Wind Power

Helix looking to use mobile phone towers for wind energy generation

By Paul Ridden

02:03 October 3, 2009 PDT

Later this month, Helix Wind Corporation will deliver its first test wind turbines to Eltek Network Solutions Group for installation at two test sites in Nigeria. Sites in the US are also set to take delivery of test modules. The turbines will provide a clean energy solution for mobile phone towers and if tests prove successful, could see wind power being rolled out to hundreds of sites over the next few years. Read More

Honeywell wind turbine is a breeze to run – and a light one at that

By Alan Brandon

15:11 June 17, 2009 PDT

Has affordable, practical home wind power generation become a reality? The Honeywell Windgate wind turbine from EarthTronics looks like it could be a contender. Developers EarthTronics and Honeywell Corp hope the Windgate wind turbine will help meet the energy needs of homeowners and businesses, even if they are not located in prime “windy” areas. EarthTronics says the 6-foot wide, 95-pound Windgate can start to spin in breezes as low as 2mph and can create more power with less wind than other types of wind turbines. Read More

Green projects take off at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

By David Greig

19:37 May 13, 2009 PDT

Airports are windy places and it seems logical to harness this power to reduce operating costs and boost green credentials. In line with this, the environmentally minded Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) has recently installed 10 wind-powered electricity generators and purchased an electric-powered utility vehicle for use at the airport. Read More

Smarter wind technology looks to improve turbine workrate

By Karen Sprey

18:20 May 10, 2009 PDT

Clean, renewable energy is freely available – in the form of wind, sun and water. However, harnessing it reliably and cost-effectively remains a barrier. Wind power is one of the fastest growing alternative energy markets and researchers at Purdue University and Sandia National Laboratories in West Lafayette, Indiana, are working to make wind turbines more efficient, reliable and resilient. Read More

Wind Powered car sets new world record at 126mph

By Paul Evans

19:17 March 29, 2009 PDT

With a wind speed of just 30mph (48kmh), British engineer Richard Jenkins has set a new land speed record for a wind-powered vehicle at blistering 126.1mph. Driving the Ecotricity sponsored all carbon fiber land yacht Greenbird across the Ivanpah dry lake bed on the Nevada / California border Jenkins eclipsed the previous benchmark set a decade ago by American Bob Schumacher by almost 10 mph. It also continued a the rivalry between Britain and the United States for setting speed records that dates to the 1920s, when Sir Malcolm Campbell set several records on land and sea. Read More

Lithium Ion Battery breakthrough promises 100-fold boost in performance

By Paul Evans

05:42 March 16, 2009 PDT

Researchers have developed a new advanced Lithium Ion battery that will allow mobile phone and laptop computers to be fully charged in seconds. Electric car batteries may be charged in as little as five minutes, removing one of the main barriers to wider uptake of EVs. Solar and wind power generation could also benefit as better batteries could be used to store surplus energy. Read More

Spain sets new wind power record supplying 40% of total demand

By Paul Evans

01:30 March 12, 2009 PDT

Wind Turbines in the north west of Spain set a new record for power generation on March 5th as gales blew across the country, with more than 40% of the country's energy needs being generated by wind turbines. The new record stands at a peak of 11,180 megawatts (11.18 GW) of electricity supply beating the previous record of 10,032 megawatts. The percentage of demand supplied depends on time of day as demand rises and falls throughout the day. Read More

Magenn floating wind generators take advantage of high altitude winds

By Loz Blain

16:15 February 26, 2009 PST

Wind power is notoriously flighty, particularly at ground level. Most turbine-on-a-post wind powered generators operate at around 20-40% of their rated generation capacity, simply because wind is intermittent and changes direction. But a generator situated 500-1000 feet above ground level would enjoy much more consistent strong wind - which is why the Magenn MARS system makes so much sense. It's a helium-filled rotating airship that spins in the wind on the end of a variable-length tether that also acts as a power transmitter, and it's expected to operate at more like 50% of its rated capacity. Each MARS system will be cheap and portable, which will make them extremely useful in rural, camping and emergency situations. A prototype has successfully been flown in North Carolina. A great idea that makes economic sense. Read More

Febot uses wind power to recharge batteries

By Karen Sprey

15:08 February 23, 2009 PST

We're always on the lookout for new, ‘greener’ ways of saving or renewing energy. South Korean designers Ji-yun Kim, Soon-young Yang and Hwan-ju Jeon have developed the Febot, a small, easily-assembled portable battery charger concept that harnesses the power of the wind rather than using electricity. Place a rechargeable battery inside the Febot and stick it on the outside of a window or wall, or any other outdoor surface, using the suction cap at the base of the unit. Read More

