Dean Kamen Takes His Island Off-Grid

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/empire-off-the-grid

by mhb • 17 years ago

44 29 17 years ago

spectrum.ieee.org

jimfl• 17 years ago

Is Dean Kamen turning into a Bond villain, or what?

dave_au• 17 years ago

I'm hoping that he's turning into a Bond villian, considering the alternatives. He's been building terminator-style arms for a while now, out in the open, hiding in plain sight.

olefoo• 17 years ago

He does seem to be exhibiting many of the traits of Malign Hypercognition Disorder.

andyking• 17 years ago

Even more interesting than this one-man band is the progress being made on Eigg and other remote islands off the West Coast of Scotland. Many have never been on the grid (they're islands with 10-100 people living on them) and they've previously relied on mucky diesel generators and such like.

Now, solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric are being installed to give these communities a stable energy supply.

http://islandsgoinggreen.org/

proee3• 17 years ago

His "off-the-grid" system is really not very innovative (for an inventor that is). He should consider finding another means to store his reserves beside using a massive battery bank.

Some ideas:

1. Large Flywheel (on magnetic bearings, in vacuum)

2. Water Tower (pump sea water up to a tall tower, release at night)

noonespecial• 17 years ago

That's what I thought while reading it. It seems more like his "Neverland" than anything actually groundbreaking. Just a buch of expensive geek toys on his island helecopter destination.

youngian• 17 years ago

I think there's something to be said for actually walking the walk, however cushy it might be.

And to me, the most interesting part of his setup was the use of technology to balance sources of energy generation and consumption, and report on all of it. It's not just finding new ways to make energy, it's about using it more intelligently, which is a place where computers can help us make great strides.

run4yourlives• 17 years ago

I don't know about him, but it was my island and my home, I'd prefer a solution that worked. I'd save the tinkering for something other that the most important thing on the island.

bulanga2• 17 years ago

> 2. Water Tower

I have though of doing this for my house in the past.

Before I start building the tower I wanted to have a feel for how much energy one can store using this method. I live next to the sea so water is no issue.

Say to power 1 low energy 20watt light bulb for a few hours how large would the tower have to be and how high from the ground.

I'd really appreciate a link to a resource explaining the maths behind this.

likpok• 17 years ago

If it works the way I think it does, look up the (basic) physics around gravity.

You probably wouldn't even need to break out of the mass * g * height = energy equation.

kirubakaran• 17 years ago

Just (potential energy) * (efficiency)

I am going to assume 100% efficiency for simplicity. [1]

mgh Joule = 20 Watt * 4 hour * 3600 s/hour

(Joule = kg * m^2 / s^2 = W * s)

Lets say you pump water to a height of 10 meters.

m = 20 * 4 * 3600 / (9.8 * 10)

m = 2938.77 ~= 3000 kg

So you need about 3000 liters (1L = 1kg for pure water) of water at a 10m high tank to power a 20W bulb for 4 hours. This about 800 US gallons. Considering other inefficiencies, you'll need more.

[1] http://www.jcmiras.net/jcm/item/93/ (first google result for efficiency of a generator) says typical efficiency of a water generator is 0.95.

ynniv3• 17 years ago

The reality is that battery systems have orders of magnitude more capacity per volume and weight. I'm probably going to get the math wrong, but the mechanical energy that a generator extracts from a gallon of gasoline (~ 11 kWh) is equivalent to the gravitational potential energy of 80,816,326 liters of water at 50 m. (8.08e7 = 3600 * 1.1e7 / 9.8 / 50). Without a lake on a hill, you aren't in the right ballpark. Flywheels are similarly useless for modern energy consumption.

With lithium ion batteries, the Tesla Roadster stores 53 kWh's in an area about the size of the trunk.

proee3• 17 years ago

Modern Flywheels (in a vacuum with magnetic bearings) have close to the same energy density as batteries.

From Wikipedia:

"Flywheel power storage systems in current production (2001) have storage capacities comparable to batteries and faster discharge rates."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel_energy_storage

Also, I've heard that satellites often use flywheel's over batteries because they last longer.

jeroen• 17 years ago

single page link: http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/empire-off-the-gr...

trefn• 17 years ago

I first read the title as "Dean Kamen takes His island off-grid" and found it amusing.

pj2• 17 years ago

huh?

pj2• 17 years ago

Dean Kamen is my hero. I'd love to work with him and his team. I'd probably be the dumbest one there and I'd love every minute of it.

asciilifeform3• 17 years ago

It is a very interesting definition of "off the grid" which involves semi-regular shipments of semiconductors - an artifact of high civilization, notorious for its energy-intensive manufacturing process.

To me, the phrase "off the grid" does not necessarily imply living like a prehistoric savage - just something which one could reasonably hope to maintain if civilization collapses. LED lighting certainly doesn't fit the bill.

RK• 17 years ago

Heating is not really an issue, because the island isn’t accessible on the coldest days, when the swell in the surrounding seas can reach 9 meters.

That probably makes his energy independence problem a lot easier of the coast of Connecticut.

ct4ul4u• 17 years ago

He's got a model of Stonehenge and it's not 18" high.

jasonkester• 17 years ago

After reading the first paragraph about having a lighthouse on the island and seeing the photo, I thought: "Ah, that must be what that ugly tower is in the middle of the island. Too bad he can't get rid of that."

Turns out it's his windmill.

It's really a shame that wind power has to look so ugly. I mean, those huge turbines they have in Spain are cool to look at, but even if you're a zillionaire with your own island, you can't get a house-sized windmill that looks like that. His looks like an ugly little cell tower.

There's gotta be a market there.

Dean Kamen Takes His Island Off-Grid

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