My first version of campaign (for memory): bari_x

bari_x_andrew

My first version of campaign (for memory)

Aug 20, 2014 15:20

Each cloud over head is NPP or TPP unit, but much cheaper and cleaner... Let's save WORLD together!

We would like to say sorry for our poor English language, therefore we will very appreciate if you will be so kind to correct our mistakes in your comments. Thanks in advance!

Russian text is here (Русский текст - здесь)Abstract

Before mankind objectively there are the following fundamentally important and global challenges:

lack of energy
lack of fresh water
environmental problem
saving the climate and life on the planet

The existing technology does not allow to avoid the potential disaster in 2050-2100.

Suggested CLOUDS POWER is perhaps the only one way that allows to avoid this.
Navigate our Campaign

Getting Solution step-by-step:

AIR HYDRO step-by-step:

What we need the money for?
Getting Solution step-by-step:

1. Instability of climate of the planet

"Environmental parameters that are favourable for life on Earth are physically unstable. The liquid state of terrestrial hydrosphere, a major prerequisite for functioning of the contemporary living systems, is unstable with respect to spontaneous transition to either complete glaciation of the planetary surface or complete evaporation of the oceans. Without the stabilising biotic impact the environment and climate of Earth would rapidly degrade to a state prohibiting human existence." - http://bioticregulation.ru/index.php

Thus, the problem of climate imbalance - this is not just an issue of comfort mankind. This is a problem of the possible existence of life on Earth. In our solar system, there are two nearest neighbors - Venus and Mars, which demonstrate just what will happen to us if we do not immediately stop it and Earth fell into one of the stable states. Despite the fact that different climate models give different predictions for period of destruction of the Earth's ecosystem stability, we need to focus on the worst predictions that give us just a few decades before the irreversible consequences.

2. Emission into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide - the main source of the climate problem

All that nature has garnered millions of years in the form of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), humanity will spend just a couple of centuries since the industrial revolution. At first we thought that the main problem - the energy that we just do not have enough resources soon. But now it is clear that at the present rate of consumption, we will destroy the Earth even earlier because of global climate catastrophe.

There is the wonderful performance by Bill Gates on TED:

"So this is a wish. It's a very concrete wish that we invent this technology. If you gave me only one wish for the next 50 years -- I could pick who's president, I could pick a vaccine, which is something I love, or I could pick that this thing that's half the cost with no CO2 gets invented -- this is the wish I would pick. This is the one with the greatest impact." - http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates

Click to view

Bill Gates does not know an acceptable solution. Of despair, he proposes the development of a very exotic options in the area of nuclear energy - a project Terrapower. It seems that he himself did not believe in the success, but we need to do something...

About renewable sources Gates said the following correct words:
"The last three of the five, I've grouped together. These are what people often refer to as the renewable sources. And they actually -- although it's great they don't require fuel -- they have some disadvantages. One is that the density of energy gathered in these technologies is dramatically less than a power plant. This is energy farming, so you're talking about many square miles, thousands of time more area than you think of as a normal energy plant. Also, these are intermittent sources. The sun doesn't shine all day, it doesn't shine every day, and, likewise, the wind doesn't blow all the time. And so, if you depend on these sources, you have to have some way of getting the energy during those time periods that it's not available. So, we've got big cost challenges here, we have transmission challenges: for example, say this energy source is outside your country; you not only need the technology, but you have to deal with the risk of the energy coming from elsewhere.
And, finally, this storage problem. And, to dimensionalize this, I went through and looked at all the types of batteries that get made -- for cars, for computers, for phones, for flashlights, for everything -- and compared that to the amount of electrical energy the world uses, and what I found is that all the batteries we make now could store less than 10 minutes of all the energy. And so, in fact, we need a big breakthrough here, something that's going to be a factor of 100 better than the approaches we have now. It's not impossible, but it's not a very easy thing. Now, this shows up when you try to get the intermittent source to be above, say, 20 to 30 percent of what you're using. If you're counting on it for 100 percent, you need an incredible miracle battery."

See more detail also in FOCUS FUSION campaign.
3. The problem of the existing energy resources

There are many studies that examine separately the problem of energy resources, such as - http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8717

Basically it comes down to the following understandable diagram.

