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inner city windmills

Lets get that air moving again...
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Recently, the mayor of london, Sadiq Khan has issued air quality alerts in some parts of the capital as pollution reached levels high enough to affect the health of vulnerable people. messages have been displayed at bus countdown signs, at the entrance of all 270 tube stations and on roadside signs, where motorists have been warned to switch off engines when stationary to cut emissions.

The problem is exacerbated by high air pressure and minimal wind, which means the pollutants are not dispersed and instead sit over the capital. This is all very well but it might be a good idea to build inner city windmills in strategic places in the centre of town and other traffic choked spots.

I'm sure these things could have other uses; advertising space, scientific research, bird perches, xmas light arrangements, traffic information, electricity generated for the national grid.

po, Dec 17 2016

The World Set Free, HG Wells 1913 http://www.gutenber...-h.htm#link2HCH0002
Those that were thrown from aeroplanes fell in this state, they reached the ground still mainly solid, and, melting soil and rock in their progress, bored into the earth. There, as more and more of the Carolinum became active, the bomb spread itself out into a monstrous cavern of fiery energy at the base of what became very speedily a miniature active volcano. The Carolinum, unable to disperse, freely drove into and mixed up with a boiling confusion of molten soil and superheated steam, and so remained spinning furiously and maintaining an eruption that lasted for years or months or weeks according to the size of the bomb employed and the chances of its dispersal. Once launched, the bomb was absolutely unapproachable and uncontrollable until its forces were nearly exhausted, and from the crater that burst open above it, puffs of heavy incandescent vapour and fragments of viciously punitive rock and mud, saturated with Carolinum, and each a centre of scorching and blistering energy, were flung high and far. [bungston, Dec 17 2016]

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       Why not just cover London with an impervious dome ? Wait for those enclosed within to expire, then turn it into an all-weather theme park for tourists.   

       Sorted.
8th of 7, Dec 17 2016
  

       A few years back, Camp Teacup considered putting small wind turbines on the windward side of the lodge, to make the most of the mighty G'Bay gusts. Almost wrote a letter to Honeywell regarding our suitability as a cold-weather test area, then realized that this would put us on the world's radar. (We prefer to be only slightly known, hidden in plain sight, and nearly completely impossible to contact, so, no.) SanFran or some other hip California city installed small wind turbines on the edges of downtown high rises, to re-use the wind turbulence from traffic below. I know I saw it somewhere... <rummages around old boxes of internet in attic...>   

       So, bun, [po], if your invention reclaims energy from passing cars to help power itself...in case the connection* was unclear.   

       *This was a big story. It's Winter; we tell a lot of stories in winter--usually while sitting in ice-fishing huts--and sometimes the flow of Canadian whisky interferes with the flow of logic. Sometimes.
Sgt Teacup, Dec 17 2016
  

       I hadn't considered reclaiming energy from cars although I suppose that's a possibility.
po, Dec 17 2016
  

       This would be the opposite of a windmill. Mill as in flour mill: a mill that makes wind. Giant blowers. New Orleans has giant pumps, so why not?   

       It occurs to be that a different way to make wind would be to have an enormous heat source in the city center. Possibly nuclear? The resulting updraft would suck air in from the periphery, oxidize any oxidizables, and shoot it into the sky. Maybe it could be next to the giant ferris wheel that I understand is there. And there is the river too! I see an Four Elements sort of scheme coming together.
bungston, Dec 17 2016
  

       Yes a reverse windmill to create wind with huge flappy arms.   

       Btw, I emailed you Ian, an out of order addy perhaps! xx
po, Dec 17 2016
  

       Excellent input [bung]
po, Dec 17 2016
  

       It would be a great scene for a movie: flying in over London with the glowing nukehole in the center, churning windmills circled around it like worshippers.   

       That reminds me of the WW1 with nukes described by HG Wells. Lets see if I can link it up for those unfamiliar. I can definitely imagine, if you happened to have one of those in your city, setting up to make use of it.
bungston, Dec 17 2016
  

       I think it is a good idea.
beanangel, Dec 17 2016
  

       //the pollutants are not dispersed and instead sit over the capital.   

       Ahh, the House of Commons.
not_morrison_rm, Dec 17 2016
  

       I thought this was going to be one of [xenzag]'s beautiful, albeit surreal, ideas. But lo and behold, no, it's po. Wonderful dear one.
blissmiss, Dec 17 2016
  
      
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