"floating" is such an over-loaded word. China has a massive investment in wind power and floating sea-borne wind towers are a subclass of offshore wind generation.
That said, doing this as an aerostat is very interesting. and the energy returns for being aloft are pretty good. I would think this has fairly low embedded energy cost per unit generated, but that might not mean its a good fit for a permanent source of energy, more (as the article says) good for emergency deployment when there's a problem.
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"floating" is such an over-loaded word. China has a massive investment in wind power and floating sea-borne wind towers are a subclass of offshore wind generation.
That said, doing this as an aerostat is very interesting. and the energy returns for being aloft are pretty good. I would think this has fairly low embedded energy cost per unit generated, but that might not mean its a good fit for a permanent source of energy, more (as the article says) good for emergency deployment when there's a problem.
Very cool! This is something that would benefit New Zealand with their rising utility costs.