Hopes for a quick development of fusion energy, to put it mildly, did not materialize. Billions invested in these studies led to the conviction that, in principle, it is achievable, but it requires huge resources, which leads to economic failure of this concept for the next century at least. Of the rest , you can use either the nuclear energy (which after Chernobyl and Fukushima greatly slowed its development), or fossil fuels (which creates a problem with CO2, climate and ecology) or renewable (of which really only solar panels and possibly, wind turbines are acceptable by resource). Result analysis of existing technologies usually has pessimistic conclusion that until fossil fuels are finished (which is about a couple of hundred years), mankind will be forced to use it, along the way trying to minimize the problem of accumulation of CO2 and praying to avoid the problem of global climate change. What's next - God knows...

If you do not blow over, the disaster could occur as early as 2050-2100 years... If the climate catastrophe becomes evident then immediate transition to renewable sources is forced, but even at the maximum rate, we can only rely on ~50% substitution of energy to 2050. That would mean the collapse of the deepest in human development, reducing its numbers due to hunger and lack of energy and other resources, etc.

4. Fundamental limitations of renewable energy

Again, there are many studies on this topic, such as - http://oneinabillionblog.com/energy/renewable-energy/fundamental-limitations-of-renewable-energy/ and other materials on this site. Actually, the main was said in the above quote by Bill Gates - resources are dispersed (dimension 2, whereas conventional energy - dimension 0) and intermittent (which is equivalent to an additional investment in storage).

In this resource, as was explained above, only the Solar and (possibly) the Wind are sufficient. Traditional hydropower, which is also a kind of solar energy does not have enough resources - for example, http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/12/how-much-dam-energy-can-we-get/

However, using Clouds Power by technology AIR HYDRO increases this resource is almost 200 times (see picture above) and radically changes this assessment.

Fundamentally here comes into play Her Majesty ECONOMICS. All three methods of conversion (Solar , Wind, Clouds) are of the same order of magnitude of the energy density (~ 100 W/m2), but only for AIR HYDRO all this energy with virtually no loss can be merged into a single point (pipe / turbine), making part of the proportional m2 far cheaper than other alternatives. This implies the 1-2 orders of magnitude smaller specific investment (~ 10-100 $/kW) and low payback period (~ month-year) that will quickly rebuild the energetics and successfully avoid energy and climate collapse in the region 2050-2100 period.

That is, despite the fact that in AIR HYDRO the capture of energy also has the dimension of 2 (proportional to the area of the kite or mesh in sky, but not the area on land), the actual conversion of energy (which is the most capital cost of any power unit) can be performed at one point (dimension 0), in contrast to solar panels and wind turbines, where expensive converters are also necessary reproduced in proportion to dimension 2. Moreover, AIR HYDRO itself can smooth out unevenness both by a small hydro accumulation and much greater (at 600 times!) by accumulation in the form of hydrogen storage in ballonet balloons. And this accumulation (and possibly shipping) energy in the form of hydrogen creates a possibility of a gradual and smooth transition from natural gas to existing traditional power plants and transport on hydrogen.
AIR HYDRO step-by-step:

1. Potential Power of Water Cycle

The Water Cycle is the most powerful process in Nature - about a quarter of all Sun’s Energy or about a half of Sun’s Energy achieving the Earth.

Since the annual precipitation is about 1 m of rainfall, it matches a huge power ~ 800 TW that is:

more than 60 times greater than all the current needs of humanity
more than 400 times greater than all electrical power stations

2. Why the usual Hydro power gives so little from this huge power?

By vertical: all precipitation lose most of their potential energy on the way to ground to overcome the resistance of the air and hit the ground
By horizontal: the most of precipitation fall on ocean or lowland where hydro power has no enough potential for using

Therefore the flow of all rivers is 11 times less than all precipitation and all rivers power is 200 times less than power from clouds.

3. How to avoid this power loss?

Collect water in place where it condenses really, i. e. directly in clouds
Use all possible hydro power head in any place of land or ocean where there are clouds

It was suggested by Nikola Tesla yet in 1915.

4. Air Hydro invention is the sum of 3th well-known devices:

Usual Hydro power
Barrage balloons or kites
Fog (or here, cloud) collectors

Click to view

See similar collector also in PROG WATER campaign.

