Bill Gates backed game changing wind energy device reduces cost by 65%

Bill Gates backed game changing wind energy device reduces cost by 65%
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[@MrArtist7777]

It’s only a game changer if it works at scale. The model shown in the video was producing 2-3 kW, and covered a large plot of land. I have a 2.5kW wind turbine in my backyard that produces that, in a much smaller space. I’d be cautious as I’ve heard many, many “game changers” in wind tech over the past 20 years that don’t actually work.

[@ohger1]

Didn't he say 2.5 megawatt??

[@LegendaryInfortainment]

The minimal costs of this system indicate that a cheap rip-off version that works half as well and costs twice as much would still be a winner. Seriously.

[@markrumrey790]

Just think about a Linear motor 1/2 a mile long!

[@nickmcconnell1291]

This is fantastic tech for farms and ranches. Something low to the ground that farm hands can probably fix themselves. Also think about what this could do in Africa and areas of the world where they can't get large cranes and electric grid cables to. This is a winner!

[@archidube]

@@nickmcconnell1291The animals would be very frightened.

[@strangefire2024]

production cost may be low but i see a whole lot of exposed moving parts. parts that would easily break down and/or need constant maintenance and repair. it also looks rather flimsy in design so strong winds can easily damage it. still, its an interesing design and hopefully, they'll figure out solutions to those issues.

[@ChristianKurzke]

Sand... Getting everywhere... :(

[@chillfluencer]

No, they won't.

[@cybervigilante]

Of course they will. Figuring out problems is what engineers are paid for. I can think of one right off the top. A gimbal that activates in strong wind to turn the turbine sideways to the wind.

[@strangefire2024]

@@cybervigilante that is an interesting suggestion. i'd be curious if they'd implement it, though there would be surmountable challenges in doing so. for example, the design is already rather flimsy. how much would its implementation add to the cost? would its added ability to turn sideways to the wind justify the additional expense? and to what extent would it benefit? wouldn't it be satisfying if we'd actually see your suggestion applied in its future iterations? this is why projects like these cost a bunch but i do hope the see more and more programs like these because it only benefits us the users in the end.

[@alanwhiplington5504]

In another video Electric Viking points out that the idea is similar to one that failed in the past. Also, there is no indication in the video as to what percentage of Bates' fortune has been invested. If it's a couple of million dollars - and I suspect it's no more - then it's substantial to us but not to him. Personally, I think there are too many engineering obstacles for this tech to become widely used.

[@bydman5320]

Come on man don’t say he invested 130 billion, he’s worth 130 billion

[@blackfeatherstill348]

He used someone else's money.

[@icosthop9998]

That figure does not seem right 🤔

[@bydman5320]

@@blackfeatherstill348come on man nobody is investing 130 billion dollars in that.

[@OGCinemaATL]

Net worths on google are often undervalued

[@jackbn9353]

Bill Gates was a favorite guest of Jeffrey Epstein on Underage Cutie Island. Melissa, the FORMER Mrs. gates, was not pleased.

[@patrickdegenaar9495]

looks daft! The reason why turbines go big is because they capture more vertical surface area. Going lateral like this is no different than building lots of little wind turbines except with the added complexity of connecting them all together with a weird looking rail track.

[@kasperlindvig3215]

Wind speeds are much higher up in the air than down at the ground where these are placed.

[@glennnile7918]

Wow, I never knew that. How did you get so smart, Captain Obvious?

[@hahtos]

I have a hard time taking anything Gates invests in seriously. The guy is still probably shorting Tesla and was sanctimoniously lecturing us about how EVs will never be feasible for Semis.

[@alexzahnd2642]

I don't think this technology will bring the break though, there are TOO many technical and physical issues against it, too many to even start mentioning them here.

[@davehope2210]

How soon we forget all the nuclear disasters and all the people that gone from this earth because of it !

[@ronwoodward716]

There are problems with scaling horizontally. Either they need a generator in each pole or they need a massive chain and a single generator. The chain wear seems like it would be a a big issue. If you have 40 poles with 40 generators thats a lot of maintenance. It would be very hard to protect the chain from the environment. Sealing a single rotating shaft is much easier. I think this is a good idea on paper but will not beat the current systems for performance and lifetime cost. Also wind flow near the ground is slower and more turbulent. Both would limit potential power generation.

[@davidolsen1222]

Yeah, moving parts are the linchpin of any machine like this. What are the moving parts here? Literally everything but the post.

[@johnsexton3841]

using chains would not be viable but using cogged belts would work easily.

[@ldrhdmi2453]

And much more friction => more noise?

