26 July 2009
Alternative wind turbine: Wind Dam
Posted by Cecilia under: Energy .
Wind farms normally consist of conventional wind turbines with a hub height of 40-80 meters and rotor diameter of 27 to 70 meters. A common complaint about wind turbines in rural wind farms is that they disfigure the landscape. This picture shows a 32 meter rotor blade, with a person in the foreground for scale.
The aesthetic argument combined with the fact that a lot of wind energy passes inefficiently around the tubines has pushed companies to find other solutions.
One of these alternative wind turbines is the “Wind Dam” of British architect Laurie Chetwood. Chetwood is the founder of the architectural company Chetwood Associates which specializes in sustainable design.
A wind Dam looks similar to the mainsail of a yacht and is designed to capture high-speed winds in its massive spinnaker sail. The first wind dam was anchored to cliffs on either side of a valley near Northern Russia’s Lake Ladoga. Each one can generate enough energy for about 35 homes.
Inventor Laurie Chetwood is still working to find ways to improve efficiency by concentrating more wind energy on the turbine. The Wind Dam in its present form might still be considered as obscuring the landscape but additional improvements could lead to smaller, less conspicuous designs.
3 Comments so far...
Today in Sikantis – July 26, 2009 « Sikantis Says:
26 July 2009 at 1:58 am.
[...] Innovative News – Alternative wind turbine: Wind Dam [...]
Biofriendly Blog » Blog Archive » Wind Energy: 8 Ways to Collect It Says:
8 March 2010 at 10:05 am.
[...] a different take on the wind turbine via a sort of “wind sail”. This particular dam was reportedly anchored to the cliffs [...]
wind turbine Says:
22 May 2010 at 3:12 am.
We should provide a guide of small wind turbines. This will help more people to use small wind turbines.
