# Energy Ball



## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

Ok, here's a new idea.. Don't know how well it works, but seems interesting..http://www.theengineer.co.uk/liChannelID/159/articles/308168/venturi+inspires+energy+ball.htm


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

Looks like another example (along with many recent vertical axis machines and small roof top devices) "invented" by people with no knowledge or experience with the wind and wind machines. Most of them (probably all of them, but there might be a legitimate one out there) are internet schemes to get money from the uneducated.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

> ....The Energy Ball, sold in 1m or 2m diameter sizes, costs Â£2,000 to Â£4,000.
> 
> The company estimates that in places where there are winds faster than 15mph, a 1m turbine could generate up to 500k/Wh a year, while a 2m ball can supply 1,750 k/Wh a year....


So for about $3000 you get 500KWH a year. Worse return than the little Air-X toy.


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

Sorry if it doesn't meet to anyones approval, it was an article in Global Spec newsletter that I receive...
And I know nothing when it comes to generating power with wind, I have no idea what is out there or available..


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## Argono (Apr 8, 2008)

Don't beat yourself up. If nothing else, it's a good way to identify what works, and what doesn't. 

What I like about this site more so than say, otherpower.com, is that it's easier for the n00b to get helpful information about solar or wind.

So, I say, keep bringing forth items like this, and those that know, keep posting why something works, or doesn't work. I keep learning a lot about alternative energy here!


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

WOW

WisJim doesn't know it yet but he's going to loan me 70K so that I can import a dozen or so . . . . . . . . . . .

Then after I sell those I will have too disappear in to the wood work so that my ----- don't get shot by my *happy* customers.


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## 7.62mmFMJ (Nov 19, 2008)

They are designed for dense suburban applications. Small and quiet.

They make suburbanites feel better while lifting some money from their pockets.

I believe you can get a 900 watt wind turbine with the pole and fixings for about the same price.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Beowoulf90,

Sorry if you took my post the wrong way. I see many items like this that are designed more to part yuppies from there money than actually do any good. 

They service the people that worry more about image than function. That's why I ran a few numbers on it and tried to use thenm to make my point. For my money or anyone's money sticking with the tried and true would be better. If noise is actually a problem than we need to work on the powers to be to let use mount them on higher towers. The farther up they are the less we hear them and the more power they will generate. Simple solution.

It's why I hate much of the "green" propoganda put out. Like trying to make this kid sound sound smart. One of the worst ways I've ever heard to charge an iPod. Daily he wastes a 50 cent onion and a 2 dollar energy drink to charge his iPod. Less than 1 cent of electricity from the grid. Just so he can think he's "green." Sorry but it takes more than that penny of energy than to grow the onion and produce the drink.

What he wastes in one week would pay for a little solar charger charge off Fleabay. This kid never learned the concept of conservation of resources. Which I think would be one of the basics of being green. Maybe if the enviro's would teach that instead of using the scare tatics of global warming I might be able to support some of there causes. 

WWW


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## Argono (Apr 8, 2008)

wy_white_wolf said:


> Like trying to make this kid sound sound smart.


Thanks for that link - that's funny (video proven to be a fake). What I like is that in the comments, someone took the author and site to task saying they should do a better job of investigation, and someone from the site replied, basically saying that they put an addendum at the bottom, but that other sites reported it also. Talk about not taking any responsibility!

That's why this forum is so nice. Someone can bring up something like this energy ball, and find out the truth!


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

I don't suppose that it hurts that there is more than a couple of us on here that have been around the block a time or two. And some of us who need to barf every time we see another ******(my delete) comes along with another reinventing the wheel scheme. 

Put a fail safe lock on your wallet before going and searching out all these grand and wonderfull thing-a-ma-bobs on the ether net.

my .03 cents worth


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

Jim-mi said:


> I don't suppose that it hurts that there is more than a couple of us on here that have been around the block a time or two. And some of us who need to barf every time we see another ******(my delete) comes along with another reinventing the wheel scheme.
> 
> Put a fail safe lock on your wallet before going and searching out all these grand and wonderfull thing-a-ma-bobs on the ether net.
> 
> my .03 cents worth


Sorry to tell you it's not a run of the mill scam.... The link I provided comes from a Engineering newsletter that I receive.. one of many..

While it may not be a good idea, there are still some trying to come up with ideas.. We call them engineers, you apparently call them scam artists..

I know all the ideas don't "pan out" but at least they spent the time trying...

Here is a link to view the newsletter

http://www.globalspec.com/Newsletter/ViewIssue?vol=Vol3Issue11_AlternativePower&pub=43&isPastIssue=1

This was the last one I got...

Gee, try to put out info that you find and the only thing you get is ridiculed..

No problem I'll keep the engineering and the article from the engineers to myself from now on..

Must be nice to know it all....I know I surely don't, but I keep learning new things..


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Jim-mi said:


> ...my .03 cents worth



Inflation?


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

honestly beowolf, it's a tough crowd in here. there are only a few in the know, and apparently technology will never surpass the level where it exists today.i wouldn't let it bother you though as many of we peons enjoy reading about the ongoing effort to prove that the world is not flat. so keep on posting info as you find it.


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

No way was I ridiculing you. Sorry you took it that way.
Please reread all my posts . . . .I have never used the term "scam artists".

Guess I should put aside and forget all that I have learned over time from working with some big wind pros.

My intent is only to keep the good folks here on HT from parting with their bucks for schemes that don't work.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

We tested a great number of innovative designs like this at NASA about 20 years ago. Increases in power derived from some of the more unusual designs was noted. Some had problems like being hard to start, some had problems with overspeeding, and some seemed to work quite well. The vertical axis wind mill comes to mind. When combined with a device that looked like an anemometer in the center, it worked pretty well.

The problem with conventional blades is the increasing speed as you move out on the blade. This ball attempt seems to bend the blades so that they are closer to being a constant distance from the axis. That could make it more efficient than a blade type. It would at least allow it to have approximately the same pitch along the length of the blade. Straight blades whirling around a horizontal axis usually have a varying pitch, with the tips nearly flat.

A cute variation was a straight bladed vertical axis wind mill with control vanes that reduced their angle of attack as the wind speed picked up. That one turned closer to the same speed all the time, without any external input.

Most of the designs that made it to the open market are a trade-off between design excellence and ease of manufacture.

Genebo


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## cowboy joe (Sep 14, 2003)

beowoulf90 said:


> Sorry if it doesn't meet to anyones approval, it was an article in Global Spec newsletter that I receive...
> And I know nothing when it comes to generating power with wind, I have no idea what is out there or available..


I get the same newsletter and was just going to post the link. Thanks for sharing. Always good to see what's 'in the wind'...


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

cowboy joe said:


> I get the same newsletter and was just going to post the link. Thanks for sharing. Always good to see what's 'in the wind'...


You can go ahead and post them from the Global Spec newsletters. I won't anymore.. Not worth the time..


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