5. Patent AERO HPP

Patent RU 2500854 C1 from 17.04.12
International Application PCT/RU2013/000070 (WO2013157991)

SUBSTANCE: device comprises a lower reach 1, an upper reach 2, a water conduit 3, a turbogenerator 4 and surfaces 5. Surfaces 5 are made as capable of receiving atmospheric moisture from the air flow and delivering it to the upper reach. Besides, surface 5 are raised to the height above the dew point for these atmospheric conditions. To support the surfaces 5, balloons or airships 6 are used.
EFFECT: expansion of functional capabilities and increased specific capacity of HPP by using maximum possible difference of heights between upper and lower reaches from height of actual condensation of atmospheric moisture in a cloud to ground level.

Please, learn more about how it works on http://airhes.com

6. What it gives?

almost eternal and unlimited gratuitous electricity and clean water for drinking and irrigation, and anywhere in the world, where there are clouds
minimum space on the ground (as under this HPP and under power lines), as well as the ability to use any surface (including the vast areas of deserts, seas, oceans, etc.)
modular (you can collect any power plants from standard modules)
mobility (for rapid redeployment, if necessary, or even for use in transport, for example, to supply ocean ships by electricity and drink water)
cleanness and ecology because of the relatively small local hydro flows (in comparing with conventional HPP) and the complete absence of CO2, thermal, chemical or nuclear releases into the environment
increasing the specific hydroelectric power (that is power per liter of water) by using the maximum possible hydraulic head between the upper and lower water level (from the height of the condensation of atmospheric moisture to the ground)
significantly lower capital costs per unit of capacity and operational costs by comparing with any other known types of renewable and non-renewable energy
possibility of additional uses for network communication, video surveillance, high-rise advertising, lightning protection, climate protection (for example, against hurricanes and tornadoes in the U.S. by placement on the seaboard of Gulf of Mexico), regulation of climate (by cutting off rains in St. Petersburg by placement on the dam at the prevailing southwest wind rose), AD (for example, for Israel), shade in hot countries, and much more…

7. Economical prospective view

Estimation for maximal output: In a thundercloud, close to equator, we have up to 5 g/m3 of LWC. Let it be only 1 g/m3, the altitude of 5 km, the usual wind speed here of 10 m/s, we get 500 W/m2. For comparing, a NPP unit of 500 MW is equal ~ 1 km2 of the mesh for Air Hydro Power. Not so much. And NPP unit is on the ground with the same space. Plus 100 km2 of emergency zone. And this land is lost forever. But we need only in a little place for the turbine, the rest part is on the altitude of 5 km.

So, if use economical approximation by extensive factor (i.e. on 1 m2 of active surface - $ 0.5 for double layer of PP mesh), then for big Air Hydro Power units by law “quadrate - cube” we can estimate the following specific capital costs:

by average data of passive fog collectors ~ 2 W/m2 -> ~ $ 250/kW
by maximal data of active fog collectors ~ 50 W/m2 -> ~ $ 10/kW
by physical calculation on equator ~ 500 W/m2 -> ~ $ 1/kW

In comparison,

Gas turbine PP with ~ $ 500-700/kW for the cost about 5 cents per kWh,
Conventional TPP with ~ $ 1500/kW for ~ 2.5 cents per kWh,
Usual Hydro PP with ~ $ 1000-3000/kW for ~ 0.5 cents per kWh,
Nuclear PP with ~ $ 5000/kW for ~ 2.5 cents per kWh.

Please, learn the detailed calculations from "Feasibility study"

8. Main advantages

Huge potential that is much more than all human needs
Almost world-wide use where are clouds with water drops
Using as pumped storage and simultaneously as H2 storage
Getting simultaneously electricity, H2, and fresh water
The possibility to reduce energy costs by 1-2 orders
Absolute ecological security from any pollution and CO2
Saving climate and heat balance of the planet
Technological simplicity, no high-tech, producing anywhere
At last, it is amazing beautiful!

9. Main limitations, issues, risks, challenges

Physical - the freezing of water. This limits the use of year-round in the northern countries

Operational - irregularity of clouds. Possible solutions:

additional mechanism induced condensation (like dew)
accumulation of water on the upper reach (cost 2-3 times less vs chemical batteries)
accumulation of H2 (in ballonet balloons, 600 times more effective than accumulation of water on the upper reach)
recovery of aluminum for transport of fuel cells

Engineering - getting energy from a height of 2-5 km. Possible solutions:

standard pressure hose (Kevlar, Dyneema) or vertical tube
free-flow gravity hose (channel waterfall)
cable car (reverse aerial lift)

No experience - further R&D are needed for different installations.

