Tag: Wardenclyffe

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Nikola Tesla and Renewable Energy

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Nikola TeslaHow many people knew that Nikola Tesla was a proponent of renewable energy? More than 100 years ago Tesla was pushing the idea that fossil fuels – most coal and oil at that time – were not sustainable resources. In an article he wrote in 1905 he offered:

“Long before this consummation, coal and oil must cease to be important factors in the sustenance of human life on this planet.  It should be borne in mind that electrical energy obtained by harnessing a waterfall is probably fifty times more effective than fuel energy.  Since this is the most perfect way of rendering the sun’s energy available, the direction of the future material development of man is clearly indicated.”

Yes, Tesla was into solar power even before it became fashionable.

He saw two ways in which this could be achieved – “either to turn to use the energy of the sun stored in the ambient medium, or to transmit, through the medium, the sun’s energy to distant places from some locality where it was obtainable without consumption of material.”

Of course, there were tremendous technological challenges in the year 1900 to accomplish this vision, but Tesla believed the best option “to obtain power would be to avail ourselves of the sun’s rays, which beat the earth incessantly and supply energy at a maximum rate of over four million horsepower per square mile.” He believed that “an inexhaustible source of power would be opened up by the discovery of some efficient method of utilizing the energy of the rays.”

The capture and storage technologies for exploiting solar energy would take another 100 years to reach a level of commercial feasibility, but the man who could envision an entire alternating current transformer in his head also envisioned both the need and potential of tapping the energy of the sun.

I have used the renewable energy quote in my new Facebook author’s page cover photo.

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Wireless and Wardenclyffe – Nikola Tesla’s Coil

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Nikola TeslaWith his huge Tesla coil ready to go, Tesla was eager to try some large scale experiments way beyond the scope that he could have accomplished in his little New York City laboratory. This new lab in Colorado Springs was perfect. His long-time assistant, Kolman Czito, had made all the preparations. The primary device was a fence-like wall seventy-five feet in diameter, around which were wound “the turns of the giant primary coil.” Inside was a secondary coil “about ten feet in diameter,” also wound with wire. In the center of this coil stood a 200-foot tall mast stretching through the open roof into the crisp Colorado sky, a three-foot copper ball gracing its point.

As instructed by Tesla, Czito closed the switch for one second exactly as Tesla watched the coil from the open doorway. Electrical charges glistened around the secondary coil, then immediately were gone as the switch was opened again. Satisfied that all was working after another short test, Tesla told Czito to close the switch on his command and then hold it closed until Tesla told him to open it. Once Tesla got outside where he could watch the copper ball on the tip of the mast, the command was given:

“Czito, close the switch—now!

As with the brief contacts, the secondary coil became immersed in electrical fire. But now with the extended contact the electricity crackled and popped with energy. Soon the crackling turned to sharper snapping like rifle fire, then roars like cannons. “The thunder was terrifying and the thunder shook the building in a most threatening fashion,” Tesla would write in his notebook.

Outside, Tesla stood in awe of his own device. Streaks of lightning shot from the ball. First extending only about 10 feet, then 20 feet, then 30…40…80 feet. Finally, bright blue bolts of lightning more than 135 feet long were shooting out from the ball further than the length of the building itself. Tesla was even creating thunder.  It was the most spectacular sight, even to the someone who had been creating electrical charges nearly all his life. Tesla marveled at all that this accomplishment could do for bettering the lives of mankind throughout the world.

And then as suddenly as a bolt of lightning, nothing. The whole apparatus went dead. No lightning, not even the slightest spark. The entire lab was dark. There was no power in the lab at all.

Furious, Tesla called up the Colorado Springs powerhouse to complain about having his power cut off. Only then did he realize that not only his lab, but the entire city, had lost power. Tesla’s experiments had knocked the city’s generator offline, and worse, it was on fire.

Tesla had overstayed his welcome. Worse, the city later charged him for all of the “free electricity” that had been promised when he agreed to move to Colorado. Feeling both elated by his discoveries and dejected by how he was treated, Tesla made plans to return to New York.

And from New York – to Wardenclyffe.

[The above is an adaptation modified for the purposes of this short space. Much more will be in my forthcoming book: Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star.]

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Tesla Backers Raise Cash to Buy Wardenclyffe and Make it Into a Museum

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Nikola Tesla WardenclyffeA most amazing thing has happened in the past week or so. Matthew Inman, who is the creator and creative genius behind a web cartoon called “The Oatmeal,” has hooked up with a nonprofit group called the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, to raise funds to buy the Wardenclyffe property and make it into a Nikola Tesla Museum. In just a few short days, and some really funny begging for cash, the combined efforts pulled in pledges exceeding the $850,000 goal.

As the Oatmeal puts in on facebook:

“Someone jumped in at the last minute and donated $33,333. WE JUST HIT OUR GOAL: $873,169! With the matching grant from NY state, this puts us at $1.7 million raised in 6 days!”

[For those who don’t know, Tesla had an obsession with numbers divisible by three, hence the normally odd $33,333 amount]

Who would have expected that so many people would rush to remember a largely forgotten electrical scientist who died in poverty nearly 70 years ago? But they do. In an article published on the CNN website, Inman explains it this way:

“Tesla is an unsung hero, and there are very few monuments to him in the United States. I feel like that’s something we need to fix,” Inman said. “I made a comic about Tesla on my site. It got the most ‘likes’ on Facebook that I’ve ever seen in my career. Combine (the fact) that I’ve got this army of Tesla fans and the experience and success with my other fund-raiser, I felt like I was the ideal person to step in to control.”

The site is what is left of Wardenclyffe, the “World Wireless” facility built by Nikola Tesla over 100 years ago. He had planned on making it the focal point of wireless communication (radio) and electrical power. Besides the 94-foot by 94-foot laboratory building it featured a “187 feet high tower, having a spherical terminal about 68 feet in diameter.” Unfortunately, funding dried up and it fell into disuse. In 1917 the tower was demolished for scrap and Nikola Tesla became more and more reclusive before his eventual death in 1943.

For nearly 50 years the site would house a film processing company, after which it became a Superfund site, but has since changed hands several times and “has now been cleaned up and is no longer harmful.”

While the money has been raised to buy the property there is still some uncertainty as to whether the seller will agree to the sale. And if the Tesla Science Center is successful in acquiring the property it would still need to raise additional money to clean up and restore it for use as a museum. Jane Alcorn, President of the group, “expects it will be a couple of years before the museum opens, while additional funding and exhibits are arranged.”

Those wanting to donate further to the effort can go the Indiegogo site. Inman’s The Oatmeal can be found on Facebook and his website.

More information on The Tesla Science Center can be found here.

More information on Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star can be found here.

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