[@AORD72]

It uses a cable. You can have cables that would last a long time and carry massive loads (like cable cars and cranes). Just like a cable car you could have a single generator.

[@rodfulford4306]

Thats got to be noisy!

[@Hybridog]

The keys to success of this design would be: • It must be cheap to mass produce - seems likely since none of the parts are special or high tech • There has to be some details not yet revealed on how the mechanicals are designed. As others have pointed out the wear and maintenance could be high - unless the design addresses this with some unique solutions • Performance needs to mesh with cost. If it's much, much cheaper to build and maintain, lower efficiency can be tolerated • Ground level interaction has to be considered. Putting this on farmland could work as long as farm equipment can still access soil and crops. You would lose a little growing space around the poles, but that might be offset by income to farmers from site fees (like people get from cell towers, billboards etc.).

[@chillfluencer]

This design is utter bullshit. It only shows one Thing: Americans are desperate because they know they have already lost to China - not only regarding wind and PV - but every aspect.

[@heartobefelt]

was this written by chatgp ? too much drivel padding !

[@pchurchill]

probably intention was .. to put in i.e african villagas ..above head height ?

[@Hybridog]

Don't understand your comment - @@heartobefelt

[@robertweekley5926]

​@@heartobefelt- Your response is evidence of the Twitter Level Attention Span: 140 Character Limit! 😲🤭😂

[@bossman6174]

Congrats Sam on your 100,000,000. views. That is truly awesome. Keep spreading the word on renewables. Your doing a great job. love your Vids. Thumbs up.

[@electricviking]

Thanks so much!

[@jeffbrown9060]

Works great while it's brand spanking new, but ask yourself how well is it going to work after sand and grit has gotten into the track and the coefficient of friction has gone through the roof, or after snow in the track turns into ice. Cleaning that track would be a long, slow laborious nightmare. I wish them the best, but I'd guess after 5 years of beating a dead horse the whole idea will be in the waste bin. But what do I know, I'm just a blade repair tech.

[@rebeccaking5396]

Not to mention the salt corrosion if you put this offshore. I hope Sam follows this closely to see how they overcome all the problems I, and others, see with this concept.

[@ronmorrell9809]

If it is a huge success, we won't need Sam to tell us. If we don't hear any more about it, it wasn't.

[@larryc1616]

Ask the northern Europeans

[@HereInPA_Hagen]

I love to listen to Sam, and he is certainly very knowledgeable about EVs and electrification. But I do chuckle that everything is a “game changer.“ 😂

[@patrickleahy590]

I saw a video explaining new way putting many smaller wind turbines and many on frame around in a large square frame

[@kenurquhart2061]

Bla Bla bla time will tell proof is in the pudding.

[@pauljefferies9087]

Yes, well… . How, do those blades connect to the rest of the system? How do they keep dust, grit, and dirt from jamming up that thing.

[@chrismuir8403]

The problem is that wind speeds are lower near the ground, that's the main reason wind turbines use such tall towers - it gets higher wind speeds thus more power. Another potential problem would be those blades twisting on the cable and hitting the tower supports.

[@trikkid]

My first thought as well, but lower speeds may be compensated for by the sheer scale of wind catchment if the areas chosen have fairly consistent low-level winds.

[@gotnoname3956]

Commercial demonstration not until 2026 or 2027 at the earliest. I'm still very skeptical here. When it comes to innovative things like this, the announcements are usually way too high.

[@hannsmusster6919]

Just another Startup how will milking there investors and then disappear

[@quackyquavers7066]

It's a good idea, but wind speed is reduced a lot when close to the ground, which will reduce the energy output.

[@glennnile7918]

I'm sure they never thought of that Captain obvious.

[@Marcoo-vB]

My guess is the total surface area of all the blades is much larger compared to a traditional wind turbine, thereby making up for the low height of installation.

[@patrickcorcoran4828]

I used to work for a renewable installer that did residential solar and wind. For wind, every manufacturer has a production curve that shows how much power it should make at a given wind speed. Whatever wind energy device you have will produce its rated power at whatever average wind speed your site has. The problem is that most wind turbines require high speeds to make financial sense, which means very tall turbine towers. Anything close to the ground is going to face very low wins speeds and in most cases solar panels make a lot more sense than low-height wind devices.

[@Caldermologist]

This is well known. The only place I might add wind turbines is at each end of the roof to the large barn. One half of that roof will naturally get covered in solar panels.

[@williammeek4078]

I was going to comment the same. Higher elevation means steadier winds which means higher utilization factor which means higher profitability.

[@robertstout7756]

Think of a windsurfer. With many years experience, feeling the power of the wind on the water and going faster than the wind, I can say there are plenty of places where high towers are not needed.

