this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2025
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'Windmill': China tests world’s first megawatt-level airship to capture high winds (interestingengineering.com)
submitted 1 day ago by kalkulat@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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"High-altitude winds between 1,640 and 3,281 feet (500 and 10,000 meters) above the ground are stronger and steadier than surface winds. These winds are abundant, widely available, and carbon-free.

"The physics of wind power makes this resource extremely valuable. “When wind speed doubles, the energy it carries increases eightfold, triple the speed, and you have 27 times the energy,” explained Gong Zeqi "

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[–] bss03 7 points 10 hours ago

While it is rather complex and hard to predict, the most likely global outcomes are fewer extreme weather events and extremely mild cooling. The hairy ball theorem tells us there's already somewhere on the globe with no wind, so it's not that big of a deal to convert some wind into electricity. This particular approach couldn't convert "all" wind into electricity.

https://www.sciencenewstoday.org/spinning-skies-how-earths-rotation-shapes-our-weather -- We won't run out of wind until after we start slowing down the rotation of the earth, and we watch that pretty closely to know when to add leap seconds, and I imagine it's an just absolutely huge store of energy in the form of angular momentum (et. al.).