A North-Sea wind farm has few negative effects on fauna. Most birds avoided the wind turbines, although rotating blades can have a significant disruptive effect on some species of birds. It turns out that a wind farm also provides a new habitat for organisms living on the sea bed such as mussels, anemones, and crabs, thereby potentially contributing to increased biodiversity. For fish and marine mammals, it provides an oasis of calm in a relatively busy coastal area, according to researcher Prof. Han Lindeboom at IMARES, part of Wageningen UR, and several of his colleagues and fellow scientists at Bureau Waardenburg and Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ).

A North-Sea wind farm has hardly any negative effects on fauna. At most, a few bird species will avoid such a wind farm. (Credit: Image courtesy of Wageningen University and Research CentreImage courtesy of Wageningen University and Research Centre)

The team of researchers focused on the short-term ecological effects of a wind farm in the North Sea. To do so, they analysed the effects of the offshore wind farm near Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ) on benthic organisms, fish, birds and marine mammals. The researchers described their findings in an article that was recently published on the scientific website, Environmental Research Letters online, in which they summarised the results of the first two years of their research.

The research carried out within the OWEZ wind farm revealed little effect during the first few years on the benthic organisms in the sandy areas between the wind turbines. New species establish themselves, and communities of animals arise on the wind turbine piles and the rocks piled around the columns, leading to a local increase in biodiversity. The fish fauna turns out to be very variable, and some minor positive effects have been observed so far. For example, the wind farm seems to provide shelter to cod. Porpoises were also heard more often inside the wind farm than outside it. A striking feature is that various bird species, including the gannet, avoid the wind farm, whereas others, such as seagulls, do not seem to be bothered by the wind turbines. Cormorants were even observed in greater numbers. The number of birds that collided with the turbines was not determined but was estimated to be quite low on the basis of observations and model calculations.

After the construction of a wind farm, whereby the driving of piles into the sea bed can have a disruptive influence, potential effects were expected from the presence of new hard substrate in the form of piles and protective rocks. Effects might also result from the presence of rotating wind turbine blades, possible underwater noise and the absence of other human activities such as commercial fishing.

Overall, the OWEZ wind farm functions as a new type of habitat with more species of benthic organisms and a possibly increased use of the area by fish, marine mammals and some bird species, whereas the presence of other bird species is reduced.

On the basis of comparisons with results found elsewhere, the scientists conclude that the impact of a wind farm depends on the location of the wind farm and the depth of the surrounding sea. The location of the OWEZ wind farm is favourable due to the relatively low numbers of birds that fly through the area at this distance from the coast. The presence of various habitat types and the intensity with which the area is used by others also play a role. In the busy Dutch coastal zone, the wind farm seems to offer a relative oasis of calm, according to the researchers. In the Anthropocene era, the present era during which humans have an impact on almost everything on earth, the effects of intensive fishing, pollution, gas oil and sand extraction, and intensive shipping have already resulted in changes to the ecosystem. Against such a background, a wind farm can contribute to a more diverse habitat and even help nature to recover.

However, the rotating blades can also have a significant disruptive effect on some species of birds. The researchers therefore suggest that, for the purpose of generating energy, special areas be designated in the sea for wind farms. Unavoidable effects, such as a local reduction in the numbers of some bird species would then have to be accepted, but by choosing the location appropriately, these effects can be minimised.

The research was funded by NoordzeeWind, a joint venture of Nuon and Shell Wind Energy, and was carried out by a consortium consisting of IMARES, Koninklijk NIOZ and Bureau Waardenburg.

Wageningen University and Research Centre. North Sea wind farm has positive net impact on fauna, researchers say. ScienceDaily http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/08/110808105949.htm

The Original Post is Located Here: North Sea Wind Farm Has Positive Net Impact On Fauna

A milestone in the history of renewable energy occurred in the year 2008 when more new wind-turbine power generation capacity was added in the U.S. than new coal-fired power generation. The costs of producing power with wind turbines continues to drop, but many engineers feel that the overall design of turbines is still far from optimal.

