===========================================
0:07
hi everybody
00:08
I'm dawn white I'm one of the founders
00:11
and the chief technology officer of Akio
00:14
Energy and I'm thrilled to be here to
00:16
talk to you today about what we're doing
00:20
and how it's going I'm especially
00:22
thrilled about our new direction in wind
00:25
energy because I hope they had the
00:27
chance to talk at the first TEDx Detroit
00:29
and that was 7 years ago 2009 and we
00:34
might not have been here today but
00:36
nearly everything we thought could
00:37
happen back then has happened and it's
00:40
great to be able to talk about how we
00:42
got there and where we're going next
00:45
back in 2007 we had this vision that you
00:49
could make wind energy far more
00:51
acceptable available and friendly by
00:54
making it silent stationary and not
00:57
endangering wildlife with it so we're
01:01
working on a technology called EHD wind
01:03
energy which has no moving parts unlike
01:06
a turbine which has very high loads on
01:08
it so it needs expensive complex
01:11
machinery and you need a new system
01:14
every time you want to change the output
01:17
of it so you have low volumes with all
01:19
those expensive materials you have a lot
01:21
of cost and complexity
01:22
it's like making airplanes it's very
01:25
expensive
01:26
instead with electro hydrodynamic wind
01:28
energy you make a system that's composed
01:31
of identical panels all those panels are
01:33
the same they're made from ordinary
01:35
materials in very large volumes and
01:37
they're made using the kind of
01:39
automotive heritage advanced
01:40
manufacturing technology we have in
01:42
plants all around our area using the
01:46
same facilities materials and people
01:48
that we use for automotive today so
01:53
besides making wind power friendlier and
01:55
more sustainable we actually can make it
01:58
cheaper and more available that way as
01:59
well and the other part of our mission
02:02
is really to create great jobs in
02:04
manufacturing here in Detroit southeast
02:07
Michigan all over our state and even
02:09
on the Midwest so how does that work
02:12
well the HT wind energy is based on a
02:15
different idea it's a little bit like an
02:17
engineered thunderstorm we use wave
02:19
energy to pump water up our panel up the
02:22
pole to our panel and then that water
02:24
comes out as tiny little positively
02:27
charged droplets out of very small tubes
02:30
that are inside that system every time a
02:32
positively charged droplet leaves a lot
02:35
of electrons get left behind and if you
02:37
have billions and billions of droplets
02:39
leaving all those electrons behind the
02:41
very large electric field emerges that
02:43
the wind has to do a lot of work against
02:45
and it dries the system to high voltage
02:47
as it gets to high voltage you have the
02:51
opportunity to plug it into the grid and
02:53
create a wind energy high-voltage
02:56
direct-current generator out of it seems
02:59
easy but haha right sounds so easy but
03:03
no it's actually like this for a long
03:05
time this technology was investigated in
03:08
the 60s and 70s people couldn't make it
03:10
work and why was that well they had a
03:13
lack of insight you know droplets are
03:15
invisible charges are invisible electric
03:17
fields are invisible the wind is
03:19
invisible imagine in debugging an IC
03:21
engine in the late 19th century if
03:23
everything was clear it'd be a lot
03:24
harder right so we get that insight we
03:26
went to big models so that we have
03:28
better testing and those big models are
03:30
computer generated models you know
03:32
they're computers back then you know
03:34
your iPhone has way more power in them
03:37
than a room size computer had back then
03:38
right and they had no visualization
03:40
whereas for us we want droplets to get
03:42
pushed away from our source what you're
03:45
looking at here is a cross-section of a
03:47
part of our system and that turbulence
03:49
you're seeing there is actually what the
03:51
air looks like when it comes out of our
03:53
panel it doesn't that's not what we
03:55
wanted to look like right but now we
03:56
know it and so we can fix it and we did
03:59
so we got rid of this turbulence we can
04:02
also fix our electric fields by looking
04:04
at them there's a powerful powerful tool
04:06
for us and moving forward and move
04:11
forward we did we've been able to test
04:12
outdoors and we went from making no
04:15
power or less than no power which is
04:17
where people were 40 years ago to
04:19
gradually see
04:21
our new experiments that were informed
04:22
with our models create more power and
04:25
more power until we finally hit 50 60 70
04:27
a hundred watts per square meter and
04:29
then it's economically viable and really
04:32
attractive as a real commercial power
