Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Baker Street Irregulars

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                 

Energy from a hurricane

If we can not stop it, why not use it
 
(0)
  [vote for,
against]

A hurricane contains the immense, destructive, energy thanks to the latent, or vaporising heat, from the water that has evaporated from the ocean, and that has been densified by east winds. It carries a lot of steam which is gradually cooling and it becommes rain, lots of rain, floods. The heat also generates a movement of large masses of air, and it becommes a storm. How this immense energy which is released in a relative short period of time, can be used, if not stopped. If we had a series of large turbo compressors, like giant jet motors, on a big pillars, built all arround "the hurricane path" which would strongly suck in this air in the time when a hurricane is comming, when the air is moist, saturated with steam, and compress it as much as possible in large tanks, which are thermally insulated, this air would raise the temperature, under compression, and that means that we have taken some of the energy from the hurricane, and stored it in a safe place. That also means that we would have an enormous ammount of molekular energy of water, of steam, densified, and stored in the insulated tanks, which we can use later. How? Well, when you have a large ammount of heat and hot steam, you can do a lot of things. First, we could have Stirling motors and use this energy for days and days, producing electricity. Or, if it can be stored long enough, mybe it can be used for heating in the winter. By taking this energy away, the steam would gradually cool and condense and release more of vapourising heat. And of course, when taking the energy away, the steam would condense, producing a lot of destilled water, wich also can be used. It would be a large ammount of water. 1 kg of water, condensed in a second, produces 1.2 Mw of power. 200 MW of power, produces about 600 tons of water per hour. In short, when a hurricane is comming, you engage some energy, and inhale the air, taking as much of its energy as possible, and store it for later. In this way, depending on how much energy you can take, maybe, you can even decrease its power. But what would be the total energy balance. I think that it would be positive, because of the immense ammount of latent heat, content in the moist air.
lazarus, Sep 26 2011

Obscure, but possibly related http://lmgtfy.com/?...ne+power+halfbakery
[MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 26 2011]

Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.
Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee
Destination URL. E.g., https://www.coffee.com/
Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)






       Does this differ significantly from the [link]?
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 26 2011
  

       Thanks for the links, yes, basicaly its the same idea. What I think that its worth about this idea is dealing with latent heat. We have this global warming, and whatever were trying, commes up to release even more heat. Obscurum per obscurius. We think of the nuclear energy, and forget the molecular energy, which is also immense, but it is not dangerous, it is ideal for earth. After all, didnt the Nature ( a Good Force) itself chose this energy for the job, and it has shown well.
lazarus, Sep 27 2011
  

       Tanks large enough to matter would probably actually be caves or other large subsurface caverns pressed into this surface. Air can definitely be pressurized in a cave - there are dozens of Wind Caves, so named because of the strong winds into our out of the cave caused by pressure differentials. Something like that could certainly be used to generate energy, without requiring hurricanes. A 2-way windmill in the mouth of such a cave would be about as close as one cane come to a perpetual motion machine, generating energy out of changes in barometric pressure.   

       However without loads of insulation I do not think that temperature differences can be maintained; the air will lose heat to the earth and the water will condense.
bungston, Sep 27 2011
  

       Yes, exactly, thats why I tought of the artificial tanks. But if this problem could be solved, look at the benefit. We have pure, good energy, so clean and friendly. And clean, drinkable water. The two most wanted and payable things in the world. But it is also clear that even with this good energy, when densified, we made a potential danger. What if there is an earthquake, like in Japan, and this tank explodes. Boom. But still, if there is a lot of insulation, thermal and mechanical, and even in this worst conditions, the consequences from a boiler explosion is much less than the atomic bomb.
lazarus, Sep 28 2011
  

       //Nature ( a Good Force)//   

       I think Nature is pretty neutral about the whole good/bad thing. Nature is as satisfied with infant meningitis as she is with a butterfly, and dispenses ice-ages and spring afternoons evenhandedly.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 28 2011
  

       I agree. On the whole, Nature seems pretty apathetic. Just to show Nature that we are not impressed with it's attitude, I think we should take her/him/it by the scruff of the neck, drag it off to the furnace and burn it and all it's creations to provide us with more energy for doing stuff!
DrBob, Sep 28 2011
  

       //neutral// Such a Polyanna.
mouseposture, Sep 28 2011
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle