High Altitude Wind Power

This guy is going after high altitude wind; says the force up there can power the globe. Plus Google is 100% behind the approach.

Saul Griffith, Ph.D. is the President and Chief Scientist at Makani Power.

He has multiple degrees in materials science and mechanical engineering and completed his Ph.D. in Programmable Assembly and Self Replicating machines at MIT. He is the co-founder of numerous companies including: Optiopia, Squid Labs, Potenco, Instructables.com, HowToons and Makani Power. Saul has been awarded numerous awards for invention including the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Collegiate Inventor’s award, and the Lemelson-MIT Student prize. Recently, he has been named a MacArthur Fellow. Saul holds multiple patents and patents pending in textiles, optics, nanotechnology, and energy production. Saul co-authors children’s comic books called HowToons, about building your own science and engineering gadgets, with Nick Dragotta and Joost Bonsen. Saul is a technical advisor to Make magazine and Popular Mechanics.

Makani Power is secretive, but there are several efforts to lift generators into the steady force winds at high altitudes.

Spinning blimp grabs high wind powerSee the blimp?

See the height of the blimp?

See the wing foils on the blimp?

See the cable around the wheel on the blimp?