Timeline for answer to Could plants generate energy using wind power? by Willk
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 20, 2024 at 22:25 | comment | added | Robert Rapplean | No, you don't need to just draw energy based on increased and decreased wind strength. A properly shaped leaf will oscillate left and right in even a mild breeze. You can generate energy both off of the twisting and the oscillation. | |
| May 22, 2018 at 5:25 | comment | added | Karl | I'm aware of the 1.5%. This would be much worse. In those high winds, your plant needs a lot of energy to build and repair. Slow metabolism works in the deep sea and other calm places. | |
| May 21, 2018 at 22:57 | comment | added | Willk | @Karl - at 1.5%, photosynthesis sets a pretty low bar for efficiency. But any % of available energy captured is still captured. Metabolism can slow to the point that captured energy is enough. | |
| May 21, 2018 at 8:31 | comment | added | Karl | That would be extremely inefficient. You need some mechanism in the plant that lets the branches wiggle at the highest possible rate. Every bending can only give a certain amount of energy. | |
| May 20, 2018 at 21:53 | comment | added | Willk | @Karl: The nice thing about wind in this context is that it usually waxes and wanes to some degree. An elastic wooden branch bent by a gust of wind will then spring back when the wind force subsides. An organism which harnessed wind energy could be in a fractal ramifying shape: the finest ramifications deform and spring back with the lightest winds, with larger branches capturing stronger winds, and the trunk itself capturing the strongest wind. | |
| May 20, 2018 at 19:49 | comment | added | Karl | Trouble is this works only once per bending of the plant stem. You need continuous (or repetitive) motion to transform an external force into energy. | |
| May 20, 2018 at 15:19 | vote | accept | nAUTILUS | ||
| May 20, 2018 at 15:10 | history | answered | Willk | CC BY-SA 4.0 |