October to reiterate the goal of a return to 350ppm of CO2 - a worthy aim for any climate change negotations indeed!

The Copenhagen round will be keenly watched by the renewable-energy industry, as it could well provide a huge boost to meet any meaningful CO2-reduction target. It's fair to say that the wind industry will be set to receive the lion's share of any boost, as it's commercially the most ready technology we have available at the moment. A 2010 boost would be welcome news to an industry that is starting to feel the effects of the GFC through hard-to-find financing.