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Chloe
11-09-2013, 06:18 PM
This is really pretty cool in my opinion and shows how we can't keep thinking in limited and pessimistic ways when it comes to replacing fossil fuels with clean, renewable sources.

I especially like this one below since it acts like tall grass catching the wind and is completely safe for birds.

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Windstalk bladeless turbine
Can there be such a thing as a turbine without blades? That's the idea behind Atelier DNA's "Windstalk" design (http://atelierdna.com/masdarwindstalk/), a bladeless turbine that looks more like a giant cattail swaying in the wind than it does a windmill. Electricity is generated each time the wind sets the windstalks a-waving. The principal advantages over traditional designs is that the Windstalk produces little noise and is bird-and-bat safe, since there are no spinning parts. It also has a strong aesthetic appeal. You can imagine yourself becoming mesmerized by a field of these turbines dancing in the breeze.

Each stalk is 180 feet high, so a group of these will make an impression. You can investigate more about these turbines at Atelier DNA (http://atelierdna.com/tag/wind/), and look into more of this laboratory's other innovative designs.

There is more to wind technology than the standard turbine that everybody is so used to seeing.

Here is the link for the other 8

9 ingenious wind turbine designs: Hard to believe they work | MNN - Mother Nature Network (http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/photos/9-ingenious-wind-turbine-designs/hard-to-believe-they-work)

KC
11-09-2013, 06:44 PM
That is very cool. I'd like to see some of the Windstalk bladeless turbines in person.

Dr. Who
11-09-2013, 06:57 PM
It is oddly reminiscent of the material they use at my office building to keep the pigeons from nesting at the tops of the ledges. I can see the utility however. No moving parts, so it is a truly passive method of capturing energy.

GrassrootsConservative
11-09-2013, 07:06 PM
You mean I can no longer use the phrase "Bird-killing wind turbines" to jab at environmentalist nutjobs? :angry:

Chloe
11-09-2013, 08:14 PM
You mean I can no longer use the phrase "Bird-killing wind turbines" to jab at environmentalist nutjobs? :angry:

That would be a yes :)

Chloe
11-09-2013, 08:16 PM
Here is another design

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Nano Vent-Skin
When it comes to meeting large-scale wind energy demands, most people think big. Designer Agustin Otegui, on the other hand, thinks small — nano small. He has come up with the ingenious idea of creating a fabric-like "skin" made of thousands of tiny interwoven micro-turbines. As wind blows across the surface of this "skin," the mini-turbines spin. Collectively they have the power to collect a lot of energy.

The biggest advantage to this design is that these turbines can be placed almost anywhere: on the surface of buildings, as lining for gusty highway tunnels, even on the shafts of larger traditional wind turbines.

You can read more, and see more images, atOtegui's Nano Vent-Skin blog (http://nanoventskin.blogspot.com/).

Chloe
11-09-2013, 08:18 PM
How amazing does this wind dam look

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Wind dam
You've heard of hydroelectric dams, but have you heard of a wind dam? That's the imaginative idea behind this "sail turbine" design (http://chetwoods.com/our-investments/the-wind-damn-russia/) by Chetwoods Architects. This giant sail, which is designed for a windy mountain gorge near Northern Russia’s Lake Ladoga, acts as a dam, funneling the wind through a central turbine. With traditional turbines, more wind passes around the rotors than through them. But this inefficiency is solved if the wind is collected and dammed within a giant sail.

This design also passes the aesthetic test — a difficult task given that its proposed placement is in such a spectacular, unblemished landscape.

GrassrootsConservative
11-09-2013, 08:21 PM
I think the nano vent skin or whatever it was was the coolest looking on there, and most universally-compatible as well.

Dr. Who
11-09-2013, 08:28 PM
Here is another design

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Nano Vent-Skin


When it comes to meeting large-scale wind energy demands, most people think big. Designer Agustin Otegui, on the other hand, thinks small — nano small. He has come up with the ingenious idea of creating a fabric-like "skin" made of thousands of tiny interwoven micro-turbines. As wind blows across the surface of this "skin," the mini-turbines spin. Collectively they have the power to collect a lot of energy.

The biggest advantage to this design is that these turbines can be placed almost anywhere: on the surface of buildings, as lining for gusty highway tunnels, even on the shafts of larger traditional wind turbines.

You can read more, and see more images, atOtegui's Nano Vent-Skin blog (http://nanoventskin.blogspot.com/).
That is pretty amazing Chloe. I love the fact that it draws from nature.

Green Arrow
11-09-2013, 08:34 PM
I personally love the Nano Vent-Skin type.

Chloe
11-09-2013, 08:37 PM
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