New ideas for enhancing the efficiency of wind turbines are being presented this week at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, CA.

Wind farm near Tehachapi, California. The costs of producing power with wind turbines continues to drop, but many engineers feel that the overall design of turbines is still far from optimal. (Credit: iStockphoto/Greg Randles)

Now a new type of air-flow technology may soon increase the efficiency of large wind turbines under many different wind conditions.

Syracuse University researchers Guannan Wang, Basman El Hadidi, Jakub Walczak, Mark Glauser and Hiroshi Higuchi are testing new intelligent-systems-based active flow control methods with support from the U.S. Department of Energy through the University of Minnesota Wind Energy Consortium. The approach estimates the flow conditions over the blade surfaces from surface measurements and then feeds this information to an intelligent controller to implement real-time actuation on the blades to control the airflow and increase the overall efficiency of the wind turbine system. The work may also reduce excessive noise and vibration due to flow separation.

Initial simulation results suggest that flow control applied on the outboard side of the blade beyond the half radius could significantly enlarge the overall operational range of the wind turbine with the same rated power output or considerably increase the rated output power for the same level of operational range. The team is also investigating a characteristic airfoil in a new anechoic wind tunnel facility at Syracuse University to determine the airfoil lift and drag characteristics with appropriate flow control while exposed to large-scale flow unsteadiness. In addition, the effects of flow control on the noise spectrum of the wind turbine will be also assessed and measured in the anechoic chamber.

Another problem with wind energy is drag, the resistance felt by the turbine blades as they beat the air. Scientists at the University of Minnesota have been looking at the drag-reduction effect of placing tiny grooves on turbine blades. The grooves are in the form of triangular riblets scored into a coating on the blade surface. They are so shallow (between 40 and 225 microns) that they can’t be seen by the human eye — leaving the blades looking perfectly smooth.

Using wind-tunnel tests of 2.5 megawatt turbine airfoil surfaces (becoming one of the popular industry standards) and computer simulations, they are looking at the efficacies of various groove geometries and angles of attack (how the blades are positioned relative to the air stream).

Riblets like these have been used before, in the sails on sailboats taking part in the last America’s Cup regatta and on the Airbus airliner, where they produced a drag reduction of about 6 percent. The design of wind turbine blades was, at first, closely analogous to that of airplane wings. But owing to different engineering concerns, such as turbine blades having a much thicker cross section close to the hub and wind turbines having to cope with peculiar turbulence near the ground, drag reduction won’t be quite the same for wind turbines.

University of Minnesota researchers Roger Arndt, Leonardo P. Chamorro and Fotis Sotiropoulos believe that riblets will increase wind turbine efficiency by about 3 percent.

American Institute of Physics (2010, November 22). Enhancing the efficiency of wind turbines. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 20, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/11/101121195434.htm

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The Original Post is Located Here: Enhancing the Efficiency of Wind Turbines

Green energy too comes out of the electricity socket, but to get there it has to travel a long journey – from wind turbines in the North Sea or regional solar, wind and biogas power plants. On the way to the consumer lots of energy is lost. New electronic components will change things in future.

Cars and trucks race down the highway, turn off into town, wait at traffic lights and move slowly through side streets. Electricity flows in a similar way – from the power plant via high voltage lines to transformer substations. The flow is controlled as if by traffic lights. Cables then take the electricity into the city centre. Numerous switching points reduce the voltage, so that equipment can tap into the electricity at low voltage. Thanks to this highly complex infrastructure, the electricity customer can use all kinds of electrical devices just by switching them on.

Explosion protection reduces the risk of a chain reaction in the event of a fault, which could cause the entire converter station to fail. (Credit: © Fraunhofer IISB)

In major projects such as Desertec, solar thermal power plants in sun-rich regions of North Africa and the Middle East will in the future produce electricity for Europe. The energy will then flow to the consumer via long high-voltage power lines or undersea cables. The existing cables, systems and components need to be adapted to the future energy mix now, so that the electricity will get to the consumer as reliably and with as few losses as possible. The power electronics experts at the IISB are working on technological solutions, and are developing components for the efficient conversion of electrical energy.

