Day: July 2, 2007

Floating Off-Shore Wind Rig Based on Oil Rig Technology

What are the three biggest problems with wind power? Anybody, anybody, Bueller?

1. Bird Kill, 2. NIMBYism and 3 Dead bugs gumming up the works. Now, I’m not saying that these are always legitimate concerns, but migration corridors should be avoided and some people just really don’t like the way wind turbines look. These are real problems, so we’ve got to find real solutions.

How about we put wind turbines in a place that is literally no one’s back yard, there are no bugs, and where birds only go to die. Namely, 50-100 miles off-shore. The big problem, of course, is that there’s no way to anchor wind turbines into the sea-floor if the sea-floor is 300 meters down (as it is when you get that far off shore.)

Why is why Norsk Hydro has been working on a prototype floating off-shore wind rig called the Hywind. Norsk Hydro’s off-shore wind expertise comes directly from their experience with off-shore oil rigs. And now that off-shore oil is less interesting to Norway, Norsk Hydro happily developing this awesome new technology.

A pilot project with three 3 MW turbines will be installed before the beginning of 2008. But future plans call for larger farms with hundreds of 5 MW turbines producing as much as 4 terrawatt hours per year, or roughly enough to power 200,000 households.

More pics after the jump.

Via Inhabitat and Norsk Hydro

See Also:
–World’s Largest Offshore Wind Project–
–NIMBY to YIMBY–
–The AeroGenerator–

Categories:Uncategorized

Making You Safer: A Look At The Mercedes SLR McLaren Roadster’s Carbon Fiber Construction

For some of you, the decision as to whether or not the new Mercedes SLR McLaren is worth ponying up the roughly half-a-million or so it takes to get behind its ergonomic sport steering wheel is a difficult one. It’s without quesion a vehicle of immense beauty, but then again, $500,000 affords you plenty of things which are immensely beautiful. So the question lingers: why should you purchase the Mercedes SLR McLaren Roadster? If Mercedes’ newest press release is to be believed, the answer to that question my dear friends, is safety. Thanks to its F1-style carbon-fiber monocoque construction, in the event of a head-on, side-on or rear-end collision, its occupants enjoy ‘a very rigid and hence securely protected space…’

Categories:Mercedes Benz

Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Race Recap: Magny-Cours

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen; I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. To kick things off this morning we have a recap of the F1 race that transpired at Magny-Cours over the weekend. As usual, if you have the race TIVO’d and plant on catching it later, read no further; otherwise, keep reading for a quick recap of what transpired at the event.

Categories:Mercedes Benz