From Scotsman.com: Kites Could Generate Power.
High-altitude kites could be used to generate clean energy at a cost comparable with that of polluting power stations, researchers claim.
The "Laddermill" is a chain of controllable wing-like kites attached to a looped cable stretching more than five miles into the sky.
Strong high altitude winds acting on the "kitewings" produce as upward force on one side of the loop and a downward force on the other, causing it to rotate.
The slowly-turning cable drives a power generator in the Laddermill base station.
Although the concept sounds far fetched, its developers at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands hope to build a working model in the next four years. [continue]
Update: Mark Frauenfelder at Boing Boing mentioned this story, and he was bright enough to add a link to the Laddermill website.
Posted on December 31, 2004 11:04 AM. Filed under: environment.