For energy transmission over distances of more than 500 kilometers or for undersea cables direct current is being increasingly used. This possesses a constant voltage and only loses up to seven percent of its energy over long distances. By comparison, the loss rate for alternating current can reach 40 percent. Additional converter stations are, however, required to convert the high voltage of the direct current into the alternating current needed by the consumer.

“In cooperation with Siemens Energy we are developing high-power switches. These are necessary for transmitting the direct voltage in the power grid and are crucial for projects like Desertec. The switches have to be more reliable, more scaleable and more versatile than previous solutions in order to meet the requirements of future energy supply networks,” says Dipl.-Ing. Markus Billmann from the IISB. To this end, the research scientists are using low-cost semiconductor cells which with previous switching techniques could not be used for high-voltage direct-current transmission (HVDCT).

“At each end of a HVDCT system there is a converter station,” explains the research scientist. “For the converters we use interruptible devices which can be operated at higher switching frequencies, resulting in smaller systems that are easier to control.” A major challenge is to protect the cells from damage. Each converter station will contain about 5,000 modules, connected in series, and if more than a few of them failed at the same time and affected their neighboring modules a chain reaction could be triggered which would destroy the entire station. “We have now solved this problem. With our cooperation partners we are working on tailor-made materials and components so that in future the equipment will need less energy,” says Billmann.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (2010, November 8). Power grid of the future saves energy. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 08, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/11/101108140636.htm

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The Original Post is Located Here: Power Grid of the Future Saves Energy

According to a report published by The Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development and Greentech Media; “Less than 10 MW of ocean power capacity has been installed to date worldwide. The research report, Forecasting the Future of Ocean Power, has projected that the market will grow two orders of magnitude to reach 1 GW of installed capacity at an annual market size of 0 million by 2015. Even as the market is in its early stages, it is poised for significant growth. Although investment to date in the ocean power market — just over 0 million since 2001 — is relatively small compared to other renewable energy market segments, the report finds that more than billion will be invested to build commercial ocean wave power farms. Another billion will go towards research and development globally over the next six years.” (http://social.waveenergytoday.com/news/ocean-power-market-reach-500m-2015)

Company President, James C. Shelley, explains that “While the current agreement with Leviathon focuses on the development and manufacturing of a unique energy wave turbine, Leviathon is also pioneering the development of two different wind energy turbine systems. The Leviathon Wind Energizer is designed to enhance the efficiency of conventional wind turbines while the Leviathon Energy Wind Lotus system has been designed as a small wind turbine for rooftop stations or other such areas in more crowded urban centers where space is at a premium.”

Jack Dhaliwal, Seakinetics Chief Technology Officer stated, ” I am particularly interested in the potential performance efficiencies we may derive by adding the Leviathon wind energizers to our Tamil Nadu wind farm project. My understanding is that these systems can increase the performance parameters of our tower wind turbines by as much as 20%-40%. Likewise, we anticipate significantly higher levels of performance output on future wave energy farm development in India and elsewhere, by virtue of the proprietary design configuration of Leviathan’s above surface wave energy turbines.”

Seakinetics is in the business of designing, developing, marketing and investing in innovative technologies and services in the renewable energy field. Seakinetics’ mission is to be an industry leader in finding solutions for renewable energy today and tomorrow.

This release may include projections of future results and “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements that are included in this release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable; it can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those disclosed in this release, including, without limitation, in conjunction with those forward-looking statements contained in this release.

The Original Post is Located Here: Seakinetics Joins the $2 Billion Race to Harness Ocean Wave Energy

You may not know this, but wind turbines are becoming a great alternative to run power at many home across our country. While it cost you to own one initially, but in the long term, you will eventually recoup your costs. And if you were to utilize wind turbines that are powered with solar panels, the two items are a powerful force in creating low cost energy.