Wave and wind power hybrid for off shore wind farms

By Paul Evans

23:48 February 9, 2009 PST

Bringing together the benefits of two eco-friendly forms of power generation, Scottish company Green Ocean Energy has developed a wave power machine that attaches to an offshore wind turbine. The system, known as the Wave Treader, comprises two 20 m (66ft) long floats molded from GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) at ocean level attached to a wind turbine tower by 50 m (165 ft) long pivoting beams. As the floats move up and down in response to constant wave action, the arms move hydraulic cylinders attached to the beams by levers, which in turn spins a hydraulic motor connected directly to an electric generator. Read More

Windspire: low cost, small footprint wind power alternative

By Darren Quick

01:17 January 29, 2009 PST

While wind turbines are a clean, green way to generate power, they can be a bit of an eyesore and require quite a bit of room meaning, more often than not, they need to be located in sparsely populated areas far from where the generated power is actually needed. We’ve looked at AeroVironment’s innovative urban solution as well as StatoilHydro’s HyWind. Now a look at another innovative product - Windspire. The Windspire, from Reno, Nevada based Mariah Power, combats the large footprint problem by employing a propeller-free design that makes it ideal for rural, suburban, and even some urban residential environments. Read More

Africa's largest wind farm to be built in Ethiopia

By Emily Clark

00:15 October 27, 2008 PDT

With its nation in need of additional energy resources, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEEPC) has announced it will build Africa's largest wind farm - a 120MW facility to be based in Ashegoba in the country’s north. Read More

French skyscaper puts focus on renewable energy

By Noel McKeegan

22:42 October 19, 2008 PDT

Extensive use of solar and wind power plus a healthy dose of CO2 munching foliage will mark the slim, 318 meter tall Generali Tower when it becomes a fixture of the Parisian skyline from 2012. The design from Valode & Pistre was selected in an international competition and will form a key plank in the nine year plan to revamp the La Défense business district first announced by the Public Body for the development of La Défense (EPAD) in 2005. Read More

Student develops low-cost wind turbine for the developing world

By Emily Clark

04:08 August 21, 2008 PDT

A student from the University of Portsmouth in the UK has created a wind turbine made totally from recycled matter. Aimed at servicing the renewable energy needs of some of the word’s poorest countries, the low cost wind turbine is designed to be built by unskilled workers in less than a day using locally sourced scrap materials. Read More

Burj Al-Taqa: self-sufficient skyscraper design

By Noel McKeegan

03:22 June 5, 2008 PDT

This concept eco-skyscraper from German-based architects Gerber Architekten combines traditional building ventilation techniques with the ability to generate 100% of its energy needs using wind and solar power. And the likely location for the "Burj Al-Taqa" or "Energy Tower” - you guessed it - Dubai. Read More

StatoilHydro to build 2.3MW offshore floating wind turbine

By Emily Clark

00:35 May 27, 2008 PDT

The world desperately needs viable sources of renewable energy and wind power is among the most promising solutions, but one downside is that turbines can be considered a blight on otherwise picturesque landscapes. The solution seems obvious enough - move the towers far out to sea where not only are they out of sight, but where the wind is at its strongest and most consistent. We first encountered this idea back in 2006 when we examined the efforts of MIT researchers to integrate a turbine with a floating platform similar to those used by offshore oil rigs. Now news that Norwegian oil and gas company StatoilHydro plans to invest around US$80 million to build a full scale offshore floating wind turbine. Read More

World's largest offshore wind farm

By Noel McKeegan

05:18 May 15, 2008 PDT

May 15, 2008 Texas based engineering and construction giant Fluor Corporation has been engaged to to design and construct the 500 megawatt (MW) Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. Read More

AeroVironment awarded patents for wind-power system

By Emily Clark

20:40 April 13, 2008 PDT

April 14, 2008 A name familiar to Gizmag readers through its achievements in the field of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, AeroVironment is also a developer of efficient electric energy systems, an area in which it has been awarded a series of patents relating to its "Architectural Wind® Building-Integrated Energy Generation System" - a system which takes a new approach to harnessing wind power using low-profile turbines designed to maximize electricity generation by taking advantage of the way wind flows over certain types of buildings. Read More