04:34
foot source and yes it really did
04:36
actually feel like that let me tell you
04:38
when we finally realized that we had
04:41
made it to a point where we had a viable
04:43
opportunity and as a result of all that
04:45
hard work and those insights we were
04:48
able to apply for and receive a very
04:51
competitive grant from the Department of
04:52
Energy's advanced resected Vance -
04:55
research project agency energy for five
04:59
million dollars over a two-year period
05:01
that lets us go from making lab sized
05:03
pals to things we have to test in very
05:06
large automotive scale wind tunnels and
05:09
and then next year to take it offshore
05:11
working with the University of Maine on
05:14
their offshore wind energy testbed out
05:17
in Penobscot Bay out in the real live
05:20
ocean and test it for the very first
05:23
time so once we get that done
05:25
successfully which we will we got here
05:28
we'll get there
05:29
we're going to go where the people in
05:31
the water are this map shows you most of
05:33
the world's population lives very close
05:35
to the shoreline and it's crowded there
05:38
you don't want to have wind turbines
05:39
there so it would be nice be able to put
05:41
them offshore but they're very expensive
05:43
far more expensive than onshore wind
05:45
farms so our system can make them cost
05:48
comparable to onshore wind farms and
05:51
change all that and at the same time
05:54
remember that automotive heritage
05:56
manufacturing technology well this is a
05:57
plant of GM's not too far outside
05:59
Detroit a big one a plant the size
06:02
though could because of our high volume
06:05
identical manufacturing technology and
06:07
the logistics that go with it that plant
06:09
could potentially supply half or more
06:12
the world's entire capacity for wind
06:15
energy every single year and be a great
06:18
opportunity to do what create a panel at
06:22
a time but do it millions of times
06:24
put it on poles and every time we do
06:27
that we create great jobs for people
06:29
right here our friends our neighbors the
06:31
people we know
06:33
and at the same time we know that not
06:37
only we're doing all of that but we're
06:38
also creating an opportunity to change
06:41
the world of wind energy address climate
06:44
change problems and protect the planet
06:47
that we all love live on and share thank
06:51
you very much for listening
06:52
[Applause]
0:07
hi everybody
00:08
I'm dawn white I'm one of the founders
00:11
and the chief technology officer of Akio
00:14
Energy and I'm thrilled to be here to
00:16
talk to you today about what we're doing
00:20
and how it's going I'm especially
00:22
thrilled about our new direction in wind
00:25
energy because I hope they had the
00:27
chance to talk at the first TEDx Detroit
00:29
and that was 7 years ago 2009 and we
00:34
might not have been here today but
00:36
nearly everything we thought could
00:37
happen back then has happened and it's
00:40
great to be able to talk about how we
00:42
got there and where we're going next
00:45
back in 2007 we had this vision that you
00:49
could make wind energy far more
00:51
acceptable available and friendly by
00:54
making it silent stationary and not
00:57
endangering wildlife with it so we're
01:01
working on a technology called EHD wind
01:03
energy which has no moving parts unlike
01:06
a turbine which has very high loads on
01:08
it so it needs expensive complex
01:11
machinery and you need a new system
01:14
every time you want to change the output
01:17
of it so you have low volumes with all
01:19
those expensive materials you have a lot
01:21
of cost and complexity
01:22
it's like making airplanes it's very
01:25
expensive
01:26
instead with electro hydrodynamic wind
01:28
energy you make a system that's composed
01:31
of identical panels all those panels are
01:33
the same they're made from ordinary
01:35
materials in very large volumes and
01:37
they're made using the kind of
01:39
automotive heritage advanced
01:40
manufacturing technology we have in
01:42
plants all around our area using the
01:46
same facilities materials and people
01:48
that we use for automotive today so
01:53
besides making wind power friendlier and
01:55
more sustainable we actually can make it
01:58
cheaper and more available that way as
01:59
well and the other part of our mission
02:02
is really to create great jobs in
02:04
manufacturing here in Detroit southeast
02:07
Michigan all over our state and even
02:09
on the Midwest so how does that work
02:12
well the HT wind energy is based on a
02:15
different idea it's a little bit like an
02:17
engineered thunderstorm we use wave
02:19
energy to pump water up our panel up the
02:22
pole to our panel and then that water
02:24
comes out as tiny little positively
02:27
charged droplets out of very small tubes
02:30