[@robertstout7756]

BTW we have a 16 K off grid solar system

[@stupest]

I personally would question. Long term reliability? I’m sure they have thought of almost every possible issue. But only time will tell.

[@robertwhite3503]

Well, he's got the farm land already!

[@user-zo2pc5lu5q]

He’s certainly bought a lot of it, must want to make sure that he and his elite buddies can keep eating prime meat whilst the rest of us have to eat bugs 😂

[@IggyDalrymple]

Sometimes you must go higher to find the wind. Where I live there's not enough surface wind except during hurricane season.

[@fluxcapacitor]

Indeed, wind turbine efficiency increases with their altitude. The video doesn't talk about it because their drag lift doppelganger system is only feasible economically close to the ground and of course, nobody will make each pole of a 1-mile track as high or higher as the Statue of Liberty!

[@briansture4353]

Built at 30ft above the ground o you could farm under it. Two cables are attached to the blades one to deliver the energy and the other to control the attack angle of the blade ensuring control in high winds. Being higher up it would protect animals or humans wandering into the path of the moving blades.

[@lystfiskerlars]

Guessing this is about as smart as shorting TSLA. Moving parts is a killer.

[@shaunbooth1836]

Looks like a maintenance nightmare! Be careful of cost estimates from a start up looking for funds. Remember wind near the ground is very problematic, so is likely to suffer poor efficiencies. This unlikely to be the revolution promised.

[@glenw3814]

I see a few issues: (1) These are probably very noisy due to track system (environmental concerns for animals). (2) Track misalignment due to foundation shift. (3) Same visible eyesore issues. (4) Same insentive for taller and bigger. (5) Track related maintenance and failure troubles. (6) Same transmission distance restrictions. (7) Far lower land density means more travel time for onsite visits, reducing the amout of maintenance each tech can do in a day.

[@toni6608]

Also, wind speeds closer to the ground are slower, all the blades are behind each other and thus have less exposure, and you can not rotate the whole thing to be Oriented in the wind direction

[@Custo911]

It just comes down to $/kwh. If it is cheaper, it will be used.

[@glenw3814]

@@Custo911 Yes - the levelized cost of energy over the life of the project (all costs considered). New companies come along all the time with claims of having a better way to do something. It's up to investors to carefully consider all the factors that will affect the viability of the company's products. Looking at Bill Gates's investment history, I'm skeptical that he has considered all of the factors.

[@pchurchill]

surely this is a low cost solution for developing countries .. an afordable village power source?

[@glenw3814]

@@pchurchill By comparison to stationary solar panels on rooftops, this windmill setup seems like a very complicated installation - requiring special equipment and expertise. Not to mention ongoing complex maintenance issues. Also, most developing nations around the world are in the sunbelt. Solar for the win.

[@Beatles4Sale.]

Bill Gates owns more private land in the US than anyone else. He has plenty of space to build these wind turbines on his own property!😂😂😂

[@johnweeks65]

Gates owns 250,000 acres. That doesn't put him in the top 20 of land owners in the USA. Ted Turner owns 10 times as much land as Bill Gates, and Turner is only #3 on the list.

[@kenwinters9938]

Your Wrong, Ted Turner, is the biggest land owner in the US

[@antonnym214]

Sam, thank you for reporting on this. I love this kind of out-of-box approach! It looks like a ride at Disneyland, but that's a plus, as far as I'm concerned. Much lower cost of infrastructure. This could be a lifesaver for farming families who have the land but may be struggling with raising crops. Bring in these tracks as you can afford and set up your own power company and/or sell juice to the grid.

[@electricviking]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@user-cd7ce1fy5i]

So! This thing gets in at 65% cheaper than todays "toys". 1. We pay for the total replacement. 2. And when it's all up and running prices will raise at least 65%!!!! Come on guys.....

[@billmanty3636]

"If you want it, here it is. But you better hurry cause it's going fast...

[@icosthop9998]

Like to see this in operation. Yep a *"Game Changer"* . 🧐

[@LegendaryInfortainment]

New paradigm as a result of thinking outside of the box. Awesomeness. Thanks Sam, great news!

[@pipersall6761]

It has some strong points. Pretty funky design. As was said below, lots of moving parts to get gummed up, I think the idea moving forward is to produce energy in a smaller and smaller footprint. I like the vertical ones that look like a rotating flower.

[@bunsw2070]

And Bill Gates is behind it. Look at the billions he made on the safe and effective Covid vaccines. Get your latest booster yet?

[@freddybell8328]

It doesn't matter if it has a large footprint. If you can use the land for multiple uses such as having solar combined with this wind farm. You could also might be able to use the polls for power lines as well as they hold the blades.

