Kites

A surprising new source of renewable energy: Kites

Yes, I'm serious. Yes, I am now singing "Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest heights" in my signature off-key way. The Guardian newspaper reports that scientists from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, one of Europe's top research institutions, were able to harness wind energy by flying a 10-sq metre (107.6 sq feet) kite tethered to a generator. They produced ten kilowatts of power, enough to power ten family homes. And I bet they had a great time, too! The scientists now have...

Huge kites generate 10 KW in test

That’s enough power for ten homes. Much larger tests are planned. The kites use the much faster moving wind higher up, and thus are more efficient. Plus they fall slowly if the wind stops. The always amazing Treehugger has more. Check Laddermill, the website of inventor Wubbo Ockels for lots of technical explanations, demo software, [...]

Fun Flickr Game - and OMG!

So, I decided to spend my lunch break today posting a fun little flickr game that MH recently showcased.... Here's the skinny: The concept: a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. b. Using only the first page, pick an image. c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. The Questions: 1. What is your first name? 2. What is your favorite food? 3. What high school did you go to? 4. What is your favorite color? 5. Who is your celebrity cr...

Skysails - Plus - Top 10 Green Ship Designs

(Note: This post originally appeared on gCaptain Jan ‘08) Three years ago at the World Expo in Aichi Japan SkySails promised a revolutionary design with the ability to reduce fuel consumption aboard ship by up to 24%. Last week the dream became reality. BBC News tells us: There is something rather magical about being up on deck [...]

Mamma mia, here we go again

The moving van comes tomorrow, everything’s pretty much packed. As long as it doesn’t rain I reckon it’ll be fairly straightforward. Took a break from the boxing to see what the annual Berkeley Marina Kitefest is all about. Kites mainly. Took a few pix, but it wasn’t the best weather for pix. Good weather for [...]

One dead in violent N.H. storm

(Essdras Suarez/Globe Staff) Bob Bennett becomes overwhelmed with emotion after telling his 11-year old daughter over the phone that they no longer had a home and that their neighbor had perished when a storm hit their Epsom neighborhood. By Stephanie Ebbert and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff, and Christopher Baxter, Globe Correspondent A powerful storm tore through at least a half dozen towns in southeastern New Hampshire today, toppling trees, knocking out power, and damaging buildings, a state...

Haven Series Britannia Trophy

On the weekend of the 12th and 13th of July Jan and I took part in our 1st Haven Series race, the Britannia Trophy. The race starts just outside of Harwich and runs directly to Lowestoft. There are a few navigation marks in the course however these are all found in the final moments of the race. Jan and I were the only two handed entry in a fleet of 12. Given our track record our sights were set low for this one, in short we just wanted to get there without incident. Our start was fantastic, we ...

Hrithik turns singer with Kites

Everyone is aware of Hrithik’s dancing talent but the actor has an another hidden passion which he is going to showcase very soon in his forthcoming film Kites. Apart from a fabulous actor...

HOW TO - Make a box kite

Anders writes in - I've been making these [box kites] for few years, and tomorrow I'm getting a bunch of people to make them at gas works park in Seattle. So I figured I would spice up my usual instruction set and put it on flickr. Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in DIY Projects | Digg this!

Check It Out: The Black Kites @ Boardner?s

Tuesday nights can be fun. Yes, they can! Especially when you have had a long day at work and you need to release some energy and drink some beer. The folks at Radio Free Silverlake are hosting a special show...