Solar energy by itself is totally free. However, if you are not careful, the price and maintenance of a solar panel can be very expensive so you need to consider whether your want to build one or buy one to use at home.

Another potential source of free electricity is nuclear power. This kind of power is already developed in many different countries. The initial price of setting up this system is very expensive. But the bad concern with nuclear power is that people are afraid of the risks because of the incidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. While it is not entirely impossible, using a nuclear power plant to run the power of the most part of the earth is expensive and risky.

When you consider all the power sources that we have mentioned here, it appears that the wind power is the most affordable. You just need to have a windy environment to effectively run the electricity. A gentle breeze will do for as long as it will keep the turbine running.

Wind turbines are very affordable. In fact, many companies today are selling wind turbines on an increasing scale. Capturing free power from the wind will only require that you install a wind turbine generator at your home.

A wind turbine can be constructed from auto parts (either new or old). Put the wind turbine at the highest place in your house as possible. Winds turbine is actually a good substitute for places that do not have access to the local power utility. Anyone who has knowledge with auto workshop and mechanic can actually build one wind turbine for himself.

The Original Post is Located Here: Wind Power Is The Best Choice

Let’s start with the first source of renewable energy, solar power. Solar energy is free but most people are afraid of the cost of solar cells. A myth about solar cells is that they are expensive and not a feasible option for residential properties. Honestly, you can find service providers who will send you competitive quotes and a range of options based on your electricity consumption. You don’t need to invest USD100,000 when you need a solar panel that costs a thousand dollars.

In fact, if a thousand dollars is too expensive too, you can build your own. There are plenty of ‘do-it-yourself’ websites that will give you all the support you need. You can also consider purchasing, solar powered devices to help you avoid consuming electricity. For instance, you have solar powered cookers, solar powered heaters, air conditioners, etc.

Another source of energy, you must have heard about is ‘wind’. To harness wind energy, all you need to do is install wind turbines. If your home is close to the sea, offshore or at a high altitude you should consider this as a feasible option. It might seem expensive to install but you will save forty percent when compared to your electricity consumption. If you are a ‘go green’ advocate, you can have your neighbourhood switch to utilizing wind energy. A small wind farm (more than 10 windmills), can be an economical option and help you reduce a considerable amount on your electricity bill.

If you are lucky enough to have your home in the countryside or a farm, a very cheap alternative source of energy is biogas. Installing a bio gas plant is a one time investment, and you can switch your entire power consumption to this source of energy. Biogas produce methane gas that is created by fermentation of slurry (fermented house hold waste, animal waste, sewage, etc). Biogas is very popular alternative source of energy in developing countries and can be used globally.

There are plenty of renewable energy alternatives that are used today, and every effort is being made to reduce costs. If are flexible with the cost, you can always choose from bio fuel, geothermal energy, etc.

For those concerned about the environment, switching to a renewable source of energy can help you reduce your carbon footprint and eliminate your electricity bill.

The Original Post is Located Here: Use Renewable Energy for Your Home

Over the past years, most people never considered wind power as a serious source of generating energy and electricity, that too, for domestic purposes. In fact, wind was perceived as just another natural phenomenon with very limited usage in life. People generally reveled when the weather was pleasant, and tried to protect themselves when storms or blizzards attacked an area.

However, the situation grew more serious over time, as the oil crisis hit the world. The prices of oil rose rapidly, and the need for an alternative, less expensive source of energy was felt acutely. Such an energy source would indeed be required pretty soon. Now, wind power fitted the bill perfectly. In addition, the supply of wind power was plentiful as well. Thus, many experts tried to combine automobile alternators to radiator cooling fans. This was expected to produce 12 volts of DC current, and was quickly stored away on automotive storage 12 volt batteries. However stretching whatever little power that was produced to 120 volts of AC current, proved to be an unpractical task for most people. And thus, these trials on wind energy harnessing came to an end.