that are inside that system every time a
02:32
positively charged droplet leaves a lot
02:35
of electrons get left behind and if you
02:37
have billions and billions of droplets
02:39
leaving all those electrons behind the
02:41
very large electric field emerges that
02:43
the wind has to do a lot of work against
02:45
and it dries the system to high voltage
02:47
as it gets to high voltage you have the
02:51
opportunity to plug it into the grid and
02:53
create a wind energy high-voltage
02:56
direct-current generator out of it seems
02:59
easy but haha right sounds so easy but
03:03
no it's actually like this for a long
03:05
time this technology was investigated in
03:08
the 60s and 70s people couldn't make it
03:10
work and why was that well they had a
03:13
lack of insight you know droplets are
03:15
invisible charges are invisible electric
03:17
fields are invisible the wind is
03:19
invisible imagine in debugging an IC
03:21
engine in the late 19th century if
03:23
everything was clear it'd be a lot
03:24
harder right so we get that insight we
03:26
went to big models so that we have
03:28
better testing and those big models are
03:30
computer generated models you know
03:32
they're computers back then you know
03:34
your iPhone has way more power in them
03:37
than a room size computer had back then
03:38
right and they had no visualization
03:40
whereas for us we want droplets to get
03:42
pushed away from our source what you're
03:45
looking at here is a cross-section of a
03:47
part of our system and that turbulence
03:49
you're seeing there is actually what the
03:51
air looks like when it comes out of our
03:53
panel it doesn't that's not what we
03:55
wanted to look like right but now we
03:56
know it and so we can fix it and we did
03:59
so we got rid of this turbulence we can
04:02
also fix our electric fields by looking
04:04
at them there's a powerful powerful tool
04:06
for us and moving forward and move
04:11
forward we did we've been able to test
04:12
outdoors and we went from making no
04:15
power or less than no power which is
04:17
where people were 40 years ago to
04:19
gradually see
04:21
our new experiments that were informed
04:22
with our models create more power and
04:25
more power until we finally hit 50 60 70
04:27
a hundred watts per square meter and
04:29
then it's economically viable and really
04:32
attractive as a real commercial power
04:34
foot source and yes it really did
04:36
actually feel like that let me tell you
04:38
when we finally realized that we had
04:41
made it to a point where we had a viable
04:43
opportunity and as a result of all that
04:45
hard work and those insights we were
04:48
able to apply for and receive a very
04:51
competitive grant from the Department of
04:52
Energy's advanced resected Vance -
04:55
research project agency energy for five
04:59
million dollars over a two-year period
05:01
that lets us go from making lab sized
05:03
pals to things we have to test in very
05:06
large automotive scale wind tunnels and
05:09
and then next year to take it offshore
05:11
working with the University of Maine on
05:14
their offshore wind energy testbed out
05:17
in Penobscot Bay out in the real live
05:20
ocean and test it for the very first
05:23
time so once we get that done
05:25
successfully which we will we got here
05:28
we'll get there
05:29
we're going to go where the people in
05:31
the water are this map shows you most of
05:33
the world's population lives very close
05:35
to the shoreline and it's crowded there
05:38
you don't want to have wind turbines
05:39
there so it would be nice be able to put
05:41
them offshore but they're very expensive
05:43
far more expensive than onshore wind
05:45
farms so our system can make them cost
05:48
comparable to onshore wind farms and
05:51
change all that and at the same time
05:54
remember that automotive heritage
05:56
manufacturing technology well this is a
05:57
plant of GM's not too far outside
05:59
Detroit a big one a plant the size
06:02
though could because of our high volume
06:05
identical manufacturing technology and
06:07
the logistics that go with it that plant
06:09
could potentially supply half or more
06:12
the world's entire capacity for wind
06:15
energy every single year and be a great
06:18
opportunity to do what create a panel at
06:22
a time but do it millions of times
06:24
put it on poles and every time we do
06:27
that we create great jobs for people
06:29
right here our friends our neighbors the
06:31
people we know
06:33
and at the same time we know that not
06:37
only we're doing all of that but we're
06:38
also creating an opportunity to change
06:41
the world of wind energy address climate
06:44
change problems and protect the planet
06:47
that we all love live on and share thank
06:51
you very much for listening
06:52
[Applause]
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