Comments on: Peter Thiel funds tornado power: seriously http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/ Fri, 24 May 2013 23:28:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Joshua Mark http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1290241 Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:59:59 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1290241 I fear for nearby bird populations. Wind turbines hit the odd unlucky bird but a large enough version of this would suck in entire flocks.

]]> By: Joshua Mark http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1290240 Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:58:43 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1290240 And how do you propose to “use the heat directly”? Generating electricity from heat on a commercial level means converting water to steam and passing it though a turbine. Waste heat is from the condensation after boiling. Not useful for a steam turbine but good for something like this.

This may make sense for a nuclear plant but not coal. The energy removed from the condensate would just need to be put back in by the reactor or the coal powered boilers. The same goes for geothermal.

]]> By: Joshua Mark http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1290238 Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:53:54 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1290238 An artificial tornado can’t venture from it’s source – the heat differential. So not much.

]]> By: Keef Wivaneff http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1277456 Mon, 24 Dec 2012 01:01:34 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1277456 HORSE-PLOP!

]]> By: Andrew Woburn http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1267186 Wed, 19 Dec 2012 04:05:03 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1267186 Possibly it is more efficient to drive a turbine directly from the heat source than to first convert the heat into steam?

]]> By: Achmed Khammas http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1266203 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:51:07 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1266203 There is a somehow similar system – which work on water, not air – called ‘Vortex Synergy Model’, see here:
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Vortex_Synergy_Model_–_The_Messiah_Machine

]]> By: Ed http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1265854 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:46:43 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1265854 So if you’re harvesting the waste heat, why use it to generate a vortex? By doing so you’re automatically generating frictional losses…..why not just use the heat directly? This doesn’t make any sense to me

]]> By: michael kanellos http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1263665 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 17:40:46 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1263665 PARC and a Swedish company called Watreco have been trying vortex power for a few years. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/water-companies-taking-cue-from-nature-1388/

mostly for water purificaiton.

]]> By: James http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1263378 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:00:55 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1263378 There’s a difference in temperature between ground-level air and air higher in the atmosphere. This temperature gradient is where natural tornadoes get their energy from, too.

]]> By: Nun http://gigaom.com/2012/12/16/peter-thiel-funds-tornado-power-seriously/#comment-1263282 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:23:07 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=594891#comment-1263282 What could go wrong?

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