Solarpunk

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Solarpunk's most iconic meme is now real (solarpunkstories.substack.com)

submitted 1 week ago by SteveKLord@slrpnk.net to c/solarpunk@slrpnk.net

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One of the most popular solarpunk images is taking off in reality. The first recorded mention of solarpunk was in this 2008 blog. The author was inspired by the conceptual image of a cargo ship being pulled by a huge modern kite.

Following on from that the Jessica Woulfe’s artwork depicting blimp turbines (pictured above) won the Atomhawk solarpunk art competition in 2019. Since then Airborne Wind Energy Systems or AWES (love this acronym!) have become some of the most popular solarpunk imagery.

Many have thought this was just a protopian dream but as Matt Ferell explored in this recent video, AWES are getting much closer to reality. As Matt explains, a flying turbine has been successfully deployed by the company Kitepower in Ireland, poweringing the local town of Bangor.

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[–] Jayjader@jlai.lu 5 points 1 week ago

Kite on a cable seems to require less specialized manufacturing than enormous fan blades on a very tall pole. There's no fire risk from the blades spinning too fast when no power is needed.

I suppose this introduced the risk of cables getting tangled. I also wonder how high the kite needs to get to reach a layer of ever present wind and avoid needing a human to come spool it back in.