10. Optimistic technical business plan

R&D - calculation simulation and practical tests for different types of meshes and kites (ideally, in mountains by using orographical clouds) - it demands ~$10k and ~ half of year
Creating the normal kite's technical prototype for getting fresh water in any place where there are clouds - it demands ~$20-30k and ~ half of year (if success, it can be producted already as business of water supply, itself)
Creating the energy & water technical prototype (~20-50kW) with kite/mesh/aerostat for working long time - it demands ~$50-100k and ~ half of year
Creating a big unit (~20-50MW) - it demands ~$1M and ~ half of year and will give a big profit already (ROI payback ~ a month)
Creating a huge unit (~1GW) and solving all problems of mankind for 10-20 years

What we need the money for?

The detailed calculations in "Feasibility study" show that this project can be fantastically beneficial. However to start up this absolutely new revolution in energetics an investor must risk first. But nobody want to spend money for R&D and to risk without looking at a real prototype. Therefore the money now firstly are needed for creating this first technical prototype.

We had tested the scientific prototype last summer (2013/07/30) in Russia on own money (~$3k). We suppose that we have gotten approximately 5 liter/m2 per hour (by analyzing the aerostat positions), however during aerostat landing the rope was broken off and the aerostat had flied off again and was destroyed "by Russian Air Defence" how had been written in Russian newspapers (but it is nonsense, of course) - http://www.mk.ru/social/article/2013/07/31/892706-voennyie-sbili-nad-seligerom-innovatsionnyiy-dirizhabl.html

Now we are going to build this minimal prototype that we could test as a real device for any possible estimates and conditions. You can see in "Feasibility study" that the target sum matches the estimation of the possible total cost of this minimal technical prototype.

We are sure on 99% that we can demonstrate a workable prototype for attracting a serious investor and further developing this project as business. Therefore we can promise the proper preferences in this huge future business for everybody who has supported our R&D now.

And most importantly:

This may be the most important project in the History that will forever solve the basic problems of mankind (except stupidity, of course) and will provide participants immortality in the memory of posterity in row of the most famous names.
Ultimately, all that a man does - is an attempt to earn a piece of immortality in the form of memory at least their descendants, at least temporarily.
But here it is the eternal memory for all generations of all humanity... It's not even comparable with the huge economic benefits of this project.
So, you will get immortality. The highest standard.

If we could get ~ $100k from this campaign we could start up this project even without an external investor. Then we will try to start from producing simple devices for fresh water supply (like a portable kite SKY-FOUNT, etc.) and step-by-step to develop our devices for getting energy, hydrogen, and water... We are sure in success and we can do it!

And, of course, anybody who want can start the same project independently... We will be only glad if anybody will get the result faster and better us - it is a global problem and we will not struggle for priority or market...

We have dream to make our world better:

AIR HYDRO is potentially very simple technology, no high tech and after proof of workability this could be produced in any small firm anywhere worldwide (Africa, Latin America, India, China, etc.)

Moreover, the equal local access to basic life resources can globally change the whole world, and geopolitics. Any exploitation is based on the inequality of access to vital resources: energy, water, food... Here everyone will get a roughly equal resources. Plus the ocean, no one owned, but which is also suitable for Air Hydro Power. Who will obey, when all he wants, it will be possible to take out of the sky above his head? It will collapse the entire existing world order based now on the power of individual countries and monopolies.

Also we need everyone to help us spread the word about this campaign!

Share the IndieGoGo page on Facebook & Twitter: http://igg.me/at/cloudspower

If you know any TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, blogs or potential sponsors please email us! mailto:andrew@airhes.com

#cloudspower

PS: We ask in advance to excuse us for absence of "things" perks because the delivering from Russia is very risky and expensive. If we will achieve success, we will remember this our debt in future...

NB! Russian contributors can get problems with payment by Paypal because by Russian laws you should use ONLY RUR between Russian accounts - please, in this case just use this link to our site.

#cloudspower, АэроГЭС