rigid wings may sweep more area per pound though since they go faster, which is why they are used in wind energy today in lieu of soft the wings of 2000 years ago.  but ya know, basic facts about wind energy are considered irrelevant in this forum...

My rigid blades travel faster than a hurricane in a 10 mph wind, if unloaded.  Watch those fingers!

"Correction in bold: "Fort clearly presumed decent performance of the AWES, even if he did not say so."
*** Why not just have Fort design a superior AWES system if he is such an authority?

Pierre: You have to start with "knowns" and "unknowns".  The "known" is everything DaveS says is right.  And he is a genius.  Everything else is "unknown".  M'kay?  :)

"Another factor Pierre (sadly?) seems to ignore is that large rigid wings are far more expensive to operate safely under existing regulations, because of higher mass-velocity flight regimes. Insurance properly becomes a major cost with high mass-velocity, compared to slower softer design."  ***I'd counter that with a fact or two:  Airplanes are safer than zeppelins because they travel faster, and, like wind turbine blades, thereby largely define their own operating environment.  Slower zeppelins, with more surface area, are more subject to the vagaries and capriciousness of nature (unexpected wind events), and thereby have a history of disasters, which is why there are none operating today.

So they say - whom are they?  God?  The internet is FULL of idiots.  Stop worrying.  :)

"Not a likely event, but it could happen," *** When designing a wind turbine, "unlikely" events happen as soon as the first strong wind, if not sooner, and only foolproof machines, refined over many seasons, survive even that first storm.

daveS said "Just as both Alice in Wonderland and Relativity emerged from the Planck Godlike view," *** I agree that you are mired in endless fantasy like Alice and you do express a wannabe godlike view.  With the number of big names and big theories in physics you have invoked, we'd expect you'd have something going by now... Is it "all-talk" or "all B.S.", or both?

daveS said  "Nevertheless, GE, the US leader in wind power, is aggressively developing fabric covered wind towers and blades," *** aggressively?  I've talked to their head of research.  He did not seem to even care about that program.  It's mostly about press-release science and inexperienced grad students & newbies playing around due to lack of knowledge - busywork.  Wait and see.

daveS said "Correction to Doug: You don't have to agree when I propose "lets agree" to a reasonable idea."
*** Great, thanks Dave.

daveS said: "Doug should really be complaining to GE, not the AWES forum, about them mass-promoting fabric in wind tech-" ***Doug replies: DaveS I don't think you will ever "get it".  The "Professor Crackpot Syndrome" is everywhere, and "press-release science" will be there as long as there are "journalists" gullible enough to take it seriously.  After all, remember all the articles declaring a remote town in Alaska "powered by an AWE device"?  Who told you that was not true - that there WAS NO town powered by an AWE device in Alaska?  Me.  Where did I get that information?  I pulled it from the same place where all these articles come from - that place where the sun doesn't shine.  It was one more "been-there, done-that" moment.  I've been doing this far longer than you, and I know BS when I read it, by the mere "smell".  Complain to GE?  Get serious!  What the heck do you think I was doing talking to the worldwide head of research at GEwind anyway?  I was suggesting that if they had cloth-covered blades, they utilize my patented idea of having them be filled with helium.  I could tell by the response over time, which took weeks of back-and-forth, that this worldwide head of research did not take the cloth-covered blade effort seriously at all.  That is my take anyway.  Wait and see what happens if you must.  Or if you want the real skinny on any of this stuff, just pay attention and I lay it all out for you: which ideas will pan out and which are a waste of time (no matter HOW many smiling grad students pose for the obligatory pic).  But part of the "Professor Crackpot Syndrome" is that the crackpots will simply not listen to anyone who knows what the heck they are talking about.  I field phone calls from crackpots all day.  Just got off the phone with another one while writing this, as a matter of fact.  They want to buy an alternator.  Of course they plan to buy 500,000 of them.  I let them talk for a while til they usually break the news that they have an "over-unity device" (ahem) patented, of course, but they admit that the patent office will not field "perpetual motion" devices, so they use the word "continuous" instead.  What-everrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.............

Thanks, DaveS.  

Attachments :

Here is a look at KiteSat, Production Prototype 2.1:

DaveS said: "So this explains what you meant when you claimed to have a deal in the works with GE."
*** Fact-check:  I never said what you claim I said, as usual, your quotes of me are inaccurate.

"Doug is off-topic again, and failing to cite his sources (for airship history)."
daveS is wrong again.  Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airship_accidents
daveS, please share with the rest of the class, a list of zeppelins operating today.

daveS said: " its been made quite clear by you that the kite is not your thing."
*** As usual, you misquote me and mischaracterize my positions and statements, arguing with your own mischaracterizations.  You are like a one-man professional wrestling match.  All nonsense, all the time.

more hot air from daveS... :)

"ModularMarine should be producing a prototype by the beginning of next year for our Kite Engine and perhaps some other Modules."  ***Seems like all the AWE efforts endlessly target "next year".  The only thing is, when next year rolls in, it will still be "next year".  Saves having to redo websites etc.

"We have a long term plan and will start with water sports and kite  controlling systems before AWE and eventually full automation.."
*** Start simple, good idea.  Awe is too hard to ever actually DO.  Next year...

"Its a shame that the only consumer level kite controlling systems are rudimentary reels and kite bars."
*** Then again, that is your opening.  The one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind.

"We are developing a full suite of functionality that will hopefully fill that void." *** Ahhhh, Roger that - 10-4.

"a kite in low wind can be interpreted as the Zero-Point Energy state, as Einstein and Stern first defined"
*** There have been a couple more answers offered on the physics phorum:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/quantum-bose-einstein-effects-on-a-macro-scale.807794/