this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026
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I've thought for YEARS that we should to the same thing with the Hoover Dam. Should also mount wind turbines on the face of it to catch the updrafts out of the canyon. You all acting like green energy has to be mutually exclusive to one another. Wind turbine blades have a lot of surface area that could be covered in solar panels, which solves the issue of solar panels energy output decreasing with heat because then they'd always have built in cooling. No wind? There's still light and some wattage is better than no wattage. Put the turbine blade head on a giant hinge and they can catch rising air from the grounds' radiant heat at night. Free energy is everywhere if you just know where to look and how to take advantage of it.
That is a stupid idea. Blade weight is one of the biggest engineering issues for wind turbines.
if you can get a solar cell in a 6 oz calculator, I doubt highly that incorporating it into the design of the blade is going to add much more weight than the expanded aluminum and fibreglass that's already there.
Any extra weight is too much. Plus a 6 oz calculator doesn't usually fly at 300km/h in open weather, you will need some strong (heavy) glass or plastic too protect the panels. Much simpler too just put them on the ground next to the wind turbine.
if it's a structural engineering problem then it's probably solvable. perhaps they can be added like fins on the blade which would disrupt turbulence, reduce drag and sound, much like how an owl has ragged feathers to allow them to have silent flight.
But why? We'll make better blades without the extra weight of the solar panels and cheaper panels by just putting them on the ground.
"infrasound" complainers