Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Energy Flags….

Today’s post: Weds, 2-20-2008

I recently read an interesting article. In much the same way that self-winding watches work, the article said that nanotech “cloth” had been developed that could use the normal motions of the wearer to generate electricity.

Due to severe skin irritation or serious health problems nanoparticles may be capable of causing, I’m not at all sure that using such devices would be wise or safe--in clothing.

Cloth tends to break down into dust particles. So you also have think about whether or not it’s safe to breathe nanoparticles before they get used in clothing.

Lightweight plastic film could seal in the electricity generating nanoparticles & prevent these problems. But it’s not very comfortable to wear.

So, I’m not sure energy generating shirts are a good idea at all.

However, the article also happened to mention that this kind of cloth would produce current if it was moved by a light breeze.

That suggests a potentially very useful application.

In fact, it may suggest a double application.

Windmills do work to convert wind in windy areas to electricity.

But they use a lot of metals to build. They have a significant lead time to install them. And, the big ones quite literally hit birds out of the sky when they are turning.

Why not put up multiple flags on each pole where the flags are made of this lightweight plastic film sealing in the electricity generating nanoparticles this article describes?

You could put up a lot of these flag poles quickly. With enough flags deployed & enough wind, I suspect you could out-generate the windmills you could fit on the same land. Even better, birds do not run into or get clubbed by stationary flag poles with flags on them.

The double application would be to put thin film solar cells on the outside of the flags. That way the outside would make electricity from sunlight. And the inside would make electricity from the wind.

I’m not technical enough or rich enough to try this myself. And, the basic idea may be too simple to patent directly.

(The precise processes needed to make it work properly at reasonable cost definitely would be.)

So, if anyone reading this can use this idea, by all means explore it or use it.

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