Business houses however, remained extremely active during this period. By the latter parts of 2007, wind power driven devices, like mini generators and turbines arrived in the markets, in large quantities too. Provided that enough quantities of wind power were available, these devices, coupled with utility grids, could substantially bring down the costs incurred on electricity by people. Experts decided to experiment a bit more with these equipments, in keeping with their mental make-ups. The wind turbines were used to try to generate electricity for one’s home requirements. The potential benefits of such an experiment were huge.

It was not that all these attempts met with immediate success. Many people found the continuous roaring sound emitted by the wind turbines to be eminently disagreeable. Hence, they complained of mechanical nuisance to the local authorities, against their neighbors, demanding the turbines to be stopped. In such cases, the authorities were in fact bound to put a stop on the working of any win d turbine. The wind power generated by the turbines lacked in reliability as well. Often, the power could not even spin the turbine blades. The impact of these failed experiments was profound. People were saddled with debt, and attempted to resell their electrical equipments, including the turbines, related accessories, and the inverters that were meant to generate 12 volt usable AC current from the obtained DC power. However, not many were interested in buying these products then.

However, it was not all a story of failure and gloom. Several valuable lessons could be gleaned from these failed attempts to harness wind power. Some of these lessons were:

a) Never use wind turbines in congested city areas. The high rises and sky scrapers hamper the smooth flow of wind at these places.

b) Do not try to tap wind energy by using turbines in the urban regions. The noises affect the ecological balance of the area.

c) For best results, combine a solar electricity generator with the home wind power turbines. The former can work smoothly during daytime. As night arrives, the blades of the wind turbine can start to rotate

d) Erect home wind turbines at areas of high elevation and/or at remote places. The former would get smooth, unhampered flow of wind at such places.

e) Opt for home wind turbines if you cannot access utility power, and

f) Note the similarities between a small home wind turbine and a large scale energy firms. The structure, and hence, the complexities of the two are thus the same too, albeit in different degrees. The different components of the home turbines and larger wind energy firms, including the batteries (for smooth flow of power), the torque controller, the inverter (for conversion of DC output to 120 volt AC current) were all the same too.

Thus, you can learn from these lessons and set up your wind power system – all you need to do is refer to an instruction manual. The manual would help you know how to install the system, the ideal place to do so, as well as how to acquire different parts at an affordable price. Free availability of the batteries is also discussed in the manual. The wires of the wind power system, and the safety features related therein should also be given due importance in such a manual. So go ahead and read such a manual and get ready to benefit from wind power. This information would considerably ease the process of installation of the system and using it to your advantage.

The Original Post is Located Here: Home Wind Power: How You Can SAVE Money Using It

Airborne turbines like these depicted in this illustration could generate electricity from strong high-altitude winds. Credit: Ben Shepard, courtesy Sky WindPower

“There is a huge amount of energy available in high-altitude winds,” said researcher Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, Calif. “These winds blow much more strongly and steadily than near-surface winds, but you need to go get up miles to get a big advantage. Ideally, you would like to be up near the jet streams, around 30,000 feet.”

All told, if wind turbines miles above the planet were tethered to 10 percent of the world’s land, there is enough energy in these jet stream winds to meet world demand 100 times over, researchers said.

Jet streams are meandering belts of fast winds at altitudes between 20,000 and 50,000 feet. They shift seasonally, but are otherwise persistent features in the atmosphere. Jet stream winds are generally steadier and 10 times faster than wind near the ground, making them a potentially vast and dependable source of energy.

But how to capture the wind so high?

Kites and tethers
A number of technological schemes have been proposed to harvest energy from these high-altitude winds, including tethered, kite-like wind turbines lofted miles high. Up to 40 megawatts of electricity could be generated by current designs and transmitted to the ground via tether.

Using 28 years of weather data, the researchers developed the first-ever global survey of high-altitude wind energy.

