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The Italian firm KiteGen Research is developing a generator that harnesses the wind through kites. As a kite flies into the air, it unspools a cord that cranks the turbine. Carina Storrs writes in Popular Science:
The company developed a prototype that flies 200-square-foot kites to altitudes of 2,600 feet, where wind streams are four times as strong as they are near ground-based wind turbines.
As the kite’s tether unspools, it spins an alternator that generates up to 40 kilowatts. Once the kite reaches its peak altitude, it collapses, and motors quickly reel it back in to restart the cycle. This spring, KiteGen started building a machine to fly a 1,500-square-foot kite, which it plans to finish by 2011, that could generate up to three megawatts—enough to power 9,000 homes.
Suspending a camera from a kite is not a new idea, but Charles C. Benton, professor of architecture at UC Berkeley has "taken it to new heights." The equipment and techniques shown in this video are certainly too elaborate for the casual photographer, but many of the principles and the ideas involved may be adaptable for amateurs.
– via crainium
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