Wind Turbines along busy Highways

[Daedalus]

I'm not sure how viable this would be, but how effective would wind turbines be that are located along the side of busy highways and interstates? I came up with the idea after practically being blown off the road due to a semi-truck / 18 wheeler passing me on the interstate. It occured to me that vehicles, especially big rigs, generate a lot of wind as they travel down the highway at speeds of 70 - 80 mph. I am wondering if we could harness the wind using turbines that are located along the side of the highway, and if this could generate a significant amount of electricity? Any thoughts regarding this idea?

Edited March 27, 2013 by Daedalus

[menageriemanor]

Would that occur high enough to make that much difference? I'm told that they also cause deaths from air pressure changes, rather than being hit by a blade, so would this mean dying bats and birds occasionally hitting windscreens? I put my hand up to not knowing, just being told, I think on QI, but then QI can be wrong, regularly enough to still have to check.

[Daedalus]

I imagine that these turbines would be a lot smaller than those large windmill types, and look similar to a jet engine in order to funnel the air through them and provide an encloser to protect vehicles on the highway. Furthermore, they would be positioned at a height that would have the most airflow. So, they wouldn't be very high off the ground. I figure that they would be between 5 - 10 feet off the ground in order to make use of the wind generated by fast moving vehicles.

 

I have my doubts regarding the amount of power that could be generated using this technique, or even if it would make sense to do such a thing. However, if the idea seems plausible, I could contact the Dept. of Transportation and try to get permission to conduct an experiment using an anemometer to measure the wind speed in various areas in order to do some calculations. Even if this idea is a flop, it would still be fun to conduct the experiment and figure out how much electricity could be generated using this method.

 

The least that could come from conducting such an experiment would be teaching my son, Maxx, about physics and science in general. Now that I think about it, this would be one hell of a science project that could win him a prize if their school ever has a science fair. Maxx loves working math problems. All I would have to do is teach him the physics that would allow him to do the necessary calculations and help him set up the anemometer and gather the data. He could do the rest on his own.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Daedalus

[Bill Angel]

"It occured to me that vehicles, especially big rigs, generate a lot of wind as they travel down the highway at speeds of 70 - 80 mph."

I am sure you are quite right about that. As an issue in energy conservation it would make more sense to lower the speed limit back down to 55 miles per hour than in trying to recover energy from speeding vehicles via wind turbines when such vehicles are traveling faster than 55 mph.