There is to be a conference in Monaco in late November at which the various approaches to capturing this energy will be discussed. For those interested, we will provide details if this is requested on our contact form.
For our part, we recommend that you consider the peer reviewed paper published by the IEEE "Harnessing High Altitude Wind Power" IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion Vol 22 No.1 March 2007 in whose submission we were involved. Or consider the other tethered methods now being pursued by others described in our "Flying Electric Generators and Other Tethered Methods" section below.
Note: We appreciate the interest, but, sorry, our stock is not publicly traded. The main purpose of this website is to bring to the world's attention that the energy in the high altitude winds is far more than enough to meet the world's energy needs, it is non global warming, and multiple means of capturing this energy are available through a little further development of technologies that do not require any fundamental scientific breakthroughs.
While the public is aware of the high winds in the jet stream, there is no need for the jet stream to be overhead in the sense as reported in weather forecasts. Think, rather, of the average winds which make a difference in the time flying coast to coast in the U.S. from east to west versus west to east. Tremendous energy can be captured from these average temperate zone winds, enough to supply all the world's energy needs economically.
That the truly high energy winds are at altitudes miles above us, not just a few hundred feet where they can be tapped by rotors on towers, is clearly demonstrated in the form of detailed color charts calculated by Dr. Ken Caldeira, formerly of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, now at the Carnegie Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University. These charts show at what latitudes and altitudes this vast energy is to be found. We are indebted to him for permission to display these charts in the Global Wind Resources section of this website.
Australian Professor Bryan Roberts has long been aware of the wind facts and material improvement trends, and convinced that, by application of an appropriate technology, this high altitude wind energy can be captured. He set out to prove that long ago, and has demonstrated that Flying Electric Generator(FEG) technology is practical and should work at high altitudes. This is the "Flying Windmills" technology you may have read about in publications around the world. But competition for tapping this high altitude wind energy is now developing elsewhere in the world, and we welcome that.
Please see pictures upper right of a FEG which Professor Roberts and his colleagues demonstrated at low altitude years ago, and lower right of an artist's view of the next planned FEG which Sky WindPower plans to demonstrate under Professor Roberts' direction at an altitude of 15,000 feet and above.
Our figures show now, that with the advent of very strong but light tether materials, through use of what is essentially existing rotorcraft technology, capture of high altitude wind energy should prove cheaper than as derived from any fossil fuel.
In mass use, our calculations show that FEGs of Roberts' design should be able to produce electricity at a life cycle cost of LESS THAN TWO CENTS PER KILOWATT HOUR using tether materials now available. And new tether materials with even stronger strength to weight ratios are being developed.
If all costs are considered, including the true costs of nuclear fission, long range this will be the world's cheapest energy source other than the limited hydro sources and limited situations where surface based wind turbines may be the most economic in supplying relatively local needs. But, on a larger scale, our figures show that high altitude wind energy will be capable of supplying the world's needs at the best overall economics.
When the United States realizes that high altitude wind energy is capable of being its most economical energy source, market forces will lead to its gradually supplanting oil and to energy independence - as well as end the debate on global warming - because its most economical energy source will produce no greenhouse gases.
A FEG is a tethered device, and tethers going up to high altitudes obviously pose a problem to aircraft. But, while it is not well known, balloons tethered at up to 15,000 feet already exist along the southern border of the United States carrying radar equipment to detect drug flights.
Calculations show that airspace restricted for power generation will need far less restricted airspace to supply all the nation's needs than is already restricted from civil aviation use.
This website discusses measurement of the velocity and consistency of high altitude winds, calculations on the capacity to capture this energy using Roberts' technology at specific locations in the United States and around the world, FEG and other high altitude wind energy capture technology, restricted airspace use, future powering of vehicles, energy storage systems, the global wind resources, projected long range FEG economics and potential meaning to the future world.
The total swept area for a Flying Electric Generator of the same megawatt rating as a ground based wind turbine is typically about a quarter as much.
Yet the Flying Electric Generator would produce far more megawatt hours of electricity per year due to the much higher high altitude wind speeds and constancy.
In first time review of this website it is suggested that the "A B C" order of reviewing sections be followed.
