Saul Griffith: High-altitude wind energy from kites!

Prevoditelj: Zrinka Gattin Recezent: Mislav Ante Omazić - EFZG

If you're at all like me,

Ukoliko ste imalo slični meni,

this is what you do with the sunny summer weekends in San Francisco:

ovo je ono što radite za sunčanog ljetnog vikenda u San Franciscu:

you build experimental kite-powered hydrofoils

proizvodite eksperimentalne hidrokrilce pogonjene zmajem

capable of more than 30 knots.

sposobne za više od 30 čvorova.

And you realize that there is incredible power in the wind,

Tada shvatite kako postoji nevjerojatna snaga u vjetru,

and it can do amazing things.

koja može činiti zadivljujuće stvari

And one day, a vessel not unlike this

Jednog dana, letjelica slična ovoj

will probably break the world speed record.

će vjerojatno probiti svjetski brzinski rekord.

But kites aren't just toys like this.

No, zmajevi nisu samo igračke poput ovog.

Kites: I'm going to give you a brief history,

Zmajevi. Upoznat ću vas ukratko s njihovom povijesti,

and tell you about the magnificent future

i ispričati vam o izvanrednoj budućnosti

of every child's favorite plaything.

najdraže igračke svakog djeteta.

So, kites are more than a thousand years old,

Znači, zmajevi su stari više od tisuću godina,

and the Chinese used them for military applications,

a Kinezi su ih koristili u vojne svrhe,

and even for lifting men.

i čak za podizanje čovjeka.

So they knew at that stage they could carry large weights.

Znali su u ono doba da oni mogu podizati velike terete.

I'm not sure why there is a hole in this particular man.

Nisam siguran zašto je rupa u ovom dotičnom čovjeku.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

In 1827, a fellow called George Pocock

1827., čovjek zvan Goerge Pocock

actually pioneered the use of kites for towing buggies

ustvari je razvio korištenje zmajeva za vuću kočija

in races against horse carriages across the English countryside.

u utrkama protiv konjskih kočija kroz engleski krajolik.

Then of course, at the dawn of aviation,

Tada naravno, u zoru avijacije,

all of the great inventors of the time --

svi veliki izumitelji tog doba --

like Hargreaves, like Langley,

kao Hargreaves, kao Langley,

even Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, who was flying this kite --

čak Alexandar Graham Bell, izumitelj telefona, koji je letio ovog zmaja --

were doing so in the pursuit of aviation.

su radili to baveći se avijacijom.

Then these two fellows came along,

Tada su došla ova dva gospodina,

and they were flying kites to develop the control systems

a oni su letjeli zmajeve kako bi razvili kontrolni sustav

that would ultimately enable powered human flight.

koji je u konačnici omogućio let ljudi.

So this is of course Orville and Wilbur Wright,

Ovo su naravno Orville i Wilbur Wright

and the Wright Flyer.

i Wright Flyer.

And their experiments with kites led to this

A njihovi pokusi sa zmajevima su doveli do tog

momentous occasion, where we powered up and took off for the

značajnog događaja, gdje smo pogonjeni mehaničkom snagom poletjeli

first-ever 12-second human flight.

do prvih 12 sekundi ljudskog leta ikad.

And that was fantastic for the future of commercial aviation.

To je bilo fantastično za budućnost komercijalnih letova.

But unfortunately, it relegated kites once again to be considered children's toys.

Ali nažalost, to je degradiralo zmajeve i učinilo da budu ponovo doživljavani dječjim igračkama.

That was until the 1970s, where we had the last energy crisis.

Tako je bilo do 1970-ih, kada smo imali zadnju energetsku krizu.

And a fabulous man called Miles Loyd

A nevjerojatan čovjek po imenom Miles Loyd

who lives on the outskirts of San Francisco,

koji živi na rubu San Francisca,

wrote this seminal paper that was completely ignored

je napisao poticajni rad koji je bio potpuno zanemaren,

in the Journal of Energy

u Journal of Energy,

about how to use basically an airplane on a piece of string

o tome kako načelno upotrijebiti avion na uzici

to generate enormous amounts of electricity.

za generiranje ogromne količine elektriciteta.

The real key observation he made is that

Njegovo ključno opažanje bilo je da

a free-flying wing can sweep through more sky and generate more power

slobodno-leteče krilo može zahvatiti više vjetra i generirati više energije

in a unit of time than a fixed-wing turbine.

po jedinici vremena, nego turbine s fiksnim krilom.

So turbines grew. And they can now span up to three hundred feet at the hub height,

No turbine su rasle. I sada dosežu do 90 metara visine pri glavčini,

but they can't really go a lot higher,

ali ne mogu ići mnogo više,

and more height is where the more wind is, and more power --

a na većim visinama ima više vjetra, i više snage --

as much as twice as much.

čak i do dvostruko više.

So cut to now. We still have an energy crisis,

Vratimo se nazad. Još uvijek imamo energetsku krizu,

and now we have a climate crisis as well. You know,

a sada k tome još i klimatsku krizu. Znate,

so humans generate about 12 trillion watts,

čovječanstvo generira oko 12 bilijuna vata,

or 12 terawatts, from fossil fuels.

ili 12 teravata, iz fosilnih goriva.

