According to Ian Edmonds, an environmental consultant with Solartran in Brisbane, if Australia is going to reach its renewable energy target by the year 2020 it might need to utilize an unusual, and potentially obtrusive technology: energy-generating hot air balloons.
The hot air balloon engine, which Edmonds says is much like a gigantic two-stroke engine, works a little something like this:
A greenhouse traps solar energy, providing hot air to fill the balloon. As the balloon rises, it pulls a tether, which turns a generator on the ground. Once the balloon has reached 3 kilometres, air is released through its vent and it loses buoyancy.
In Australia’s still, hot summer days there isn’t always a whole lot of wind around. Edmond envisages balloon engines complimenting wind turbines by flying high on these windless days and then being packed up again as the winds pick up.
But aren’t windmill farms obtrusive enough?
Some people find them relaxing, others see them as an opportunity to advertise, and the rest just seem to think that they’re an eyesore on the horizon. No matter what your view is about windmill farms, one thing is undeniable – they’re everywhere. This begs the question: will there ever be a point when the benefits of sustainable energy simply don’t outweigh the sheer ugliness of the contraptions we erect to provide them?
Hot air balloon power is a cool idea, but a cacophony of windmills and massive hot air balloons on the horizon seems like it might distract from the integrity of the landscape a bit.
[Via: New Scientist], [Via: Solartran]
