The big breasted modern urban turbines make a man hard as steel. OKOKOKOK so pornography will never sell electricity but the new generation of wind turbines is enough to set the heart aflutter. When I posted on this last year these sexy designs were nowhere to be found.
| A New Wind Power Design Good For Rural And Urban Environments | |
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Washington 10 June 2008 |
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Wind power is one of the fastest growing forms of alternative energy in the world. More and more, wind power mills are seen in the countryside, in large wind farms and for the most part, away from city life. But a new form of “wind power” is now designed to work in an urban environment. VOA producer Zulima Palacio has more in this Searching for Solutions report. Mill Arcega narrates.
Wind farms, like these ones in California, are becoming more common in rural areas of the U.S. An industry association says last year, alone, wind power capacity in America grew by 45 percent. Mostly wind power is generated by large propellers that can only be placed in the countryside.
But now, a U.S. company is offering a propeller-free personal windmill that can be set up in city or suburb. The president of Mariah Power, Mike Hess, demonstrates what he calls the “Windspire.”
“This one generates 25 to 30 percent of the power in your house, but if we are building a three kilowatts version, which is only twice the width, same height, then it generates 100 percent of your power requirements,” Hess said.
This new system was part of an environmentally friendly exhibit at the U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington. The design was inspired by a 3,000 year-old windmill the Egyptians used to grind wheat.
The company had the modern version independently tested, here in Utah, to prove it can be competitive with large propellers of traditional windmills.
The large blades have been known to kill birds and bats. And because they move much faster than wind speeds, they can be noisy.
But Hess says the Windspire’s verticle-axis wind turbine is not only very quiet, but also bird-friendly.
“Bird friendly yes, because they only spin at two and a half times the speed of wind, so they can see it.” He explained.
http://ecotality.com/life/category/green-building/
Duval’s hotel won’t have conventional wind turbine – instead, he’s looking at a German-designed vertical axle turbine, thought to be was safer than having a high-speed rotating propeller that could cause serious damage if it became dislodged. The building internal environment also is a factor in the choice, he says. “We are on top of a building. We can not have anything that vibrates or emits sound. It’s got to be very smooth.”
Duval also plans to install a pyramid of solar panels on the roof.
Vertical axis wind turbines are a growing segment of the wind turbine industry. Mercedes Benz recently installed one at one of its facilities in Great Britain.
The company said that the 20m-high turbine, developed by wind energy company Quiet Revolution, was one of only six in operation in the UK and had been designed to work quietly and efficiently in urban environments where the wind direction changes frequently.
Mercedes-Benz plans to use the energy generated to power electric cars and has installed three charging points next to the turbine. It estimated that the installation will generate enough power for 30,000 miles of driving a year using its electric Smart fortwo cars, equivalent to the electricity needed to power two average homes. Wilfried Steffen, president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz in the UK, said that the installation was part of a project to ultimately generate 10 per cent of the company’s energy onsite through a combination of wind energy, ground-source heat pumps and solar water heating.
From London to New Zealand, vertical axis wind turbines appear to be gaining popularity as a way for just about any business to get in on the generation of power from the wind
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And they look so cool:
http://www.bluenergy-ag.net/English/products_wind.html
Bluenergy Solar-Wind-Turbine
BSWT is a vertical wind turbine based on sailing engineering. The wind rotor is rotated by two spiral-formed vanes. For best performance, these vanes are covered in solar cells, so that sun and wind produce electricity as one element. The BSWT installation costs relatively little, produces no noise or significant shadowing, can be easily maintained from ground level, and is an attractive addition to any home.
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It doesn’t get any sexier then that.
Even Jay Leno has one:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2007/05/29/jay-lenos-garage-gets-a-vertical-wind-turbine/
Jay Leno’s Garage Gets A Vertical Wind Turbine
Filed under: green and famous, transport — michael @ 2:37 pm
Popular Mechanics and Jay Leno have been working together on a project to take Jay’s car garage and turn it into a model of sustainability. We covered Jay’s ownership of some of the first electric cars last month and now we’re happy to report that a vertical wind turbine will shortly be joining the solar panels on the roof of his garage. From the article,
“[The Turbine] can produce 10 kw at around 28 mph and has a cut-in wind speed of 6 mph. These turbines don’t need a braking mechanism and can self-start at very low wind speeds—something similar designs in the past could never do. They take up very little space, they’re virtually silent, and multiple units can be placed within feet of one another. Delta II units can also be stacked vertically up to 50 kW.”
Vertical wind turbines are a sort of “Holy Grail” for wind energy because they tend to alleviate some of the environmental concerns associated with large scale blade turbines. While Jay’s turbine is still considered small, the design is holding promise for commercial farms. The 500-watt unit Pacwind dropped by his garage with costs just under $3K. For his 17,000-sq-ft. garage, however, a more powerful 10kw version called the Delta II will most likely do the job. This unit comes in at $20K — but with the proper rebates will most likely fall closer to $12K. Granted, Jay’s probably not too concerned with counting pennies.Â
You can take a look at Jay’s progress on his green garage by visiting the Popular Mechanics site here. Of course, we’ll keep you updated on the latest as it zooms into our laps.