Jay Leno's MagLev Wind Turbine Is Bigger Than Ed Begley's (VIDEO)

Jay Leno may have a ton of old cars that probably get four or five miles to the gallon, but at least he's talking about wind power on television! Or. Hang on. At least he talks about wind power on NBC.com!

In the video below, he's staring at a MagLev wind turbine -- that's a turbine that works well because it's levitating on a magnetic field. Less resistance means more conserved energy and less mechanical wear. Very cool stuff, and it's the kind of toy that a mechanical geek like Leno can get into.

This baby's going on Ed Begley's house, but Leno brags that the one he'll buy is bigger.

WATCH:

Comments

[lighthorseharry]

The editorial policy of the Huffington Post on management of posts by readers is very much like China.

[peaceonearth]

I agree. My last post got censured out for the words "bird poop".

[Maschine]

Agree, these small steps and people like Jay /Ed/ buyinf these technologies and putting them to use will only mean prices will come down.

I am hopeful, that in the next 20 years, we will start to see a real change in attitudes. All my best wishes to Tesla motors and anyone attempting to solve these issues.

[research]

Jay is a good man.

[avraamjack]

and copacetic

[MyTake]

Mr. Leno, just go the extra green mile.

In your garage you have a Chev Hydrogen Fuel Cell car. Just install this turbine on the roof of your car and have it run an electrolysis unit in your trunk and fill your hydrogen gas tank with hydrogen gas in real time.

Then turn in your blue cotton denim clothing for green denim clothing made from hemp fiber (hemp is renewable resource that does not require chemical fertilizer and its fiber in denim pants last 2.5 times longer that cotton).

Then jump in your hydrogen fuel cell car and drive up to Washington billing yourself as the new ENVIRO COMEDY MAN! Maybe do a hydrogen convoy with Jamie Lee Curtis driving her Honda FCX Hydrogen Fuel Cell car. When you get to Washington, look up Obama's new address and go down there and give the Obama's a zero pollution ride around town.

You see, Mr. Obama has yet to refer to the hydrogen economy and needs a lesson on how it works!

[SolarPowerGuy]

"You see, Mr. Obama has yet to refer to the hydrogen economy and needs a lesson on how it works!"

There's a reason. Hydrogen fuel cell automobiles are far harder to achieve than other Green automotive technologies.

Handling super-cold hydrogen fuel is a headache -- it requires an entirely new fuel station infrastructure, and the fuel boils off easily. Automotive fuel cells and hydrogen "gas tanks" are prohibitively expensive.

Meanwhile: bio-fuels are being produced in increasing quantities and types. Plug-in electric hybrids are more affordable, and do not require a massive infrastructure shift.

You suggest making hydrogen by using renewable energy to electrolyze water? That's horribly inefficient. Why not just charge the battery on an electric car or PHEV instead? Are you aware that the far more likely way that hydrogen fuel would be obtained is by cracking methane -- i.e., natural gas?

Bush knew all this. Ask him about alternatives to oil, and he would immediately talk about "hydrogen!" One day, hydrogen could be the superior choice. But we simply CAN'T start putting many vehicles on the road tomorrow. And if we wanted to hurry up, we would find ourselves driven back into the arms of the drilling companies.

[jackpinesavage]

First, that hemp doesn't need fertilizer is a load of, well, fertilizer. Commercial hemp operations in Ontario use roughly the same feed schedule as a farmer would for wheat. It is a viable fiber crop, and a far better choice than cotton...but it's no panacea. Herrer has done hemp more disservice than good by promoting half-truths, embellishments, and unsubstantiated speculation...all of which people take as some sort of gospel.

Hydrogen probably is the best means for powering humanity; when it comes down to it, the Earth already functions on the hydrogen economy (photosynthesis). But it may be some way off, as it will require developing ways to harvest hydrogen. There's interesting work being done with algae ponds manipulated to overproduce (and hence give off) hydrogen. Those ponds are truly solar powered, and only need enough solar radiation to operate photosynthesis. Storing and transporting is another matter, but that's an issue with batteries, grids, and power plants too.

[Rashnak]

These guys build high tech wind turbines but their web site looks like it cost $200.

http://enviro-energies.com

No cost info at all, so no idea if this is a fantasy or practical.

[Praedor]

For the non-wealthy, it is NOT practical. This is a fantasy unless you are one of the anointed ones favored by Bush and his GOP rich-man-tax-cutting criminals.

It is a waste of time to look at the enviro-energies website or any other wind or solar power web sites. They are the domains for the rich only, not real humans in the real world...especially now.

I say that building codes in this country should be changed. NO homes can be built anywhere that don't contain solar water heat, solar electric, and/or wind generators wherever such can actually work. From small homes to big homes, ALL of them REQUIRED to include wind/solar in some way with easy expandability built in.

Part of Obama's energy plan should also include GRANTS to allow people to retrofit their homes with solar/wind energy equipment. No gimmicky/useless tax deductions, no tax credits - GRANTS.

[wdw505]

"No gimmicky/useless tax deductions, no tax credits - GRANTS." well i'll take a tax credit this is almost as good as cash to me

[JohnSawyer]

Seriously, from what I've been seeing with improved solar cell technology going into production now, and large-scale solar cell manufacturing plants coming online now, as well as the cost of the inverter, the cost for solar photovoltaic cell systems is going to come down dramatically in the next couple years or so. So will simpler technologies like wind turbines, as production volume and sales go up.

[readmewell22]

Great Jay, promote, promote new energy.... Works for me, BRAVO!!! My complaint, lets get this baby moving for the masses!!! Create JOBS!!!! Stop farting around Congress.... get BUSY!!!

[LeeCalif]

Hey Jay-
Thanks for sharing & promoting this.

Something to see besides your pretty face.

