Giant Blimps, Kites Hailed as New York's Energy Solution

By Roy Edroso Tue., Jun. 16 2009 at 10:25 AM

Categories: Environmental, Featured

Mayor Bloomberg's always looking for green energy stuff for the city, and now this "High-Altitude Wind Machines Could Power New York City" story is making the rounds. The technology dates back to the 1970s, the last time people were taking this seriously. If you get these proposed devices (some of which resemble kites, some of which resemble blimps) up high enough (1,600 to 40,000 feet), enthusiasts say you can get up to 16 times the wattage supplied by ground technologies like wind farms, which are part of Bloomberg's plan.

Wired says this could "meet global electricity demand a hundred times over," and it just so happens New York's atmosphere is particularly rich in wind, presumably due to our status as a media capital. Startup companies have prototypes working that they hope will lead to sales, with earth-conscious municipalities like ours the obvious target market.

We're all for it, especially if they can be attractively decorated. We actually got tourists to come look at statues of cows; can you imagine how they'll flock if the cows were up in the air? Or maybe we can make them look like Macy's Thanksgiving Day floats. Of course they'll be too high up to register properly with the naked eye -- that's where the binocular concession comes in! It's wind-win!

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