[hannob]

I followed the debate about renewables for quite some time and I heared stories like this before. A new design for wind energy with so obvious advantages. And you can read pretty similar stories for new solar or water power tech also pretty regularly.

I remember that already in the 90s I heared people saying that future wind turbines will have a funnel to focus the energy. Later kite-like flying turbines or turbines in donut-shaped balloons became a thing.

But wind turbines still basically look very similar than they used to be all the time, the biggest change is that they became much bigger. There's a reason for that: The design worked well and has been improved in details over the years. It's much easier to improve in small steps than to reinvent a completely new tech, which will have many downsides that the enthusiasts inventing them don't want to see.

That's not saying that it's entirely impossible that a completely new design of wind turbines will some day emerge. But I don't think it's very likely. And before I believe it I want to see them built at scale for a reasonable price. (Because one of the biggest advantages of the existing wind turbines - appart from them being environmentally friendly - is that their price dropped rapidly in the past years.)