Green Building

Is This Stick Really a Wind Turbine?

While wind turbines produce clean energy unlike dirty power plants that pollute out of sight, many people aren’t thrilled to see them dotting the landscape. Over the years, there have been many turbine designs that have yet to gain traction, notably vertical turbines.  Now, there’s a new design that takes it to the limit – turbines that look like sticks in the ground – with no blades at all. Does this new design look better to you?! No more worries about noise for people who live nearby. It has no moving parts and is therefore silent. It doesn’t have blades, so it can’t kill birds and bats. Prototypes are almost as efficient as conventional turbines and are markedly cheaper to build and maintain. “It will need less material, allowing us to provide electricity to more people at a lower cost, while leaving a smaller environmental footprint. It won’t kill birds and it won’t make noise. Stop imagining – here comes Vortex!,” says the developer, Spain-based Vortex Blades, on its crowdfunding page. Here’s how it works Instead of capturing energy by the rotating motion of turbine blades, Vortex takes advantage of “vorticity” – an aerodynamic effect that occurs when wind breaks against a solid structure. It begins to oscillate and captures the energy that is produced. It “floats” on magnets, which […]

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