[@rogergeyer9851]

@@freddybell8328: Since you don't know polls from poles, should we assume you have a handle on this besides guesswork?

[@garethrobinson2275]

​@rogergeyer9851 Consider addressing the point rather than the spelling. Multiple land use is probably essential.

[@markp1950]

Bill Gates? Really?

[@russellmoore1533]

So many promises of new and greater things (like this one) so often fail to deliver, and often turn out to be scams.

[@mundall1271]

The Stirling heat engine also seems impressive yet after a century it has not been scaled to a useful capacity.

[@ChicagoBob123]

This would be fantsstic to run on road sides all over the US. There is a lot of open road side for that

[@_xBrokenxDreamsx_]

really cool if it works.. it's basically a really wide vawt, and looks like one of those garment conveyors you'd see at the dry cleaners.

[@sjsomething4936]

Putting miles of cable offshore at the coast… yeah what could possibly go wrong? This technology might work on land but it doesn’t look anywhere near robust enough to survive the harsh marine environment, at least not in the ocean. It would potentially be a serious hazard for shipping as well. The interesting thing is that it looks like it could be used on the very same footprint as existing wind farms as a way to augment or complement the existing wind turbines. That would increase the power production of a given site and thus improve the ROI for land purchase costs.

[@akheeboss2726]

At first glance this invention looks like the craziest contraption I've ever seen. On the second glance WTH. What is Bill Gates thinking?

[@bpetnoi1472]

Bill is getting old and might not understand all the problems that go along with so much mechanical movement. I can tell you here in Wyoming this sand and dirt would be a major issue

[@andromedach]

It would be interesting if they could be built around crop fields for farms with some means of getting tractors through their layout along with pivots for larger fields.

[@markmyers4573]

Or a large residential parcel

[@victorseal9047]

I wouldn’t trust Bill Gates to read the weather forecast. 😮

[@paul756uk2]

You mean you wouldn't trust his vast knowledge of vaccines? 😂😂

[@robertn2951]

What are you using? Windows 10 or Windows 11?

[@tarmotyyri6733]

Well said.

[@strayspark1967]

i barely started watching the video and thoughts immediately came to me. i scrolled to the comments to see if anyone else.......yep. You said it.

[@Ada..D]

Horrendous maintenance costs going forward. 👎

[@nomadtom9678]

Super ! Keep us informed on the subject.

[@electricviking]

We will

[@jimparr01Utube]

I have reasoned before that any innovation properly applied at very low altitudes (eg: drum turbines or some of the fancy efficient blade designs recently disclosed), would be a far more economical way to harness and maintain wind energy harvesting. You mentioned that height is paramount in respect of best efficiency and this is most assuredly correct. In fact, I believe it is pretty much the height above ground/sea cubed as a factor in respect of height of axis of a generator blade if the blade length exploits most of the height above ground/sea to rotate freely. This aside, I am sure that way less expensive methods - even without excessive land area - can be used to generate an equivalent energy with arrays of much smaller turbines and thereby better manage the expense of construction, durability and ongoing maintenance. I think the method shown in your video is flawed and rather clunky. Main problem is that it is vulnerable to the entire system going down with a single point of mechanical failure, and I am appalled that Bill Gates has supported the concept. He should know better, but then - he was the guy who said the Tesla Semi-truck could never work.

[@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV]

Could also be fitted to the roof of a skyscraper in urban areas....

[@sjsomething4936]

Three of the absolute largest wind turbine manufacturers *are not* Chinese - Siemens Gamesa, General Electric and Vesta. There’s definitely a fair number of Chinese companies too, including Goldwind which is the largest but it’s very misleading to say that the largest manufacturers are Chinese.

[@308_Negra_Arroyo_Lane]

Looks like a perpetual motion machine.

[@MichaelDobbins]

Brilliant adaptation of kite or tethered wing wind power systems for places where it will work. It won't work in most backyards (or around populated areas) since it won't do well in turbulent winds (HAWT land). I can see a smaller system along a roof peak if it is situated where the wind mostly flows across the peak. A reasonable level mountain ridge or open plains and desert, would be wonderful. Open ocean would be great if the wind is predominantly in one direction and not constantly changing directions. It is possible that it could be mounted below traditional turbines using the platforms as supports.

[@robertweekley5926]

Maybe it could be an additional aspect for Warehouse Rooftop Solar? Especially for large or Long Warehouses!

[@kenwallace6493]

It appears the array has to be placed at right angles to the prevailing wind for maximum efficiency. That means other wind directions will not be as effective and efficiency will suffer. A circular array would be omnidirectional with lower efficiency.