And Al Gore has spoken to why we need to hit one of these targets,

I Al Gore je govorio zašto trebamo dosegnuti jednu od ovih meta,

and in reality what that means is in the next 30 to 40 years,

a u stvarnosti to znači da u slijedećih 30-40 godina

we have to make 10 trillion watts or more of new clean energy somehow.

moramo proizvesti novih 10 bilijuna ili više vata čiste energije, nekako.

Wind is the second-largest renewable resource after solar:

Vjetar je drugi najveći obnovljivi izvor energije poslije sunčeve:

3600 terawatts, more than enough to supply humanity 200 times over.

3600 teravata. 200 puta više nego što je dovoljno za opskrbu čovječanstva.

The majority of it is in the higher altitudes, above 300 feet,

Većina je na višim visinama, iznad 90 metara,

where we don't have a technology as yet to get there.

za što još nemamo tehnologiju koja bi nas do tamo dovela.

So this is the dawn of the new age of kites.

Dakle, ovo je zora novog doba za zmajeve.

This is our test site on Maui, flying across the sky.

Ovo je naše pokusno područje na Mauiu, iz zračne perspektive.

I'm now going to show you

Sada ću vam pokazati

the first autonomous generation of power

prvi autonomni generator energije

by every child's favorite plaything.

pomoću najdraže dječje igračke.

As you can tell, you need to be a robot to fly this thing for thousands of hours.

Kao što možete vidjeti, morate biti robot kako bi upravljali ovime tisućama sati.

It makes you a little nauseous.

Pomalo izaziva mučninu.

And here we're actually generating about 10 kilowatts --

Ovdje zapravo proizvodimo oko 10 kilovata --

so, enough to power probably five United States households --

znači, dovoljno za opskrbu energijom oko 5 kučanstava u SAD-u --

with a kite not much larger than this piano.

sa zmajem ne mnogo većim od ovog klavira.

And the real significant thing here

A stvarno značajna stvar ovdje

is we're developing the control systems,

je da mi razvijamo kontrolni sustav,

as did the Wright brothers, that would enable sustained, long-duration flight.

kao što su i braća Wright, koji bi omogućio održiv, dugotrajni let.

And it doesn't hurt to do it in a location like this either.

I nije na odmet to raditi na lokaciji poput ove.

So this is the equivalent for a kite flier of peeing in the snow --

Za letača zmaja, ovo je ekvivalent pišanja u snijegu.

that's tracing your name in the sky.

To jest ispisivanja svog imena na nebu.

And this is where we're actually going.

A ovo je kamo mi trenutačno idemo.

So we're beyond the 12-second steps.

Dakle prešli smo 12 sekundni prag.

And we're working towards megawatt-scale machines

I radimo na megavatnim spravama

that fly at 2000 feet and generate tons of clean electricity.

koje bi letjele na 700 metara i generirale na tone čistog elektriciteta.

So you ask, how big are those machines?

Pitate, koliko su velike te sprave?

Well, this paper plane would be maybe a -- oop!

Pa, ovaj avion od papira bi možda -- ups!

That would be enough to power your cell phone.

On bi bio dovoljan da vam napuni mobitel.

Your Cessna would be 230 killowatts.

Vaša Cessna bi bila 230 kilovata.

If you'd loan me your Gulfstream, I'll rip its wings off and generate you a megawatt.

Ako bi mi posuditi vaš Gulfstream, skinuo bi krila sa njega i generirao megavat.

If you give me a 747, I'll make six megawatts,

Ako bi dali 747, napravio bi 6 megavata,

which is more than the largest wind turbines today.

što je više nego najveća vjetro-turbina danas.

And the Spruce Goose would be a 15-megawatt wing.

A Spruce Goose bi bilo krilo od 15 megavata.

So that is audacious, you say. I agree.

To je smiono, kažete. Slažem se.

But audacious is what has happened many times before in history.

No smiono se zbivalo već mnogo puta u povijesti.

This is a refrigerator factory,

Ovo je tvornica frižidera,

churning out airplanes for World War II.

koja je proizvodila avione za drugi svjetski rat.

Prior to World War II, they were making 1000 planes a year.

Prije drugog svjetskog rata, proizvodilo se 1.000 aviona na godinu.

By 1945, they were making 100,000.

Do 1945., proizvodilo se 100.000.

With this factory and 100,000 planes a year,

S tom tvornicom i 100.000 aviona godišnje,

we could make all of America's electricity in about 10 years.

za približno 10 godina bi mogli proizvoditi sav elektricitet koji Amerika treba.

So really this is a story about the audacious plans of young people

U biti, ovo je priča o smionim planovima mladih ljudi

with these dreams. There are many of us.

s ovim snovima. Mnogo nas je.

I am lucky enough to work with 30 of them.

Sretan sam što radim s njih 30.

And I think we need to support all of the dreams

I smatram kako moramo poduprijeti sve takve snove

of the kids out there doing these crazy things.

djece koja rade te lude stvari.

Thank you.

Hvala vam

(Applause)

(Pljesak)