Sci/Tech Artificial tornado plan to generate electricity

The Helper

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Most of us know that tornadoes are unpredictable, uncontrollable, and dangerous. But a Canadian engineer thinks they could be the future of electricity generation. He wants to make electricity from artificial tornadoes.

Louis Michaud, a retired petroleum engineer in Sarnia, Ontario, plans to use the waste heat from conventional power plants to create an "atmospheric vortex engine" - a small, controlled tornado that would drive turbines and generate electricity. "I'm confident that we could control these things," he says. Michaud also thinks solar powered tornados generated using the sun's heat could also work.

His latest design is a circular wall 200 meters across and 100 meters high without a roof. Air carrying the waste heat would be blown in from vents on the sides, spinning around the walls into a vortex that becomes just like a real tornado. Once started, the vortex would draw in more hot air from vents in the wall, pulling it past turbines and generating electricity.

Michaud calculates that a vortex engine of this size would create a tornado about 50 meters in diameter and generate between 50 and 500 MW of electricity.

www.nbcnews.com

Man-made tornadoes could power the future

Coiled up in a tornado is as much energy as an entire power plant. So a Canadian engineer has a plan to spin up his own twister and extract energy from its tethered tail.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com
 
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Prometheus

Prometheus

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"Artifical Tornado gone out of control, destroying Canada. World Celebrates"
:D j/k
This could get us somewhere.
 
tom_mai78101

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This is what I came up after reading the article...
"...Artificial Tornadoes vs Natural Tornadoes. Who will take the chamionship home? The Home team or the Away team? I'm Mark Kennings, ESPN Sports, back to you, TheHelper. Stay tuned."
Click to expand...

I can't translate well.:(
 
L

Lunarios

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This is sort of a questionable technology, but it does have it's Pros. I mean, really what else are you going to do with the heat produced in your toaster?
 
BANANAMAN

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No..just no...We already have enough uncontrollable sh** in the world..we don't need people making more. :thdown:
 
esb

esb

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Religion.
Genes.
Discrimination.
 
Dan

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politicians.
 
Dan

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little tornadoes would be awesome though, because of their ability to gain momentum and continue going. Once you could start a mini, controlled tornado, inside a huge cylinder, it would then continue spinning because of momentum and would suck it's power source, which would be excess heat. A large startup energy would be needed probably, but then, bam, your tornado would probably spin indefinately as long as conditions could be regulated. Besides, you can't control nuclear power plants that blow up and irradiate towns within a few hundred mile radius, why would a little tornado be worse then that? at least it wouldn't blow up, it would just go free for a few miles and disintegrate. Anyways, I think we are talking very little tornadoes here. Cool ideas.
 
Dan

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Seb! said:
Don't forget WoW
Click to expand...

Though I do love WoW, I aggree. Unfortunately you don't see level 70 shamen running around in the real world blowing up things. Now THAT would be a disaster. But soooo cool. XD
 
esb

esb

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Religion - I don't think I need to explain this.

Genes - We have no control, and people are stereotypical about these. It gives the gender, phenotype (physical characteristics) and even gives advantage to or from certain diseases.

Discrimination - Something we can't control, but it happens all the time.

Now, lol why?
 
BANANAMAN

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Dan said:
little tornadoes would be awesome though, because of their ability to gain momentum and continue going. Once you could start a mini, controlled tornado, inside a huge cylinder, it would then continue spinning because of momentum and would suck it's power source, which would be excess heat. A large startup energy would be needed probably, but then, bam, your tornado would probably spin indefinately as long as conditions could be regulated. Besides, you can't control nuclear power plants that blow up and irradiate towns within a few hundred mile radius, why would a little tornado be worse then that? at least it wouldn't blow up, it would just go free for a few miles and disintegrate. Anyways, I think we are talking very little tornadoes here. Cool ideas.
Click to expand...

Tornadoes grow in size when it reaches outside conditions..

I guess being sucked into a swirling vortex of doom is better than dying of radiation.
c3c6968e551476fa3f2d535ec2950ca350179045.jpg



Also it's entertaining to watch =P
 
Sim

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Worse that can happenis that they will destroy their own labs...
 
tom_mai78101

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That is why they would be better off creating a smaller minimature-sized dust devils. Better than tornadoes, as it lacks the power it needs to destroy, wind to pick things up except for dusts, and small pebbles, and other factors not equal to tornadoes.
 
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