Wind Powered Cars

Woohoo!!

My classmate Pam just posted this article on her blog at Sustainable Living. How exciting!

You must understand that I've been saying for years that we need wind and solar powered cars. I have also done exactly zero research into this possibility. I'm no scientist, but the way I see it, if we make the car roof a solar panel big enough to generate at least enough power to start the engine, it will get the car moving.

Then, to keep the car moving, we integrate small windmills into the design of the car. I'm not talking about driving around with Don Quixote on your rearview mirrors. I mean to form slits or gills on the sides of the car that the wind passes through as you drive. Put a bunch of small windmills in these gills, and it's sure to generate enough power to keep the car moving.

It always looked a little silly to me, though, in my imagination, and I was pretty sure there would be no tiny windmills powerful enough to keep a car zipping along at 70. And what about people who park their cars in garages or have convertible tops? These wouldn't be able to use that solar technology.

Well, this new wind invention gives me hope for my plans yet. Surely it's got to be easier to integrate these into the design of a car than it would be to fit windmills.

And if not, at least Haitians will get power. And that's good enough for me.