go fly a kite

An experiment at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has revealed the great power behind flying kites - enough to generate electricity for ten family homes. The kite was tethered to a generator and managed to produce 10 kilowatts of power. Leading the study, Wubbo Ockels, sustainable engineering professor, inspired by the great power of hurricanes viewed from space as an astronaut, sees kites as an exciting possibility in developing wind energy. They are able to reach much higher altitudes than turbines, where the wind power is greater. Ken Caldeira, climate scientist at the Department of Global Ecology has found that wind contains around 100 times the amount of energy that we need, but that most of it is up high, out of reach of current windmills and turbines. Others are in agreement that this could be a valuable source of renewable energy, cheap, easy to harness and really quite magical too.