[@longnamenocansayy]

there are places where the wind is very directional, or changes directions 2ce a day. it would be neat if it worked. but it has that bill gates name attached to it. that makes me wonder if it doesn't have some attachment to sterilize the nearby community.

[@user-nh1bx8pp7e]

I also thought that the track should be circular to catch the wind from all directions. You could make it a bit taller and a bit smaller diameter and a bit less complicated - oh is that a VAWT.

[@simonclarke2939]

I'm sceptical. Low to the ground also means slower and less reliable wind is available. Also a big part of the cost of generating electricity from wind is in transport to where you need to consume it. So space will be an issue.

[@jensstergard9380]

The main reason why wind turbines won't get much bigger is the speed of the blade at the tip. Too much wind resistance means no torque given to the turbine. By the way Denmark is one of the countries with the most wind power per person and none of it is Chinese, it is (mostly) Vestas and Siemens.

[@Chris-ly8wt]

The wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine but the ocean tides are consistent like clockwork.

[@robertwhite3503]

True, but power lines consume electricity. It is better to create it locally. Batteries are also essential.

[@kensladen]

Yeah but sea water and electricity are not great together. Makes it relatively more costly and expensive

[@robertwhite3503]

@@kensladen I know that The London Array put 175 wind turbines in the Thames Estuary. One of the issues was salt water corroding the concrete bases. Things moving under water would either corrode or snap from bending. Yep, you're right.

[@larryc1616]

Use all 3

[@EdgewiseSJ]

If this lives up to the hype, it's amazing!

[@chillfluencer]

Wind turbines are being built high for a reason. And they take way less surface. They cost less overall and are more energy efficient.

[@EdgewiseSJ]

@chillfluencer yes, you would think so at first look. I am interested to see how it goes. While I tend to agree with you, I also thought Tesla would never make it this big this fast.

[@snappingclam8801]

"Game changers" continually emerge, yet the game remains unchanged.

[@brianiswrong]

And as a side hustle you could suspend seats and charge the public for a " fair ground " ride😅

[@leftlink]

there are a lot of points of resistance, points of wear and tear. I doubt it will be this cheap. on the other hand you could construct a large moat and have this operate as a pump to accumulate water in the middle and then release the energy on demand, like pumped storage.

[@i6power30]

The large moat will trap a lot of wild life inside.

[@noahderrington5156]

The biggest issue is that this is shown close to the ground. The wind speeds high up are such that not only the larger the blade of a large fan type wind turbine increases efficiency, the blades capturing those higher wind movements also means there is more energy to capture. This thing smells like bulls”t to me

[@tedmoss]

I always thought Bil was a blowhard!😁😁😁

[@boringlyfactual6368]

Concentric circles of the setup would make for extremely efficient land use, low construction cost, and limit need for the control devices. Wow. So cool if it is what it says it is.

[@HT-vd4in]

Wind, solar, hydro and geothermal really go hand in hand. Even nuclear has it’s pros when its done right.

[@mtp123fly]

Bill Gate has a very bad record in energy investment. For wind the area of sweep if the key factor. Height above ground has large impact on air speed. We will have to wait and see when/if they get a large installation in place. Yes they will be much easier to transport them.

[@jesflynn4048]

yes, but Bill doesn't have the technology to change boundary-layer physics...

[@AORD72]

Yea a bigger sweep area with less materials might be their logic. The tips on current turbines must be under tremendous forces requiring massive strength, thus materials. I suspect this design lowers the tip speed using less materials.

[@jesflynn4048]

@@AORD72 ; compared to the wings on an aircraft? Nothing special here. A lot of aviation lessons to be applied, though...

[@AORD72]

@@jesflynn4048 The point is the cost of manufacturing is probably going to be a lot lower due to need less material for the sweep area. We are comparing current turbine cost to this design, not to aircraft wings.

[@user-yq8ck8yf3u]

Much much better for wildlife. Great idea that will have a lot of people relooking at what is a suitable site, and even for other applications. Well done for those involved with this concept.

[@oojimmyflip]

if you cant see the blades turning on the track in the video (and I cant) wildlife is still at risk. The speed of the blades in the computer images is much slower than the real thing shown at: 06:36 of the video.

