Lightening powered???

[mneary]

As I posted earlier, each home that you would power with lightning would need a direct strike every 2 weeks. That is, if you could actually capture all of the energy (100% efficient).

At a still aggressive 1% efficiency, you would need a direct strike every 4 hours. On every home powered this way.

 

[DigiTan]

I read an article last year about possibily using ionizing lasers to divert lightning strikes from populated areas. Florida State University has been using rockets and conductive wires to accomplish the same feat for years. The laser idea was presented more as a tool for mitigating injuries and property damage. But if you're going that far, I say why not try to harness it as an energy source.

If you simplify a lightning bolt as a line of current, and have it travel through the center of a conductive loop; you can apply Biot-Savart's and Ampere's laws to model the system as an air-core transformer. And maybe it could be stored using those huge power factor compensation capacitors. With the right materials engineering, I wouldn't be surprised if part of that energy could be stored and sold to the market.

I think the American Gulf Coast would be a prime candidate for this kind of study. Some of these cities average 8 to 16 ground strikes per square km annually (source: **broken link removed**). It's probably a generation away, but if it's useful, I'm behind it.

 

[mneary]

Still, the NOAA's figures suggest that you need to harvest all lightning strikes at 100% efficiency, for about 300 square km to supply a single home.

Useful?

 

[DigiTan]

Since when is alternative energy only about powering homes? With the right materials, a system like that could use each bolt as a secondary power source. Something that independent could stay running when the existing power infrastructure isn't available.

 

[bmachining]

To harness Lightening u need a Flux capacitor!!

Well it worked in Back to the Future. hehehehe

 

[mneary]

"Power xxx homes" is commonly used as a benchmark, which is why I wrote it.

I agree that lightning is independent, but I prefer to say undependable. It's been about 45 years since I've been a building affected by a lightning strike. As an alternate source of energy, it's way down the list.

 

[rjvh]

in my opinion lightning is just a entertaining feature from mother nature

it does facinates me and I respect its power but as we conclude already it's not a comercial option

Robert-Jan