How much power for all electrics except driving?

Sorry I was away for a while, but I really had to sleep a bit!!!
First of all, I am really with you in terms of trying to save energy, if not for the enviroment then for our own wallet!
Changing the aerodynamics of your car can certainly help fuel efficiency. If you have the possibility to use the tunnel, that is the coolest thing. I have a degree in aeronautical engineering and I am certainly aware of what to the costs are for these kind of tests! If you could experiment abit...... wow!

But your turbine on car idea, I really have to advise you to put your efforts on something else. It is not only that you will never be able to generate enough energy to maintain speed, but any energy, even very little, that you generate, will cost you more then that extra to power your car.
As example, if you would hold out of the window a small alternator with let's say a 10cm propellor that can exactly power a 5w bulb at 30mph, then you need more then 5w extra energy to maintain 30mph with you car, at the moment you hold it out of the window.
To conclude, any energy you generate by the forward motion (wind in this case) of your car, will cost you more then that extra to keep this motion.

But I really like these discussions, certainly as they are mostly unpopular by car enthousiasts. The love for cars and the thoughts about the energy use are a sort of contradiction, but really challenging! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

I am monitoring everything about my car, so i will keep you up to date about the changes in fuel consumption with all the coming changes, like new engine, dedicated lpg system, my own ideas about this, and not to forget, the light weighting program I want to do. Aerodynamics is a really interesting subject, but it much harder to do without any fascilities.

 

As we were chatting yesterday, I kept thinking about when you slept. I went to the Hanover, Germany, CeBit show in 1994 for 8 days, 9.5 hour flight from Toronto, 2 hours on the train from Frankfurt to Hanover, then a daily commute from the North East corner of the Hanover, passing the Autobahn down to the South East corner to get there by 7:30 AM. I finished the show and our CEO (I was VP) sent me to New Orleans for the big 1 week Microsoft TechEd conference. No sleep for 15 hours. I was a lot younger, so I pulled off the grinding schedule. When I got back home, I slept for 4 days, non-stop!

You're about 8.0 hours from me (not including the 15 hours you waste in Airports .)

OK, back on topic.

Here's a series of articles on roof-top wind energy:

http://www.iskrawind.com/faqs/faq4.htm

I don't think they'll remain unpopular if a fairly economical modification can be found. I just think we have to find a new concept of what can be used as fuel.

I just got roped into going with my wife to buy some appliances and shoes. So I'll have to check back when we get back (Noon our time)

 

I've got a nice afternoon Senri, so I'll say this about that, just to keep the ideas moving.

Here's an article on roof wind turbines developing electricity. I just found the article and discovered the company is Canadian:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/windterras_resi_1.php

http://www.windterra.com/

Slow revs require less wind. That could reduce the valid obstacles you mentioned.

Sometime ago, a Japanese engineer sent me a drawing for a wooden 3-prop propeller for a windmill (standard egg-beater type windmill, but this design would be far less complex to direct or control the rotation direction.

At first, I was going to post a picture like the one on the roof here (roof vent turbine):

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/202104397/roof_turbine_no_power_ventilator.html

But that Windterra generator that might help us discuss other possibilities. Proving out a design wouldn't be difficult or costly for me here, as I mentioned before. Sure would be fun to prove it out though.

 

All kinds of cars have air-spoilers at the back. In racing, they're used to hold the car's rear down on the road. But even on station wagons and others they divert that air flow to keep the rear window clean.

I don't think a unit like that, exactly, would be adequate, but now we can talk back and forth in terms of KW instead of HP.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/automotiveconverters.html

http://www.csgnetwork.com/metpower.html

If that one with 3 or 4 foot high fanblades generates 4.5 KWh and my 84 HP car needs 62 KWh at peak power. At crusing speed of 60 MPH (100 KMH - most Canadian Provincial hwys have sections of 75 MPH) I only need 12 HP or 9 KWh. Lets go 30 HP or 22 KWh. That old Fairmont had a 23 HP motor (17.15 KWh). Plus 1,200 lbs more weight in batteries and small gas-powered generator.

So how to keep the weight down below 3,800 lbs and maintain my cargo space, while generating enough energy to go on a long trip at a fuel cost of 50% of today's gasoline prices (half of $1.47 per litre - 75 cents.) How can that be done for the next 10 to 15 years? That is my goal. How can it be acheived? Does that sound like a fairly factual definition of the challenge? If the generator idea doesn't do it, what else can?