[@GoCoyote]

If you really care about wildlife, consider the largest killer of birds in the world: Climate Change and habitat loss, along with cats and glass windows. Wildlife is not an issue with modern wind turbines. Although with offshore wind farms there is a marked increase in wildlife as fishing is prohibited within wind farms, and the turbines create a "reef" effect that provides ocean life a habitat. This leads to larger fish populations that attracts and feeds predators such as seals, sharks, porpoises, dolphins, killer whales, and tuna. The increased fish population then spread out to nearby fisheries. The idea that wind turbines kill birds, especially hawks and other predatory species, stems from one of the earliest wind farms used to test and study wind energy. The turbines were small, low to the ground units, with railings around the nacelles, and blades that spun at a very high speed. All built on an area that was the habitat of ground squirrels and mice that fed a lot of raptors during the year, and during migrations (sort of a snack bar for travelers). The raptors would perch on the handy rails to rest and observe, then when flying down to catch a rodent, fly through the rapidly moving blades. These issues were solved by removing the railings, slowing the rotor speeds, and raising the height of turbines above the ground. This was also made the turbines much more effective at gathering power and put them out of harms way for most birds. Birds can see and more easily avoid them, and they are too high to make good perches for hunting rodents. Of course some birds still hit wind turbines and are injured and killed, but they also killed when they hit trees, power lines, buildings, vehicles, glass windows, etc, and when they fly into the water and drown. They are wildlife dealing with a lot of variables besides wind turbines, and removing the pollution of burning fossil fuels will go a long way towards helping all wildlife.

[@eyesuckle]

@@GoCoyote Thank you! I always found it hard to believe that very many birds were being killed by the relatively slow-moving blades of the truly large wind turbines. It seems like they would be pretty easy for a bird to avoid.

[@GoCoyote]

@@eyesuckle The blade tip speed on those larger wind turbines is actually pretty high, but birds have a much easier time with them as they have the entire blade as a reference. Plus the fact that they are so high up really keeps a lot of birds away from them in the first place.

[@chamagical]

@@oojimmyflip Don't be fooled by the video. They were just testing the *cable* at higher speeds. The blades were not attached, that's why you cannot see them! On the Airloom site it is stated that the speed (for now) is about 10m/sec. For good efficiency though, they should better move around 25m/sec. That is 90 km/h. Most birds can evade a speeding car, so they will also have no trouble with these wings. Big conventional turbine wings can have speeds in exces of 300 km/h at the tips. then the birds are up to a challenge....

[@stevehayward1854]

A cable running in a track smacks of massive friction to me

[@Mrbobinge]

Brilliant. No doubt they simulate every practical possibility to optimise energy extraction. By loading upper vs lower rail speed to suit wind conditions comes to mind. Wind-powered blade/rail air bearings might reduce/eliminate rusting metal ones. Elliptical rails might reduce gobbled land area. Resonant wind/energy conditions will obviously have been explored. Try tweaking blade flapping to tune the orchestra.

[@Adertitsoff999]

I'm for EV's, but anything that has to do with Bill Gates is shady af and I want no part of it.

[@capnkirk5528]

Hope you don't use a Windows computer then ... say what you like, he changed the world. And then went a little dips**t, just like Elon is doing now. It seems that the old adages about wealth and power are true.

[@user-zo2pc5lu5q]

@@capnkirk5528He gave me a career for part of my working life, because his software is so prone to problems it needed so much support :-) I don’t use Microsoft for my personal computing as I like stuff to just work!

[@gregmorgan8350]

Think you’re confusing him with some guy called Elon…

[@Mrdsmith500]

@@capnkirk5528 He did not create Windows or DOS.

[@larryc1616]

Shady billionaires are Republicans. Ask criminal grifter Trump

[@Thunderbuck]

This concept looks promising, and I really like having more tools in the toolbox. I worry about animals and birds with this design but I'm betting there are mitigations.

[@bunsw2070]

Really? You're joking, right?

[@cybervigilante]

@@bunsw2070 Why is he joking? I was also thinking of cheap and easy mitigations to scare birds away. Maybe cheap AI drones with megaphones to detect and drive flocks away. They could dock at the windfarm to be recharged with its power.

[@alananderson8216]

How much noise does it generate?

[@bunsw2070]

@@cybervigilante 1. This turbine looks idiotic (as in it obviously wont work). 2. Wind turbines never generate enough electricity to make up for the energy they take to build. 3. Worrying about the birds in such an idiotic endeavor is even more idiotic. Make a note about all of this. If in 10 or 20 years time these turbines have revolutionized wind turbines I will apologize profusely. I just think the likelyhood of that is zero. But I'm not God. I don't have access to perfect knowledge.

[@yorkyone2143]

Most developed countries no longer import large wind turbines halfway around the world, they have built their own factories & local supply chains.

[@weinisable]

You do realise that Generation and Wholesale cost of electricity is of little relavence to the retail cost the consumer pays. Retail cost is much more dependant on the AVAILABILITY and continuity of supply. If the wind stops blowing , the retail cost goes through the roof !

