Want to Generate Renewable Energy? Go Fly a Kite!

Kite wind power

Clean, renewable energy flows around the world each and every day, just begging to be harnessed.  When it comes to wind energy, turbines, sails and even kites are all options to help us break our addiction to foreign oil.

Seriously?  Kites?

Could an idea based on a child’s toy be the answer to pressing energy dilemmas?  One California-based company, Makani Power, believes so.  It is developing a way to generate 1 megawatt (MW) of electricity using a kite.

The sky is (not) the limit for kite wind power.  In fact, the company’s energy harvesting kite can fly up to the high altitudes at which wind currents have greater energy than at ground level, where conventional wind turbines stand.

And its not alone.  Researchers around the globe are turning to kites as a way to generate significant amounts of wind energy in an efficient manner.  By flying kites high into the air, we could tap into global high altitude wind energy and quite possible turn playtime into serious power play.

Next time you start wondering about how to efficiently generate renewable energy, perhaps you should go fly a kite!