Making the case for rooftop wind energy |
Anyone who has installed solar panels on a roof and had to take into account and engineer for the potential of a panel to act as a wing knows rooftops are windy places. A 2005 analysis, “The Feasibility of Building Mounted/Integrated Wind Turbines”, funded in part by the Carbon Trust of the UK, confirms a 180% velocity increase as wind tumbles over a rooftop or hillside. Even a modest 8mph breeze becomes a brisk 14mph wind on top of a roof, so it is no wonder more companies are developing rooftop turbines. Commercial and industrial locations, big box stores, shopping centers, schools, hospitals all consume huge amounts of power and possess acres and acres of wind-swept rooftop. As with solar, generating energy at the point of power consumption is the most efficient. No remote, long range, expensive, lossy utility distribution system is required nor the corresponding environmental footprint.
Historically the early industrial and residential power production and distribution models were not large scale, and did not require or envision state wide or regional private monopolies delivering essential energy services. Nor is it sustainable to do so. A March, 2009, National Geographic article notes that 2.2kwh are lost for every single kilowatt/hour used. Clean alternative energy technologies, such as wind power and solar, and in fact all energy production systems are capable of manufacture and delivery on small local scales. Commercial, industrial and residential building structures provide ideal site locations for correctly designed ducted fan type wind turbines, and/or for photovoltaic arrays. Unlike solar, wind has the potential, depending upon local wind resource, to produce power 24 hours a day. Aerodynamically, buildings function as concentrating collectors for wind. The wind cannot flow through the building but must move over and around it in higher velocity turbulent flows. If an aerodynamically correct ducted fan wind turbine is located in these velocity-accelerated flows electric power production is higher than for remote open fans associated with an electric grid. The TOTAL system efficiency, from both an integrated construction and instant point power delivery perspective is the highest possible. This video demonstrates how a small 24" fan produces enough airflow in a largeopen space to start and drive the V-LIM prototype*. *It should be noted the V-LIM is not running a generator during this demonstration. The proprietary relativistic generator does not produce any cogging but will offer some resistance thereby requiring a minimum 5mph wind to start. The outer blades are not affixed in this video but will augment, not impair performance. |
Commercial and residential buildings and structures have long been the largest consumers of energy resources in the world. The
