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Using windmill creatively to suction in the urban air SOOT
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Copy pasting this from @rgschreib,
Mr. Robert Schreib wrote:
A New Kind of Urban Windmill That Could Work In New Jersey. That is, a Land Art Initiative outfit, that proves that we can install various kinds of wind power systems into cityscapes and make them look beautiful. A recurring idea in that direction for many years is, let's install, retrofit actually, windmills onto the tall electric powerline utility towers, and have them make additional electricity to feed into our national electric grid. BUT, at this rate, that project might never happen, because if we did that, it would require a MASSIVE restructuring of the power grid and its gear, which apparently, nobody upstairs is willing to pay for as yet. However, here in New Jersey, we got such utility towers all over the densely populated state in all of America, and they are often NEAR some town or place that could use cheap electricity. They recently installed a type of vertical windmill inside of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, which now supplies that tower with about 1/3 of its electric power needs. And, we have a lot of those 'erector set' utility towers, with nothing but empty space inside their skeleton structuring, which such vertical windmills could be retrofitted. BUT, instead or trying to re-wire the local electric power grids, use them to compress outside air into hoses that could be threaded through the local sewer lines, or just buried in the ground, that lead to local businesses or factories or the larger homes. The compressed air propels a turbine to turn an electric generator in those places, to supply a lot of clean electricity to them. Perhaps this jet of air could enable cheap air conditioning in malls and the like as well.
Also, this could be a kind of reverse air pollution thing, because this set up would suction in the urban air SOOT into air filters, which could be supplied by India's Jute paper industry, very cheaply. OR, arrays of cheap, small windmills installed around cities, could be equipped with such air pumps, only, instead of making electricity, they are piped into the street sewer lines under the cities, so that a slow, but constant, negative air pressure is inside of the sewers, and that could consistently suck in a LOT of the SOOT or air pollution particulates in our cities, into the sewers street storm drains, where it will be mixed with the water in there, and stop circulating around. And, we could use modern 3D printing devices to 'grow' corkscrew-shaped windmills, that rotates in the wind, within these towers. And paint it with bright colors, so as it spins, it's a artistic 'barber pole' blowing in the wind as well, to keep the Land Art Initiative objective of making these thing beautiful as well. For that matter, what if we added LED lights and whistles that make high pitched sounds, to scare birds and bats from colliding with big windmill? That covers it.
Mr. Robert Schreib wrote:
A New Kind of Urban Windmill That Could Work In New Jersey. That is, a Land Art Initiative outfit, that proves that we can install various kinds of wind power systems into cityscapes and make them look beautiful. A recurring idea in that direction for many years is, let's install, retrofit actually, windmills onto the tall electric powerline utility towers, and have them make additional electricity to feed into our national electric grid. BUT, at this rate, that project might never happen, because if we did that, it would require a MASSIVE restructuring of the power grid and its gear, which apparently, nobody upstairs is willing to pay for as yet. However, here in New Jersey, we got such utility towers all over the densely populated state in all of America, and they are often NEAR some town or place that could use cheap electricity. They recently installed a type of vertical windmill inside of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, which now supplies that tower with about 1/3 of its electric power needs. And, we have a lot of those 'erector set' utility towers, with nothing but empty space inside their skeleton structuring, which such vertical windmills could be retrofitted. BUT, instead or trying to re-wire the local electric power grids, use them to compress outside air into hoses that could be threaded through the local sewer lines, or just buried in the ground, that lead to local businesses or factories or the larger homes. The compressed air propels a turbine to turn an electric generator in those places, to supply a lot of clean electricity to them. Perhaps this jet of air could enable cheap air conditioning in malls and the like as well.
Also, this could be a kind of reverse air pollution thing, because this set up would suction in the urban air SOOT into air filters, which could be supplied by India's Jute paper industry, very cheaply. OR, arrays of cheap, small windmills installed around cities, could be equipped with such air pumps, only, instead of making electricity, they are piped into the street sewer lines under the cities, so that a slow, but constant, negative air pressure is inside of the sewers, and that could consistently suck in a LOT of the SOOT or air pollution particulates in our cities, into the sewers street storm drains, where it will be mixed with the water in there, and stop circulating around. And, we could use modern 3D printing devices to 'grow' corkscrew-shaped windmills, that rotates in the wind, within these towers. And paint it with bright colors, so as it spins, it's a artistic 'barber pole' blowing in the wind as well, to keep the Land Art Initiative objective of making these thing beautiful as well. For that matter, what if we added LED lights and whistles that make high pitched sounds, to scare birds and bats from colliding with big windmill? That covers it.
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Comments
Given your vast experience in the field, please share your thoughts on the above solution shared by Dr. Robert Schreib. Thanks.
The Land Art Initiative is also an interesting parameter for us to keep in consideration as we design this prize. Scalability and adoption are essential for any solution or new technology that comes from an XPRIZE competition. Thanks for contributing to our discussion!
Given your extensive knowledge and experience in the field, I feel you should be able to answer Terry's (@TerryMulligan) question and provide feedback on solution shared by @rgschreib. Please join the discussion.