Kite energy documentary needs your help

[chasewhh]

Hello Everyone!

I'm currently directing a documentary about the development of airborne wind energy (kite energy) entitled AWE. Here's the link:

http://www.awedocumentary.org

We launched a kickstarter to help us complete the project and would love to be more involved with the KiteLife community. Please help contribute to the project and help spread the word!

Along with showing the current evolution of kite energy, we are delving into the history of the development of technology that the kite has brought about. Any comments or input would also be greatly appreciated!

Also, here's a quick description of how traction kites can be used to generate energy:

Thanks so much for your support!

Chase Honaker

[Spence Watson]

Seems to me like the main competitor to such a system would be windmills. What are the differences in energy production, cost (initial and maintenance), and spacial requirements between the two?

I think the idea of a kite farm is awesome. I would love to see that.

[Tmadz]

It seems really neat but I have so many questions on long term viability and need for on site maintaining.

[chasewhh]

Thanks for your comments. One of the main questions the film is posing is this technology a viable alternative energy source for the world to embrace?

The AWE industry is still in the early stages and there are sites all over the world with people committed to making these ideas a reality. AWE inventors are driven by the huge potential of the upper atmosphere. Permanently recharging, high speed, high altitude power is an irresistible challenge.

As far as viability and cost when compared to a wind turbine here are some of the potential advantages:

Construction costs will be markedly diminished with no need for giant steel and concrete towers, and there will be no need for the yaw mechanism that keeps standard turbines facing into the wind as wind direction changes. This means that they would be much easier to move and they wouldn't be a permanent part of the landscape. This makes remote and rural applications more accessible. The department of defense has helped fund research of a few companies.

One of the main problems with wind turbines is getting the energy to the people. Turbines are usually built away from urban areas and need massive transmission lines. Where I live in Texas, over five billion was spent on these transmission lines alone. With AWE, you can generate the power much closer to the cities. A whole economic structure could be built on the idea of not needing as many of these lines.

Obviously there are still many issues that need to be figured out like regulation and maintenance although they are developing fully automated systems that are really spectacular. AWE is not a solve-all problem, we want to show the possibility of it being one of many alternative energy sources to help alleviate some of our dependence on fossil fuels.

Thanks for your interest! Please let me know if you have any more questions and be sure to share and/orpledge to this project. Every bit helps. http://www.awedocumentary.org