Why dont we harness lightning?

[JEDI]

Lightning has millions of watts.

why havent we created something to store its energy?
ie: a bunch of lightning rods, some huge capacitors, and harness that free power?

sure, it might only power a city for a couple of days, but thats just from one thunderstorm. the more storms/year, the more free energy you get.

Discuss.

 

[vhx]

Because lightning strikes are random. You could technically make a giant field of huge spires for a bigger chance of getting something hit by lightning, but to be more efficient they would have to be really tall (more expensive).

I was actually reading in the July issue of Popular Science that Louis Michaud has found a way of creating a Tornado and then entrapping it but keeping it spinning indefinitely. The article said he showed a prototype last year (a smaller model) but is going for a bigger one. If it's true it could definitely be a constant source of energy. It requires power to first start it says, but once it is going it is self sustainable using turbines and stuff. It also says one would be enough to power 200,000 homes.

 

[PurdueRy]

Ok, but you can build the cap that can withstand a few hundred million volts.

 

[Tim]

Originally posted by: vhx
Because lightning strikes are random. You could technically make a giant field of huge spires for a bigger chance of getting something hit by lightning, but to be more efficient they would have to be really tall (more expensive).

I was actually reading in the July issue of Popular Science that Louis Michaud has found a way of creating a Tornado and then entrapping it but keeping it spinning indefinitely. The article said he showed a prototype last year (a smaller model) but is going for a bigger one. If it's true it could definitely be a constant source of energy. It requires power to first start it says, but once it is going it is self sustainable using turbines and stuff. It also says one would be enough to power 200,000 homes.

When the tornado finally gets tired of years of servitude, it WILL escape and destroy us all.

 

[Engineer]

Because the damn flux capacitor was destroyed in a movie set fire last month and it was the only thing with enough storage capacity to quickly capture 1.21 Gigawatts.

 

[alkemyst]

where do you think the electric company gets it's power from?

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
where do you think the electric company gets it's power from?

You mean it's not from the Energizer bunny?!?

 

[GasX]

Electricity from coal costs about 5 or 6 cents a megawatt. If lightning strikes can be harnessed safely and for a similar cost, someone will make it happen. The real problem is storage. Electricity is not stored on a large scale with any cost effectiveness.

lol @ capacitor idea

 

[biggestmuff]

 

[aircooled]

We don't even "harness" the power we already create. The grid is live.

 

[archiloco]

yeah unpredictability....

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: vhx
Because lightning strikes are random.

They are pretty good now at "forcing" lightning bolts. I'm sure you've seen the discovery channel shows where they fire some rocket tethered to a thin wire up into the sky and it causes a lightning bolt, right?

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: theplaidfad

Originally posted by: vhx
Because lightning strikes are random. You could technically make a giant field of huge spires for a bigger chance of getting something hit by lightning, but to be more efficient they would have to be really tall (more expensive).

I was actually reading in the July issue of Popular Science that Louis Michaud has found a way of creating a Tornado and then entrapping it but keeping it spinning indefinitely. The article said he showed a prototype last year (a smaller model) but is going for a bigger one. If it's true it could definitely be a constant source of energy. It requires power to first start it says, but once it is going it is self sustainable using turbines and stuff. It also says one would be enough to power 200,000 homes.

When the tornado finally gets tired of years of servitude, it WILL escape and destroy us all.

damn dirty twister

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I remember some show on Discovery IIRC about a lightning field in Utah/Nevada/Arizona area. I don't think it does any kind of power production but it is setup to get lots of strikes.

 

[ViviTheMage]

The tornado thing sounds cool!

 

[JTsyo]

The lighting will follow the path of least resistance. Not sure you can have that with a storage medium of any kind. It would rather just ground itself.

 

[nakedfrog]

Unfortunately, you never know when or where a bolt of lightning will strike.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Although it's a lot of power, it's for a very short time. 1 million watts for 0.1 second=28kWh. About enough to power an average house for a day.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Unfortunately, you never know when or where a bolt of lightning will strike.

*uncrumples piece of paper from pocket*

We do now.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: vhx
Because lightning strikes are random. You could technically make a giant field of huge spires for a bigger chance of getting something hit by lightning, but to be more efficient they would have to be really tall (more expensive).

I was actually reading in the July issue of Popular Science that Louis Michaud has found a way of creating a Tornado and then entrapping it but keeping it spinning indefinitely. The article said he showed a prototype last year (a smaller model) but is going for a bigger one. If it's true it could definitely be a constant source of energy. It requires power to first start it says, but once it is going it is self sustainable using turbines and stuff. It also says one would be enough to power 200,000 homes.

So, they use a turbine to created a tornado which then harnases the nergy from the tornado whcih is uder to power the turbine.

Ummmm, can I ask something stupid. Do you really think that they created energy from nothing?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus
I remember some show on Discovery IIRC about a lightning field in Utah/Nevada/Arizona area. I don't think it does any kind of power production but it is setup to get lots of strikes.

They shoot a small rocket that is tethered by a thi0n wire. Path of least resistance ..... STRIKE

The problem is with storing the electricity. There is no way to do it. Figure that out and you have a money maker on your hands.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus
I remember some show on Discovery IIRC about a lightning field in Utah/Nevada/Arizona area. I don't think it does any kind of power production but it is setup to get lots of strikes.

They shoot a small rocket that is tethered by a thi0n wire. Path of least resistance ..... STRIKE

The problem is with storing the electricity. There is no way to do it. Figure that out and you have a money maker on your hands.

That's right they do, I forgot they shot rockets off there to have the strikes.

 

[Cogman]

there are multiple reasons, some stated here. For one, how do you charge something in a 1/1000 of a second without melting/blowing something up? How do you deal with the completely random voltages? and how do you keep the bolt fromt traveling so far down the line then jumping out or arching over it?

You have to remember that we essentially force electricity into the things we want to charge, lightning has enough energy that it can go wherever it pleases (even skipping over the charging box.

Not only that, but you also have to predict where a lightning storm will be, In my home town we sometimes go entire summers without lightning storms, that system would fail completely in that circumstance.

As for the tornado Idea. Lol, where the publishers of scientific America drunk when they published that article? Everyone say it with me "There is no free lunch, there is no free lunch. Energy in == energy out. The law of conservation of Energy/matter" unless his perpetual tornado is powered by the sun, the power required to start the thing would be exactly the same as the power an ideal turbine would get out of it (Yes, the tornado will slowdown if you put a turbine in it).

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: alkemyst
where do you think the electric company gets it's power from?

You mean it's not from the Energizer bunny?!?

well lightning isn't the ONLY source, duh.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: alkemyst
where do you think the electric company gets it's power from?

You mean it's not from the Energizer bunny?!?

Didn't you hear? The Energizer bunny is dead cause some idiot put his battery in backwards. He kept coming, and coming, and coming....