“We found the highest wind power densities over Japan and eastern China, the eastern coast of the United States, southern Australia, and north eastern Africa,” said researcher Cristina Archer, an atmospheric scientist at California State University in Chico.

These specific areas generate roughly 10 kilowatts per square meter or more. “This is unthinkable near the ground, where even the best locations have usually less than one kilowatt per square meter,” Archer added.

The analysis also looked at some of the world’s largest cities: Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Mexico City. New York proved a prime location, as did the East Asian cities.

“For cities that are affected by polar jet streams such as Tokyo, Seoul and New York, the high-altitude resource is phenomenal,” Archer said. “New York, which has the highest average high-altitude wind power density of any U.S. city, has an average wind power density of up to 16 kilowatts per square meter.”

Tokyo and Seoul also have high wind power density, as they are both affected by the East Asian jet stream. Since Mexico City and Sao Paulo are located at tropical latitudes, they are rarely affected by the polar jet streams and only occasionally by the weaker sub-tropical jets. As a result they see lower wind power densities than the other three cities.

Issues remain
Another issue is whether implementing such devices on a wide scale could alter general air circulation patterns and thus impact local and global climate. Their simulations hint that if carried to unlikely extremes, blanketing the entire planet with such devices would cool the Earth’s surface, reduce precipitation and boost sea ice levels. However, if deployed at levels comparable to total global electricity demand, there seemed to be no detectable effect on the climate even after 70 years.

Also, fluctuating wind strength still presents a challenge when it comes to exploiting this energy source on a large scale, just as it does on the ground.

“While there is enough power in these high altitude winds to power all of modern civilization, at any specific location there are still times when the winds do not blow,” Caldeira said. Even over the best areas, the wind can be expected to fail about 5 percent of the time.

“This means that you either need back-up power, massive amounts of energy storage, or a continental or even global scale electricity grid to assure power availability,” he added. “So, while high-altitude wind may ultimately prove to be a major energy source, it requires substantial infrastructure.”

Archer told LiveScience she did not think high-altitude wind power would solve the entire planet’s energy needs by itself — “you don’t want something that’s not 100 percent reliable. But I am positive that it could play an important role.”

Archer and Caldeira detailed their findings online May 26 in the journal Energies.

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience

The Original Post is Located Here: Miles-High Kites Could Generate Electricity

WindTronics, based in Muskegon, Mich., has developed a wind turbine sized for individual homes that it says can operate at speeds as low as 2 miles an hour.

It will be sold for $4,500 as the Honeywell Wind Turbine and distributed through Ace Hardware stores in the U.S. starting in October. WindTronics developed the turbine and licensed the technology to buildings systems giant Honeywell.

The fan-like turbine will generate 2,000 kilowatt-hours in a year for a home with a very good–called Class 4–wind resource, according to the company. That’s between 15 and 20 percent of the annual electricity consumption for the average U.S. home.

The turbine is rated at 2 kilowatts, but WindTronics executives say that most turbines’ rated capacities–the amount of power they can produce at a given moment–are misleading.

“We say if a turbine only works between 8 and 25 miles per hour, you have a very limited range of operation,” said Brian Levine, the vice president of business development at WindTronics, a division of EarthTronics. “Our device is rated to address a wider range at the low and high end.”

The 95-pound turbine, which is 6 feet in diameter, can be mounted on rooftops, attached to chimneys, or put on a pole. The company hopes to sell the turbines through Ace Hardware stores or through contractors–who are needed for the installation–to homeowners or businesses.

Spinning magnets
With people seeking out alternative forms of power generation, there’s been a surge in interest–and sales–in small wind turbines in the past year. But it’s still not clear that these small wind turbines are cost-effective enough to be used beyond a niche of green-minded buyers.

Two studies–one in Massachusetts and one in the U.K.–discovered that many small wind turbines far underperformed manufacturers’ specifications.

