Comments on: STUDENT DESIGN TURNS HIGHWAYS INTO WIND FARMS

By: jaquemate932

jaquemate932 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:16:44 +0000

Great idea but it will work better by doing backwards increasing the power 10 time more stronger creating more power and will cover the cost, giving you less cost of production.
Great design and idea, Any question email me.

By: Dubpluris

Dubpluris — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Where I’m at with all of this is what someone mentioned earlier on in the comments. I’m just happy to see an idea being tossed around at all. As brilliant as the concept is, it appears to be just kind of thrown together. I’m sure if just a little bit more energy and attention where focused, there could be a viable take on this project. I think it’s awesome.

By: marty

marty — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:10:00 +0000

Great idea.

The fact is, the wind is there… its another way to close the circle.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:19:29 +0000

what sort of material would be used to make the blades? Aluminum, fiber glass, co-molded carbon?

By: Aira Angeles

Aira Angeles — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:23:40 +0000

this design is really smart,

By: Martin Nelson

Martin Nelson — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:16:33 +0000

Great ideas. Have you considered these being installed, along with other turbinnes on structures like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel?

By: K.Hansen

K.Hansen — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:14:18 +0000

As presented in the drawing, I don’t think it would work. The winds of the normal weather could easily mitigate the wind from the cars and small trucks. The wind from buses and simi trailer trucks would be more effective. I also think that a system as shown in the drawing would be VERY vulnerable to vandalism, HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN A PAIR OF SHOES HANGING FROM OVER HEAD WIRES?? Then there are the other elements mainly rain, snow that could complicate the function of the very simple design. It would have to be enclosed so that ONLY the wind from vehicals would impact the blades. Then the design would have to made to keep pidgins, other birds or critters from seeking places to nest, rest or feed on those that are up in there. I don’t want to be all negitive but the build up of exhaust and road grime could also reduce function. Cleaning a system like this would cause plenty of traffic delays wasting more energy. SORRY, but over all I don’t see how the idea won. WAY TOO MANY DOWN SIDES, it just isn’t practical (in my opinion) good in theory. WE NEED REAL WORLD IDEAS!!

By: Meagan

Meagan — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:02:04 +0000

can they install something along subways too maybe???

By: it_mightbme

it_mightbme — Thu, 31 May 2007 07:50:16 +0000

Who says the turbines are a bigger eyesore than big green signs? They look more like modern sculpture to me.

By: John goumas

John goumas — Fri, 11 May 2007 10:56:47 +0000

Unfortunately we all will have to agree with steve above about the fact that the energy produced by the turbines will be much less than the fuel energy spent to move them.
that’s because ;
1) car burns fuel to move itself, and burns more fuel to set air around it in motion (chemical energy to motion energy)
2)air moves the turbines (motion energy to motion energy)
3)turbines produce electricity (motion energy to electric power)

We all know that each energy conversion from one type of energy to another produces heat energy that is lost to the environment. so since we have 3 conversions we will be lucky to have the extra fuel spent to get the air moving , turned at 50-60% into electricity. But since the air existes the fuel will be spend anyway so we could gain something of that

By: Nick Simpson

Nick Simpson — Sat, 05 May 2007 16:50:30 +0000

I’m with Marc – motorways are already one of the biggest blots on the landscape known to man, some wind turbines won’t hurt! I’m not personally sure we even need to rely upon the wind turbulence created by the traffic – just putting turbines along the road seems fine to me, they could be integrated into the lightpost structures that line many of them…

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:58:52 +0000

Hun Boon, last time I checked, most of the highways on the East Coast were pretty much the definition of eyesore already. Wind turbines in the medians wouldn’t make things worse. While we’re at it, we could put FOOD farms on the medians, not just wind farms, and make use of all that arable land, with a straight shot into the city. And why not minimum security prisons as well (on the widest medians), where land is already owned by the govt, escape is difficult, and passing vehicles offer a daily reminder of what freedom looks like. Prisoners (legit ones) could supply farm labor.

By: Hun Boon

Hun Boon — Fri, 04 May 2007 06:42:38 +0000

To me, one of the biggest problem with wind turbines is that they’re an eyesore, which is why they’re usually hidden away in some remote areas.

So why are we even thinking of putting them along our busiest roads, where they are seen by millions of people every day?

By: racheblue

racheblue — Thu, 03 May 2007 03:38:21 +0000

whether or not it can be made to work efficiently the design ethos should be applauded – we need more sustainable creative thinking like this :)

By: Lynn

Lynn — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:30:52 +0000

A great idea if cars on the highway are fast-moving (not necessarily speeding, of course). Then again, if drivers realize that they’re helping power the city, maybe they’ll drive more responsibly and there would be measures implemented to avoid traffic jams?