[SwingingFromCenter]

OK. Promoting renewable energy. That's good.

But the thing costs over a million dollars. How many people can buy one of those? In the end it just comes off as showy. "Hey look at me, I can use my vast wealth to buy cool toys none of you other schlubs will ever own".

[helonias]

But just how many could the $ spent in Iraq could have purchased

[Gooberweevil]

Without people like Jay and Ed spending the big dough on new technology, future cheaper viable products will be doomed. Jay's money spent on the unit is most likely going to go into research on how to bring the production costs down to meet the average consumer...since that's where stability for their business will come from. A couple celebrities buying a milllion dollar product is not as profitable as a million people buying products in the 10,000 dollar range.

I say keep it up Jay!

[Praedor]

Yeah! It 's just like fusion power! Super wealthy guys like Leno keeps the business going (in a boutique sort of way) and wind power/solar power for everyone will only (forever) be 50 years away!

[marknpgh289]

Where did you get the Million Dollar figure? That doesn't seem possible since it would take hundreds of years to recover the cost.

[SwingingFromCenter]

WHich is why nobody uses it.

Look, the Mag-Lev turbine technology (the same technology they use to make the trains, btw) is wonderful, but it's ridiculously expensive.

[SolarPowerGuy]

A million dollars for five kilowatts? No way. That's $200/watt! Commercial wind power is down to about five cents per watt, installed.

Admittedly, Mr. Leno's turbine is a residential unit (smaller usually means less efficient and higher cost), and the levitation magnets are a special extra expense. But there's no way that it's going to cost a million dollars.

Even the solar photovoltaic system on my home isn't close to that expensive. It cost $31,000 (including the $10,000 rebate from the California Energy Commission). It will generate about 160,000 kilowatt-hours over its lifetime. That works out to 19.3 cents per watt.

[Praedor]

Only $31,000! What a freakin bargain! ANYONE can afford that! What, with housing values in the toilet (and still declining - the bubble deflation hasn't bottomed yet, not until 2011 AT BEST). Sure, let's have everyone tack on another $30,000+ to their already oversized mortgages. It will NEVER pay for itself.

$30,000+ is WAY TO HIGH and beyond the reach of any but the privileged and coddled.

[SolarPowerGuy]

Oops, along the way I shifted from watts to kilowatt-hours, and didn't notice.

In this article...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/08/jay-lenos-maglev-wind-tur_n_156192.html?show_comment_id=19540237#comment_19540237

... I took a stab at the cost of Leno's turbine in kWh, based on a price of $26,000. I got between $0.10 and $0.20 per kWh.

Above, I wrote: "Commercial wind power is down to about five cents per watt, installed."

That should be $0.05 / kWh.

So, Mr. Leno is paying between two and four times what he would pay for commercial wind power over the grid -- but, it's on his rooftop, and that has several advantages.

Finally, I wrote: "The solar photovoltaic system on my home... works out to 19.3 cents per watt."

And, that should also be $0.19 / kWh.

[gpg44]

I find it interesting that we have been talking about engery sources such as this as well as solar cars, etc. since the late 70's when we saw an energy crisis and yet it took a Wall St. melt down to suddenly see and hear about all sorts of products coming to market that require no externally purchased oil or energy. It is too bad it took so much pain to bring about common sense solutions. I really hope we can look back in 10 years and see brand new economic engines for this country that cuts poverty and gets the people off welfare.

[sheila]

and the power is generated right where it is needed, so no wilderness is killed, no families are forced from their homes for the thousands of miles of new powerlines these mercenaries in Industrial Wind and Industrial solar are trying to force down our throats, and it is OWNED BY A PERSON, NOT A MONOPOLY. this story is a good starting point for people to recognize the drastic differences between Renewable Power (which doesn't kill ecosystems like our deserts) and FAKE renewable power which destroys 50 acres of open space per megawatt (Big Wind), sucks millions of gallons of water a year (Concentrated Solar), usually burns natural gas (Concentrated Solar) and requires GHG-spewing powerlines that cause wildfires, destabilize our grid and deny US the resources to generate our own power.

microwind and rooftop solar could easily be made affordable to all of us with a few simple policy shifts, which have been successful in 40 countries already: Feed in Tariffs, so we get paid for power we produce and do not consume; guaranteed financing attached to our property taxes; and generous subsidies and incentives to get the ball rolling. Big Energy enjoys all these perqs, plus has the power of eminent domain and gets our public land free or cheap. time to level the playing field!

[JohnSawyer]

All these incentives are gradually being rolled in, and some (or all) are already available in some states. But in some states, NONE of these incentives are available, so we have a ways to go. People need to lobby their reps for this, instead of waiting for someone else to make it happen.

[LiberalBuzz]

Totally cool, but I sure would have liked to know the cost.

Is it very affordable for the average family or like solar panels exceptionally expensive? Every home being built today in the Southwest should be required to have solar panels.

[Praedor]

The Ed Begley Jr system is in the ballpark of $30,000. Leno's will be significantly higher. I'd estimate around $50,000 at least.

WAY beyond reach from actual human beings (no dissing of Leno implied, just the fact that it is WAY too expensive and state and fed government does virtually nothing to help).

[Roxanna]

Happy ..... Happy to see people like Jay Leno or anyone else who has the money to promote clean renewable energy... showing a new direction.

It is difficult for this to happen with the propaganda and repression going on everyday from oil, coal and nuclear industries. It is like trying to change the course of the Titanic...But there are a few heroes who are trying to do just that. Hurray for them!

[Greenguy25]

CHEERS to Jay Leno and the many other celeb's helping promote renewable energy technologies. Imagine if every skyscraper in a major city were to install one of these systems on top of their buildings combined with a small green roof system. It might not change the world, but it's a pretty good start.


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