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'Windmill': China tests world’s first megawatt-level airship to capture high winds (interestingengineering.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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"High-altitude winds between 1,640 and 3,281 feet (500 and 10,000 meters) above the ground are stronger and steadier than surface winds. These winds are abundant, widely available, and carbon-free.

"The physics of wind power makes this resource extremely valuable. “When wind speed doubles, the energy it carries increases eightfold, triple the speed, and you have 27 times the energy,” explained Gong Zeqi "

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[–] 123 points 1 year ago (11 children)

1,640 and 3,281 feet (500 and 10,000 meters)

I feel like this needs a second look.

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  • [–] 103 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    As a European... Are feet logarithmic? Wouldn't even surprise me that much.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

    So that "10,000 meters" didn't scale right, clearly. But you also can't possibly call those "high altitudes". Small planes like cessnas fly at low altitudes, like 2,000 - 5000 ft, a 747 flys at a high altitude, 40,000 ft; 1600 ft is nothing, that's lower than some buildings.

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