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Comment by jiofih | Hacker News Reader

If it’s wind / solar, absolutely. A compressor for that canal run is probably using 1-2KW/h, comparable to a small shop. If the compressor itself is cooled by the water you’re even putting back some of the sun or wind energy that would have gone into it :)

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Your units are wonky. I'll assume you mean 1-2 kW, a unit of power output. kW/h would be a rate of increase of power (e.g. "The generator is producing 500 kW now, and can safely ramp up at a rate of 100 kW/h.")

in the US Kilowatt-hour is commonly used like that, and not as a rate of change - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilowatt-hour

The kW*h doesn't make sense in this context, either. It is a unit of energy, and would imply a one-time cost to have bubbles made from then on.

A kWh is not a kW/h. Also, a device used continuously would use a number of kWh over a time period... So kWh/h or kW. If you were discussing a process, you might say it takes so many kWh per cycle, like charging a battery or producing an item, etc.

It would be a kilowatt-hours per hour in this case, also known as kilowatts.

And as soon as the wind stops and the sun gets obscured by clouds or the earth, the bubbles stop, and off goes the plastic :) Apart from that, I'd think that the amount of energy required to move the air down is massive. Also, not sure wear and tear on the (plastic) structure can be handled in a sensible manner over the long-term...

Could even use tidal as it lies in a river

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