Comments on: The Daily Sprout http://gigaom.com/cleantech/the-daily-sprout-7/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:51:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: TomR http://gigaom.com/cleantech/the-daily-sprout-7/#comment-6509 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:16:10 +0000 http://earth2tech.com/2007/07/27/the-daily-sprout-7/#comment-6509 Wow, that maglev thing is just ridiculous is too many ways to list, but just to hit a few simple fact checks….

Modern wind turbines are typically 30%-40% efficient. But, the highest possible efficiency for a wind turbine is around 59%, simply because you need to leave enough energy in the wind for the air to move away downstream (google Betz limit for more on this).

Losses to bearing friction are not all that large. If they were, the amount of energy going to heat the bearing would be similar to the amount of energy the turbine generates, and, well, there’d be a lot of melted turbines around.

Most existing wind turbines were put into production in the last few years. Relatively few are nearing the end of their useful life, as the site claims. Operating and Maintaince costs for wind turbines are generally quite low.

There are plenty more. It seems like all these guys did was take a vertical axis design, draw it like a 1000 feet tall, and add the word “maglev” all over the place. Question is, are they just cranks, or actively trying to defraud investors?

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