[@user-nh1bx8pp7e]

It will be interesting to see how this works in off-shore wind farms. The other draw-back is the huge amount of land area for such a small output.

[@ecospider5]

I wonder if they can get it far enough off the ground to be installed along with farm land.

[@danharold3087]

With this you have many towers to deal with. Dirt in the tracks. Ice and snow.

[@leoniebachmann2677]

He's an evil guy.

[@larryc1616]

Not even close to Republican billionaires who care about nothing but money

[@ramakrishna5480]

130 billion ?

[@bydman5320]

Click bait that’s how much he’s worth

[@thomashawtin8706]

I work in the renewables industry. One of the main problems is people believing that the latest technology whether it be wind or solar or hydro is the answer. Not one technologies is the answer. All technologies are the answer when farm should be backed by Solar and backed by hydro Hydro is a constant if it’s tiled or if it’s a dam wind or sun, you usually have one of those on one day very seldom do you not have either. You simply cannot run an electrical grid with Just wind or just Solar. I am really bored of people thinking you can.

[@bikepacker9850]

Seems like it would be perfect for installing on remote roads. I'm not holding my breath that I will actually see these in action.

[@michaelgibson1938]

Maintenance? Lot's of big moving parts, kinda like a ski chair lift. I'm not so sure, wonder what Elon would think...

[@shafir2info]

exactly

[@TKevinBlanc]

Elon would think "how do I buy into this in such a way that it looks like it was my idea all along?"

[@danharold3087]

​@@TKevinBlanc Not a chance. As others pointed out there are too many moving parts here. Even worse moving parts that are exposed to the elements.

[@mk1st]

Great to see new ideas being thought up. A couple of issues I see with this design are: A long moving cable exposed to the elements will need lots of maintenance. Also, how much friction will result from all these contact points? Doing this offshore, how much will be saved by having to do so many towers AT SEA vs a single one for a regular turbine?

[@sparkysho-ze7nm]

Good thinkin

[@christoffussenegger9377]

Interesting concept, but I am sceptical: 1) Staying closer to the ground means lower wind speed. But energy content grows with the 4th power of wind speed, so there ist much less energy available close to the ground. 2) I see a lot of moving parts. 3) Where is the generator? If there ist one generator on the circumference, you have massive forces along the "cable" to transfer the energy to the generator. If there are many generators, forces are lower, but the amount of equipment grows too. 4) Only a fraction of the blades can generate full power.

[@randalexander]

Congrats! 100 Million views! #BAMF #HardWork #Authority #Rad

[@litestuffllc7249]

seems like a good idea; sort of a paddlewheel on its side. It will come down to mechanical friction of moving around this cable system. The power captured also has to be proportional to the area of the wind capturing sails or wings or what ever they call those. Seems like you'd need a lof of those sails to equal the the area of a big wind mill; plus the wings must go against the wind part of the time negating some energy captured do you'd need even more area. It seems like making a prototype ought to have been done by now; iif it san't been; something is wrong.

[@laughinggas5281]

I don't think the company is trying to compete on the amount of power with big wind turbines as much as they are competing on the cost of producing power.

[@margarita8442]

gate throws $$$$ at anything

[@kensladen]

If it works ….apparently they’ve been struggling for 7 years already to get this to work properly ….

[@joeds3775]

If you reduce the size so the sails are about half a meter then you could string them between street lights.

[@liammullan2197]

Instead of swanning around the world spending his fortune on billionaires' yachts this guy puts his money to use trying to improve the future for everyone. Thank you Bill Gates.

[@thalesofmiletus2966]

Says the girls from Epstein island.

[@ludwigbrackmann1115]

🎉also recommending great shots during the past 3 years. As Microsoft founder he know a lot on antivirus🎉

[@liammullan2197]

@@ludwigbrackmann1115 He does indeed 👍

[@rogerhall559]

What evil looks like.

[@camronrubin8599]

I agree but this is cool technology

[@sparkysho-ze7nm]

Gudday mate tytyty for futuristic wind technology broadcasting effort Top 5 all month !!! Great job

[@VideoconferencingUSA]

Nice job

[@rogerpicklum1871]

You're out of your depth again. Turbines are tall because the wind increases with height. Gates' arrangement sits close to the ground, where the wind is low. Cable friction will be huge compared with the bearings of a typical turbine. Land use per MW generated will be huge compared with standard turbines. Clickbait, Sam, this is the price you pay to spew out 7 videos a day, the quality goes down and down as you enter areas you know nothing about.