Bumpy whale fins set to spark a revolution in aerodynamics

By Loz Blain

19:43 March 20, 2008 PDT

March 21, 2008 It seems despite man's endless ingenuity and the incredible modeling power available to inventors through CAD systems, we keep looking to nature to find ever more effective ways of doing things. Millions of years of evolution's trial and error approach have resulted in some incredibly effective designs that are ready to be incorporated into human constructions if we can only identify, understand and replicate them. The random-looking bumps on the humpback whale's flippers have just inspired a breakthrough in aerodynamic design that seems likely to dramatically increase the efficiency and performance of wind turbines, fans, flippers and even wings and airfoils. WhalePower's tubercle technology seems like nothing less than a revolution in fluid dynamics. Read More

Largest wind power transmission project in U.S. underway

By Emily Clark

17:49 March 11, 2008 PDT

March 12, 2008 Generating power from clean energy sources is one thing, but green energy still needs to find its way to the consumer. In a boost for the State's wind power transmission infrastructure, California’s biggest electric utility Southern California Edison (SCE), has begun construction of the largest project of its type in the United States. Once complete, the project will have the capacity to transmit 4,500 megawatts of electricity from wind farms and other generating companies in the State. Read More

Energy Island: unlocking the potential of the ocean as a renewable power source

By Kyle Sherer

15:23 January 28, 2008 PST

January 29, 2008 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion uses the temperature difference between surface and deep-sea water to generate electricity – and though it has an efficiency of just 1-3% - researchers believe an OTEC power plant could deliver up to 250MW of clean power, equivalent to one eighth of a large nuclear power plant, or one quarter of an average fossil fuel power plant. Architect and engineer Dominic Michaelis and his son Alex, along with Trevor Cooper-Chadwick of Southampton University are developing the concept with plans of putting the theory to the test on an unprecedented scale by building a floating, hexagonal Energy Island that will harness energy from OTEC, as well as from winds, sea currents, waves, and the sun. Read More

Wind power blows into Texas

By Emily Clark

20:25 November 6, 2007 PST

November 7, 2007 Known for oil and gas production, Texas seems an unlikely leader in the field of wind power. Construction has begun on the new Stanton Wind farm in Texas, USA that will employ 80 1.5-megawatt wind turbines and commence operation by April 2008. Read More

Magnetic levitation promises huge efficiency gains in wind power generation

By Loz Blain

21:51 July 30, 2007 PDT

July 31, 2007 Sustainable generation of electric power is the key to realizing the vision of a world free from dependency on fossil fuels – the challenge is to ramp up the production of electricity to a level that can begin to approach the energy we get from burning coal and oil, without the perceived dangers of going nuclear. The combined threats of Peak Oil and global warming are spurring science into a furious new age of innovation. With almost daily breakthroughs in solar energy capture, battery technology and tidal energy harvesting, but the biggest contribution to green power thus far is coming from wind farming. The common windmill design used to capitalize on air currents, while centuries old, operates at around 1% efficiency in terms of the power it harvests from the wind, due to the deflective blade design and friction losses. But a new technology unveiled last year in China seeks to dramatically boost the output of wind-driven generators by using the virtually frictionless advantages of magnetically levitated turbines. Since there’s virtually no touching of moving parts, the Maglev wind turbine requires far less servicing than a traditional windmill – which dramatically lowers the operating costs to under five U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. If projections are accurate, giant 1-gigawatt versions of these machines could have a 12-month ROI - a scenario sure to catch the eye of investors worldwide. Read More

Wind-powered mobile phone charger

By Noel McKeegan

July 5, 2007 The problem of keeping your mobile phone fully charged when miles away from a conventional electricity source is being tackled by UK wind turbine specialists, Gotwind. The Orange wind charger prototype is a small, portable tent mounting mobile phone charger that uses stored kinetic energy to fully charge a mobile phone in up to two hours. Weighing only 150 grams, the wind generator may be a convenient answer for your next camping trip and adds another option to the growing number of ecologically friendly phone accessories such as solar powered phone chargers (which have limited functionality at night and in colder climates) and wind-up units. Read More

Wind farm technology goes sonic

By Noel McKeegan

June 5, 2007 The pressing need for viable alternative energy sources that do more than just supplement coal fired power-stations is driving advances in the development of wind energy. One major hurdle in establishing successful wind farms is the difficulty in attaining accurate site evaluation data and it is this problem that the Triton Sonic Wind Profiler seeks to address. Designed to measure wind-speed at heights of up to 200m without the need for erecting costly and less effective masts, the wind profiler utilizes a technique known as Sodar (sound detection and ranging) that measures sound wave echoes in the atmosphere in a similar way to Sonar detection used by submarines underwater. Read More