Ah yes, back to “Low Level Jets” = a major perrenial talking point for the AWE wind-wannabes. I was recently thinking of how to answer Rod’s query of how and why I have steadily used the terms “stupid”, “idiot” etc. in reference to most AWE efforts. It made me realize, it could literally fill a book. I could come up with a whole book on just how stupid the first High Altitude Wind Energy Conference in Chico/Oroville, California of 2010 actually was. Only thing is. nobody in this audience would understand any of it - that would take people with knowledge and experience in wind energy, aviation, etc.
Besides all the complete drooling fools, masquerading as geniuses, while clearly barely capable of even just dressing themselves, let alone behaving in a civilized manner, in attendance, we also had a very pleasant lady whose role turned out to be the only halfway sane person to ground things and steer away from outright mayhem.
That nice lady was Cristina Archer, whose stated role was to confirm that the wind is indeed higher at higher heights. Now I’ve attended quite a few wind energy conferences and meeting over the years, but that was the first time I remember seeing a meteorologist in attendance, as the wind itself is already a known and well-documented resource.
The real reason for Cristina was not so much that the wind itself was in doubt, but that the people in attendance and their whacky ideas had no credibility. The presence f Cristina served a need for some sort - any sort - of “credentials”, to rationalize the presence of all the actual nutcases in attendance, with their typical 100% lack of any sort of wind energy device whatsoever, even in theory, let alone a working example.
So basically, Cristina was s stage-prop, being used for her academic position and whatever scant credibility it might lend to the rest of the crowd. In the end, she also served as possibly the only sane mind in attendance, reminding me of a “Den Mother” in Cub Scouts - someone’s mom, serving to basically make sure the unruly kids behaved.
It reminded me of “WindTree”, a scam from a few years before, that had involved selling “territories” for a “new rooftop turbine” that was actually nothing but photos of standard rotating rooftop ventilators. “WindTree” ended in legal prosecutions for the promoters. I do remember their promotional material though. It discussed ONE THING: The wind RESOURCE. They would go on and on about HOW MUCH ENERGY was COMTAINED in the wind, and how many more times than all the energy used by mankind it added up to, while glossing over the simple fact that they had no technology to harness it.
No, there was never ANY discussion of any stated output numbers, ONLY the power in the wind itself. How did that serve the scam? Because it was a diversionary maneuver - they discussed facts, but avoided the simple fact of how their supposed turbines would never work. Simple-minded investors would just take the idea that there was a new great turbine, combined with the incredible numerical total of energy in the wind, assuming the promoters knew what they were doing, and throw money at them to buy “territories” - before it was too late and they missed out!!!
Now the idea that a learned person in wind energy could question any of this is unfathomable for a group of half-insane perpetual wind-newbies who are convinced they are “geniuses”, though without any actual rationale. Telling them that keeping the discussion on the wind resource itself, rather than how to harness it, is mistargeted, is lost on such perpetual newbies. And I say “perpetual” because 15 years later, none of the original people have learned anything or progressed in any way toward wind energy success.
OK so “everyone knows” the wind generally gets stronger as AGL elevation increases, with possible deviations. Sure, it’s possible to give such deviations a name, and to discuss the characteristics of such deviations. In other words, air at a lower elevation CAN go faster than wind at a higher elevation sometimes. That should also be obvious to anyone with a reasonable mind. But it does not affect whether any person has a valid way to provide reliable and substantial electricity from that wind in an economic way.
Nope, what it is, is a diversion, the way a sleight-of-hand performance “magician” directs the audience’s attention away from what’s really happening, to convey an illusion, or trick, to fool the audience. In this same way, supposed “AWE” people can have a “conference” where they spend a lot of effort dissecting the minutiae of the definitions of words like “low-level jets” to avoid discussing their lack of any way to economically and reliably harness those same winds - or any other winds!
The name “Low-Level-Jets” serves the purpose of an impressive-sounding diversion from the simple reality that the wind itself is all they have to discuss, because as far as a new way to do wind energy, they have NOTHING. So the “jets” go viral, and Cristina is still publishing papers - only these days to acknowledge that REAL windfarm turbulence might slightly affect highly-localized weather forecasts.
The original focus of that first conference “HIGH ALTITUDE” wind energy, slowly evaporated, as the “geniuses” slowly, over a few years, began to do some of the elementary math regarding weight, sag, cost, breakage, hazards, etc. of a simple tether (kite-string) if extended several miles to the stratosphere. Oh well, there will always be dummies in this world, right? 