I found this at EcoGeek and found it to be another interesting idea.

FloDesign, a Massachusetts based engineering firm, has designed a new wind turbine
that deviates from the standard windmill in a compelling way. Its main feature is a
stationary piece in front that directs wind into the spinning blades. Overall, the
machine looks more like a jet engine than a wind turbine and it packs quite a punch
as well – a FloDesign turbine can generate as much power as a conventional turbine
twice its size.

FloDeisgn has a long list of reasons why its devices are superior to the status quo.
At the top of that list is efficiency – regular turbines only capture around half
of the energy stored in the wind that hits them. This is because they deflect a lot
of that wind around them. The FloDesign turbine, on the other hand, sucks in that
wind and utilizes much more of its energy. From a practical perspective, the smaller
turbines require less material to build, are easier to install (as one example, the
entire turbine could be packed onto a standard 18 wheeler, as opposed to turbine
blades that require incredibly oversized flatbeds) and take up less land.

They claim that their design also helps solve the NIMBY problem, because people
don’t have to see the huge spinning blades from miles around. I am dubious that
NIMBY participants will adore large, stationary structures that much more than
large, moving structures, but this design does address one often overlooked issue:
when wind turbines are built near workplaces, people often have to endure ceaseless
oscillation of light and shadow, which can drive them nuts. These turbines solve that
problem.

Prototypes are scheduled for testing over the next year or so. If all goes well, we
could be seeing wind farms with these things soon afterwards. If these turbines can
be successfully implemented, their significance should not be underestimated. The
land and money needed to build a 1 GW wind farm could be used instead to build a
2-3 GW wind farm. We sometimes think that wind can only work if we build bigger,
bigger bigger. FloDesign argues that, using some clever aerodynamics, we can
squeeze more juice out of smaller, smaller, smaller.

Tags: 18 wheeler, deviates, doe, ecogeek, energy, engineering firm, engineers, flatbeds, generators, gw, ideas, jet engine, light and shadow, lights, money, new wind, nuts, oscillation, participants, power, prototypes, punch, s, stationary structures, turbine blades, turbines, utility, wind, wind farm, wind turbine, windmill

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 9:05 pm and is filed under Going Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.