They’ve got all sorts of neat gizmos on the horizon in the world of alternative energy. This thing apparently generates more electricity than required to churn out its 950+ gallons of fresh water per day, so you could theoretically use the excess to power other emergency equipment. They’ve also got this cool floating windmill thingy straight out of the Gorillaz music video to fill the role of emergency renewable power. Imagine if they actually gave subsidies or tax incentives for research into renewable energy!

Let’s at least take some solace in the fact that even though the U.S. is well on its way to becoming a third world country, at least they’ll have plenty of alternative energy generators around to help purify the water.

and cook our supper?

solar oven society

a floating turbine is only 'super efficient' because it can tap into high speed winds at altitude. The balloon/turbine design is anything but an efficient generator - to date the utility scale horizontal axis/three wind propeller type turbine have the record for efficiency - ie most power/area swept...

but as far as materials go i imagine that steel is abundantly higher in cost

this is for the off grid individual

I want one for my balcony (my balcony is pretty big). How much?

It is nifty sounding. I will not be able to use it "when placed at altitudes from 600-1000 feet" as this would be in controlled airspace. Maybe one could use it in a rural setting if it had a red light on it.