For decades now globally, nations have been trying to find out how to obtain natural energy whether it be through water power, steam power, sun power, or wind power. Wind mills have been a great method of natural energy but are hard to always use because they only work in places that are extremely windy and literally no place is windy 100% of the time.
In Greentown Labs in Somerville, Massachusetts a company called Altaeros Energies is working on BAT’s (buoyant airborne turbines). These are enormous turbines that are traveling up to 2,000 feet where the winds are much more constant and strong. “There is more than enough energy in high-altitude winds to power all of civilization,” says Ken Caldeira, a Stanford University climate scientist, who co-authored a 2012 study that ballparked the potential at 1,800 terawatts. We can extract endless energy from the skies and its just 2,000 feet away. The only question is can we properly make technology to extract it and is it economically sound.
This enormous turbine is able to gather energy the moment it arrives and is pretty easy to set up as well. Altaeros are looking into many sites in Alaska and have received a 740,000 dollar grant to demonstrate their product in the state. The company is also looking into working on sites in India and Brazil. “The company plans to start flying its first commercial-scale BAT, a 30-kilowatt system that could reduce diesel consumption by 11,000 gallons annually, near Fairbanks next year” (Popsci.com) This could be one of the answers to our energy crisis. If one of these machines can reduce 11,000 gallons a year imagine how many 10,000 could reduce (that’s actually 110,000,000 gallons if my math is correct). You can read all about the company at their website http://www.altaerosenergies.com.
Currently the company is working strictly on their BAT and are looking toward the future of making much more green technology. “The future of wind energy, it would seem, floats in our [Altaeros’s] fingertips.”
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