Real-time wind map

#1

Post by Equiet » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 1:43 PM UTC

Real-time wind map
sightwind.com

Re: Real-time wind map

#2

Post by foxpc » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 1:46 PM UTC

Firefox 30 (Windows 7) does not seem to show the world map.

The project seems to be similar to http://earth.nullschool.net/ , which does offer a lot more functionality.

Re: Real-time wind map

#3

Post by mrfusion » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 2:30 PM UTC

80% off topic, but wind related question I've been wondering about for a while.

Why don't power companies attach wind turbines to high voltage powerline towers? They already own the land and already have the structure built, plus the wiring. Would that make any sense?

Even if reinforcements (or adding height) to the tower are required it seems like a good idea.

Re: Real-time wind map

#4

Post by rtkwe » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 2:44 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #3

80% off topic, but wind related question I've been wondering about for a while. Why don't power companies attach wind turbines to high voltage powerline towers? They already own the land and already have the structure built, plus the wiring. Would that make any sense? Even if reinforcements (or adding height) to the tower are required it seems like a good idea.

The blades on turbines are massive and would require adding a lot of height to the existing towers. Also working around live transmission lines is extremely dangerous much less trying to add to the tower. It's just too dangerous.

Re: Real-time wind map

#5

Post by baq » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 2:49 PM UTC

rtkwe wrote: post #4

mrfusion wrote: post #3

80% off topic, but wind related question I've been wondering about for a while. Why don't power companies attach wind turbines to high voltage powerline towers? They already own the land and already have the structure built, plus the wiring. Would that make any sense? Even if reinforcements (or adding height) to the tower are required it seems like a good idea.

The blades on turbines are massive and would require adding a lot of height to the existing towers. Also working around live transmission lines is extremely dangerous much less trying to add to the tower. It's just too dangerous.

see also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqEccgR0q-o or search for 'wind turbine brake failure' on youtube. you don't want this stuff anywhere near high voltage lines.

Re: Real-time wind map

#6

Post by maxerickson » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 2:52 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #3

80% off topic, but wind related question I've been wondering about for a while. Why don't power companies attach wind turbines to high voltage powerline towers? They already own the land and already have the structure built, plus the wiring. Would that make any sense? Even if reinforcements (or adding height) to the tower are required it seems like a good idea.

The place to start would be to figure out how big a turbine the existing towers could support. If you look at the towers for big turbines, they are big tubes of steel, I guess the cylindrical shape is important (strong). If you look at really big power poles, they are lattices (not as strong).

There are power poles that are sort of in between, roundish with flat sides, but they are usually more medium sized.

So you quickly get to asking why do utility companies put their money towards building large (which helps with efficiency) turbines on the best wind sites, rather than smaller turbines on random sites that they own.

Re: Real-time wind map

#7

Post by larcher » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 2:54 PM UTC

Here's another one, for the US: http://hint.fm/wind/

Re: Real-time wind map

#8

Post by news_to_me » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 3:25 PM UTC

It would be awesome if they added a fullscreen button.

Edit: I mean, it's awesome anyway, it would just be more awesome.

Re: Real-time wind map

#9

Post by markbnj » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 3:36 PM UTC

Here is a global version that also shows intensity: http://earth.nullschool.net/

Re: Real-time wind map

#10

Post by fallinghawks » Mon, Jun 23, 2014, 3:45 PM UTC

rtkwe wrote: post #4

mrfusion wrote: post #3

80% off topic, but wind related question I've been wondering about for a while. Why don't power companies attach wind turbines to high voltage powerline towers? They already own the land and already have the structure built, plus the wiring. Would that make any sense? Even if reinforcements (or adding height) to the tower are required it seems like a good idea.

The blades on turbines are massive and would require adding a lot of height to the existing towers. Also working around live transmission lines is extremely dangerous much less trying to add to the tower. It's just too dangerous.

Plus there's the established hazard to wildlife getting chopped in half. A couple months back I read about some kind of passive system involving ionizing water (memory fails; I may be wrong about the method) instead of using turbines. I wonder if building that kind of structure onto a power tower would work.