The tests found that people often chose locations that didn’t have sufficient wind or obstructions that blocked wind. In most cases, turbine makers rate products assuming a very good wind resource–anywhere from 12 to 25 miles per hour.

By using a novel design, WindTronics’ turbine can generate electricity between 2 miles per hour and 45 miles per hour, the company says.

Typically, turbines convert the mechanical energy of spinning blades to electricity with a gearbox and generator in the turbine’s nacelle, the enclosure where the rotor’s shaft is mounted.

WindTronic’s turbine has small magnets at the tips of its fan blades. When they spin from the wind, equipment in the fan’s housing captures the current produced.

The installation kit also comes with an inverter to convert the direct current to household alternating current and a “smart box,” which regulates the flow of electricity and monitors wind speed. At 45 miles per hour, the unit turns itself sideways to avoid damage.

Levine, who said the turbine was originally developed for developing countries, said WindTronics expects it can produce 50,000 units in its first year. A number of utilities, including Duke Energy, are testing the turbine, he added.

He said that mounting the turbine on a house should not cause vibration because the unit is lighter than most turbines. The sound is rated at between 35 and 45 decibels, which is quieter than normal conversation, Levine said.

Right problem
There is a growing number of companies designing turbines to operate in less-than-ideal wind conditions. A wind map from the Department of Energy shows that most of the fair and good wind–class 3 and class 4–is in the plains states and on the coasts of the continental U.S.

One technique to squeeze more power from available wind is to concentrate the wind to increase the speed of the air going past rotor blades. OptiWind, FloDesign Wind Turbine, and Green Energy Tech are among the companies exploring that approach in small or mid-size turbines.

Other turbine manufacturers, like WindTronics, use permanent magnets in a direct drive design rather than gearboxes to generate electricity.

WindTronics has only built prototype systems, which it first showed at a hardware show last month. But if its turbines can operate in low wind with little vibration and sound, the company could make small wind turbines economically attractive to a much larger audience.

Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET’s Green Tech blog

The Original Post is Located Here: Small wind turbine works at low wind speeds

Green Energy Technologies LLC, a privately held company founded in 2006, announces the launch of WindCube(R), a 60kW rooftop wind turbine designed for on-site power generation by commercial and industrial power users in urban and suburban locations. The turbine, which captures and amplifies the wind, fills a previously unmet need for wind turbines that can be placed into service in a very small footprint and take advantage of the nation’s net metering laws.

“Now building owners anywhere can consider being a part of the renewable energy picture,” said Mark L. Cironi, president and founder of Green Energy Technologies, and with John W. Fedor, the technology’s inventor. “With WindCube, it’s not necessary to have the wind of Kansas or Nebraska to become a generator of wind power. In states with excellent renewable energy incentives, moderate wind and high electric rates, the payback can be as little as three years.”

The turbine is available as a single (60kW) or dual (120kW) system and in rooftop or tower-mounted design. The product is modular to satisfy a customer’s electrical requirements, and produces the same amount of energy in a 22x22x12-foot framework as a traditional turbine with blades 50 feet in diameter. It is ideal for a wide range of users, from industrial companies and commercial office buildings to big-box retailers, college campuses and electric users in remote locations.

Innovative Technology Amplifies Moderate Wind
The WindCube features a groundbreaking patent-pending design that relies on the wind tunnel effect known in physics as the Bernoulli Principle. While the rest of the wind industry generates energy through the use of free-stream wind, the WindCube captures and amplifies the wind, which produces more kilowatt-hours (kWh). As the wind comes into the WindCube shroud, it becomes concentrated, creating increased velocity and in turn, more power. Because of the amplification effect, the WindCube is able to capture wind energy as low as 5 mph.

The WindCube generates electricity by running its motor backwards using an impeller (the opposite of a propeller), eliminating the need for a gearbox. This lowers the cost of ownership because the gear box is the source of most of the maintenance problems and failures on conventional wind turbines.

The Original Post is Located Here: Green Energy Technologies Launches WindCube(R) at Windpower 2009