| Electricity from Lightning |
| Written by Philip Proefrock | ||
| Tuesday, 16 October 2007 | ||
|
Each small three-foot bolt generates enough electricity to illuminate a 60-watt light bulb for 20 minutes. But a full-scale system, LeRoy believes, could power 30,000 homes for a day with just one lightning bolt. Given that the average Midwest thunderstorm releases enough electrical energy to power the entire U.S. for 20 minutes, who knows what the potential is for the harvesting of lightning fields and arrays of bolt conductors. This is being covered (in Business Week among other sources) along with some other things we've mentioned on EcoGeek in the past such as parasails for cargo ships, the Tornado Generator, AquaBuOY wave power generator and algae biofuel. We assume it falls into the same range of feasible, early-development technology. But while there is only sketchy information about the concept for now, we'll just note it without comment about its potential until we can find out more information about it. Previously on EcoGeek:
Comments
(17)
Power per Unit Volume
written by Ian George , October 16, 2007
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written by John Fill , October 17, 2007
If you're really pedantic, nuclear energy is solar too, because all the matter in the Earth formed from the elements fused in the young Sun (give or take a negligible amount from comet strikes).
Research: Harnessing of Lightning for Co
written by Todd Ridolph , October 28, 2007
Does anyone know of anyone currently funding projects related to the 'Harnessing of Lightning for Conversion into Usable Electricity'?
If so, I would be interested in knowing about the research. Sincerely, Todd B Ridolph
Aurora Power
written by malibugene , November 06, 2007
I read about a farmer somewhere near the Canadian border that was zapped with electricity when he touched a barbed wire fence, which was not connected to anything electric. It was theorized that the wire was collecting energy from the magnetic fields that create the Auroras in the north latitudes. It seems to me that setting up a grid of wires over unused acreages in the northern latitudes could harvest this enormous source of potential energy.
...
written by Cool materials , November 21, 2007
There is still much to learn about nature power and it will take long to make devices working on nature power wide spread.
writer
written by gloria Allen , November 27, 2007
Sounds like it has a lot of potential. Add to this hurricanes, combining the power of lightening with the intensity of wind. And tornados. But how to harness these beasts?
inventor
written by Steve LeRoy , December 05, 2007
Thanks for the comments..I realize this idea seems impossible, but my lab experiments prove that more than 1 million volts in a spark gap can be tapped with emf induction coils at the base of the strike rod into manageable voltages. I am as yet unsure where this will lead. Steve
inventor
written by Steve LeRoy , December 13, 2007
Unfortunately there is a corporation that has gone to vengeful lengths on a paid PR campaign to discredit my years of research and development. So I have destroyed my lightning prototype to avoid further involvement with this endeavor. I hope someone else develops this concept to completion.
how to convert
written by srivatsa , January 23, 2008
in my view conversion will be possible if we can use a very high rated stepdown transformer..this could actually be done by diverting the channel of the lightening before it is earthed.though the idea is abstract i think it works if we can cannelise the lightening energy
Lasso A Lightening Bolt
written by Pecos Bill , July 09, 2008
Clouds. That is the Machine Invented By God to Make Lightening. What if: You figured out how a Cloud can use Air,Light,Dust,and Moisture to arrange Positive and Negative IONS to produce the electrical charge we see as LIGHTENING....Then you would not need to STORE it. You could make it. Then you could develope a device....a small "Cloud"....to put into your Vehicle....It would produce "Lightening" when you push the accelerator.....No Moving Parts....Just a CLOUD.
das.....All Rights Reserved.
...
written by Rich , July 28, 2008
hi i am also looking and studying to harness the power of lightnning and belive you could divert the electricity in many directions reducing the power for each generater it is possible and would reduce the cabon emissions 10 fold
harnessing electricty from lightning
written by hinduja , August 05, 2008
i would like 2 know the extent of feasibility in this process
harnessing electricty from lightning
written by hinduja , August 05, 2008
i would like 2 know the extent of feasibility in this process
lighting into hydrogen and oxygen for fu
written by haneesh , September 08, 2008
one may know that avery high voltage is discharged to earth through lightning.if it is possible to use this voltage to electrolise water into hydrogen and oxygen which can be used in fuel cells to power automobiles and others in future,whose waste will be pure water...isn't it a better idea!!!
need help inventor sir....
written by gaurav , September 15, 2008
respected sir,
i am a student from india and am pursuing a project under the same title as you are.I would like to get in touch with you and learn what can be done in this regard.please help if you can. kind regards, gaurav
free electricity
written by ravi kiran , September 23, 2008
respected sir,
this project would be a very beneficial one to everyone because it doesnt cause any kind of effects to nature. i would like to know how far this could be done. kind regards, ravi kiran
harnessing lightning energy
written by saurabh , September 27, 2008
dear sir,
i am a student of B.Tech from India and am working on a similar project as you are.I would like to get in touch with you and learn what can be done in this regard. please help if you can. | ||
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An inventor in Illinois is working on a device to generate electricity from lightning. While a couple of recent articles in different publications have covered this concept, none of them have much in the way of details or particulars. The best coverage seems to be from 
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#2> at best you can increase the chance of getting lightning where you want it by putting a metal object as the highest point near by.
#1> is much more difficult,
I think it is something like 100,000 Amps on average combined with 1 billion ( 1,000,000,000 ) Volts to get a 1,000 foot bolt... or about 100,000,000,000,000 Watts And all that energy hit you in a fraction of a second...
Best of luck with that... but ultimately like just about all energy other than nuclear.... it is all Solar Energy as the thunder storms get all their energy from the sun anyway...