[@liammullan2197]

I love the channel but I'm feeling like you've used "game changer" far too many times. *None* of the subjects of your game changing videos have been "game changing". Some don't see the light of day, some prove non commercial. Some turn out to be delusional. Some come to market and make an incremental difference. Nothing wrong with that, it's how science and industry works.

[@phoenixrising011]

He's a victim of the cookie cutter clickbait title disease. 🐑

[@The3DCOMPANIONS]

"YOU CAN PUT ONE IN YOUR BACK YARD" You my Viking friend must on something 😂

[@eyesuckle]

And dry your laundry at the same time!

[@larryc1616]

Ecoflow had one at CES

[@haroldwestrich3312]

MAKING a cable slide around a track - or making a wing balance and flip direction on a stationary cable would be an engineering accomplishment that has never been done successfully without being torn apart by dust and vibrations ....cool idea though.

[@JakeyJay26]

He is a monster. Loved visiting kids on an Island. If he’s involved in something, I’m staying away from it. It’s very likely to kill you and if it doesn’t he’ll be looking for ways to make sure it does.

[@shafir2info]

quite tricky rail-cable design in the view of dust, rain, (ice). Not good comparing with just few easy to seal (but huge) bearing on the classic turbines...

[@anglosaxonmike8325]

For all the eco nutters out there, today, the UK grid demand is 39.33GW. Wind is producing 1.39GW, Solar 1.11GW. If you covered the UK in windmills and solar panels, the output would be not much greater. Imagine millions of battery cars charging, imagine darkness.

[@SuperFez87]

If renewables were so good, my electricity bill would go down. Its doubled

[@newyorker641]

More renewables = higher system costs for backup, storage and distribution. Wind energy is dying at the moment.

[@mrmawson2438]

Afternoon mate

[@TomLoveman]

Congrats on the 100M views!

[@chuckrogers5567]

This is a ridiculous idea.

[@viking1au]

Boy, that has just earned Sam a few 'BOB'.

[@KarelBeelaertsvanBlokland]

Still intermittent power - You need still very expensive batteries to store electricity when there is no wind!

[@TheGspencer]

After doing the basic math it appears that the excitement is miss placed, it also appears that it is Bill Gates name, not the technology that has cause all the stir. After reading numerous comments, I find the site discussion to be open and very healthy. There are a lot of short comings to the Airloom which I consider more of a gimmick versus a practical solution. Ranking: HAWT = 1X; AirLoom = 2.5X; 3D Wind = 50X+ and Nuclear = 50X the power.

[@TheGspencer]

Very poor investment opportunity!!! This is an update calculation to my earlier comment: The original only considered one standalone windmill. When used in a wind farm two or more must be considered. Therefore, the width doubles per windmill and thereby reduces the watts per acre by 1/2; instead of a ranking of AirLoom = 2.5X it is reduced to 1.25X and then further reduced by wind direction and other factors. This makes this a VERY POOR INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY!!! 3DWTX & GSharpLabs

[@TheGspencer]

Math Error: I AMEND MY INVESTMENT RECOMMENDATION TO ENCOURAGING ... but with caution. 1.3MW / 3.55 Acres = 0.366MW/Acre = 18X for a single stand alone windmill 1.3MW / 7.12 Acres = 0.183MW/Acre = 9X per windmill (Wind Farm)

[@bernzeppi]

Friction, I see lots of friction… oh, and sideways forces.

[@MrSlicks88]

Will I be able to hang my washing out to dry on one of these?

[@bobbutton8081]

Thanks!

[@electricviking]

Welcome!

[@richbest9877]

In the city they would be able to put them on large rooftops.

[@markapplejohn4376]

I'm wondering what the combination output would look like if you took an existing wind farm of vertical windmills and erected this windmill system as well as installing solar panels. Seems to me, say in a windy desert location, you would have less costs involved in generation, transmission, maintenance, etc.

[@ChristianKurzke]

I can't see this working... The biggest accomplishment is to actually get Bill Gates to pitch in.., I've seen literal Kickstarter projects more polished than this. Let's for now not even go into the problem running so close to ground. The whole thing is limited by the wind speed. Not even remotely near the efficiency of rotors.

[@cybervigilante]

Solar cells in the oval center of the track. Elon said just one square mile of solar in Az could power the nation, so why aren't we doing that? Again, we need a better power transmission system. That's what that languishing "infrastructure" money should be spent on, instead of going into pockets.

[@robevans2114]

I would really like to see a close up of the rail and the generator. It seems like rails would be problematic needing maintenance can getting stuck and I am not sure how the power take off works.

[@sparkysho-ze7nm]

Ice engine rear end spline gear maybe