MonkeyClicker - Slashdot User

Submission + - First floating wind turbine buoyed off Norway (cnet.com)

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MonkeyClicker

on Friday June 12, 2009 @11:20AM

MonkeyClicker writes: "Development of offshore wind farms has been restricted to places where turbines can be attached to the sea bed.

But earlier this week, Siemens and energy company StatoilHydro installed what they call the first large-scale floating turbine. The installation is off the coast of Norway, and testing is expected to last for two years.

The Hywind turbine will still have a ballast that is tied to the sea floor with cables. Wires will transfer the electricity produced to the mainland grid starting in July."

Submission + - Inflatable tower could climb to the edge of space (newscientist.com) 1

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MonkeyClicker

on Monday June 08, 2009 @11:59AM

MonkeyClicker writes: "A GIANT inflatable tower could carry people to the edge of space without the need for a rocket, and could be completed much sooner than a cable-based space elevator, its proponents claim.

Inflatable pneumatic modules already used in some spacecraft could be assembled into a 15-kilometre-high tower, say Brendan Quine, Raj Seth and George Zhu at York University in Toronto, Canada, writing in Acta Astronautica (DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.02.018). If built from a suitable mountain top it could reach an altitude of around 20 kilometres, where it could be used for atmospheric research, tourism, telecoms or launching spacecraft."

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