1 Sep 2009 (updated 1 Sep 2009 at 02:22 UTC)
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A no-moving-parts windmill is much easier to construct than
I had at first thought. Build a chain-link fence
insulated from the ground. Mount, on the fence, a mist
sprayer (like an ultrasonic humidifier) operated at a
voltage differential from the fence,
so it extracts electrons from the fence and puts them on the
water droplets. In the absence of wind, the droplets are
drawn back to the fence, neutralizing the charge. Wind
blows the droplets away from the fence, which becomes, thereby,
increasingly positively charged. A current from the ground
to the fence can do work, such as charging a battery. The
more wind you have, the more charged mist it can carry away,
and the more current the fence will draw through your
battery.
Nothing in this description depends on the size. The fence
may be as big as the underside of the Golden Gate bridge, or
the space between a pair of skyscrapers. The power
available is limited only by the amount of wind that goes
through. (The mist is optional, it just adds friction; you
could ionize air particles instead.)
Other energy notes: (1),
(2),
(3).