Comments on: An Evening with the Technical Director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute http://chrisgammell.com/2009/08/21/an-evening-with-the-technical-director-of-the-great-lakes-energy-institute/ Combining renewable energy, analog design and some real life experience. A delicious stew of engineering! Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:12:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: The Sustainability/Renewable Energy Jumble | Chris Gammell's Analog Life http://chrisgammell.com/2009/08/21/an-evening-with-the-technical-director-of-the-great-lakes-energy-institute/comment-page-1/#comment-1151 The Sustainability/Renewable Energy Jumble | Chris Gammell's Analog Life Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:41:22 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=1390#comment-1151 [...] Stuff An Evening with the Technical Director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute Sep [...] [...] Stuff An Evening with the Technical Director of the Great Lakes Energy Institute Sep [...]

]]> By: Nate http://chrisgammell.com/2009/08/21/an-evening-with-the-technical-director-of-the-great-lakes-energy-institute/comment-page-1/#comment-1134 Nate Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:14:42 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=1390#comment-1134 thankfully, turbine blade stall is pretty predictable with 3d models today, and we don't have to resort to empirical models (unless we want to). If a 2 blade turbine and a 3 blade turbine produce the same power for a given amount of swept area, then it makes sense to go with 3 if stresses in the blades is the limiting factor; 3 blades can take more stress than 2. Really though, I expect more success from biofuels and plant-derived power sources than I do in wind power. Wind power depends too heavily on weather conditions and where to place the towers, etc. My hope for a new energy source is in these synthetic fuel-producing algaes and similar things. That uses an infrastructure that is basically already in place, is very scalable, and theoretically still carbon-neutral. Wind and solar power sources will have a lot of trouble supplying more than a small percentage of America's power. Where is SimCity 2015 so we can all play around and test these theories? thankfully, turbine blade stall is pretty predictable with 3d models today, and we don’t have to resort to empirical models (unless we want to). If a 2 blade turbine and a 3 blade turbine produce the same power for a given amount of swept area, then it makes sense to go with 3 if stresses in the blades is the limiting factor; 3 blades can take more stress than 2.

Really though, I expect more success from biofuels and plant-derived power sources than I do in wind power. Wind power depends too heavily on weather conditions and where to place the towers, etc. My hope for a new energy source is in these synthetic fuel-producing algaes and similar things. That uses an infrastructure that is basically already in place, is very scalable, and theoretically still carbon-neutral. Wind and solar power sources will have a lot of trouble supplying more than a small percentage of America’s power. Where is SimCity 2015 so we can all play around and test these theories?

]]> By: Gregg LaBar http://chrisgammell.com/2009/08/21/an-evening-with-the-technical-director-of-the-great-lakes-energy-institute/comment-page-1/#comment-1132 Gregg LaBar Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:42:16 +0000 http://chrisgammell.com/?p=1390#comment-1132 I agree with you on the summit that it was quite non-technical, but I think necessary to engage business leaders, government, activists and the general community. It sounds like Case's GLEI is cementing its technical leadership role, which is also great to see. I have questions about where the money is going to come from for any of this, and neither event seems to have provided those answers. I agree with you on the summit that it was quite non-technical, but I think necessary to engage business leaders, government, activists and the general community. It sounds like Case’s GLEI is cementing its technical leadership role, which is also great to see. I have questions about where the money is going to come from for any of this, and neither event seems to have provided those answers.

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