A Londoner architect has built up a project for producing wind energy and is supposed to be better than conventional wind turbines. According to Laurie Chetwood, founder of Chetwood Associates architectural company, the wind goes around the turbines rather than through its turbines.
Laurie’s idea consists of a wind dam which is attached to a giant turbine - the power is generated with the help of a spinnaker sail which traps high-speed winds. The wind dam should produce almost 120 megawatts, an amount enough for 35 homes. The concept is blamed by Stephen Conners, an expert in the matter from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative. He says that the dam will not support the pressure if the wind will blow from multiple directions which is going to create turbulences and the wind won’t make it to the turbine’s rotors.
Laurie is aware of this issues has come up with some solutions - the dam will have a conic shape that will reduce the turbulences and it should be built in areas where the wind comes from one direction. The project has already been financed by a Finnish company which has allocated $5 millions for a 17,000 square-foot Kevlar dam which will be anchored in a valley near Lake Ladoga in Russia. The project is expected to be completed by next year.
February 29th, 2008 at 5:50 am
[...] ALL TECHNO BLOG - Technology Blog wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt A Londoner architect has built up a project for producing wind energy and is supposed to be better than conventional wind turbines. According to Laurie Chetwood, founder of Chetwood Associates architectural company, the wind goes around the turbines rather than through its turbines. Laurie’s idea consists of a wind dam which is attached to a giant turbine - the power is generated with the help of a spinnaker sail which traps high-speed winds. The wind dam should produce almost 120 megawatts, [...]
February 29th, 2008 at 6:01 am
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
February 29th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
120 MW will be way more than enough for 35 homes. General rule of thumb is ~1-3 kW per home.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
$5 million for a 17,000 square-foot wind dam that powers 35 homes? Totally worth it.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
This is quite a poorly written article. Firstly, 120MW is enough for around 35000 homes not 35. Secondly, “The concept is blamed by Stephen Conners, an expert in the matter from…” The concept is blamed? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Or do you mean something like ‘The concept is refuted, or rubbished or something along those lines.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Interesting idea, but there are a few reasons why wind turbines generally don’t use these designs typically called “tunnels”. It’s not as effective in capturing winds as one would hope. Secondly, when it does work like its supposed to it would likely run too fast and brakes would have to be applied.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:58 am
[...] EcoFuss » The Wind Dam Could Be Better Than Wind Turbines A Londoner architect has built up a project for producing wind energy and is supposed to be better than conventional wind turbines. According to Laurie Chetwood, founder of Chetwood Associates architectural company, the wind goes around the turbines rather than through its turbines. [...]
March 1st, 2008 at 3:36 am
[...] Jain Categories: Surf Four Tags: amazing, energy, facts, open source, writer Wind Dam - To produce wind energy: A Londoner architect has built up a project for producing wind energy and is supposed to be better [...]
March 1st, 2008 at 5:39 am
[...] architectural company, the wind goes around the turbines rather than through its turbines. Sourse: The Wind Dam Could Be Better Than Wind Turbines You must be login to [...]
March 1st, 2008 at 10:21 am
It won’t work. If you think about a vertical cylinder of water and a funnel the same height filled with water, the pressure at the base is the same. You can’t extract much more work from the wind this way, there’ll be no increase in pressure. Google for “Bernouli’s equation”. (it’s the same reason you can’t *supercharge* your car by attaching a big funnel to the air intake to “pressurise” the air.)
March 1st, 2008 at 10:16 pm
it looks like underwear O.o
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
How do you deal with the orientation? Any wind shift will be a problem and the there is the beating itself to death problem when the sail luffs. I’ve done a lot of yacht racing in my life and I can’t see it being practical but I don’t have all the details. Anyone who has ever carried a sheet of plywood across a yard on a windy day will think twice about this. Maglev man myself.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:36 am
Cool stuff. This thing can change the future. Any one knows how solar concentrators and this compares ?
March 6th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Looks like a better use for this would be as a giant bird-blender, cuz I’m pretty sure that’s what it would turn into. Like setting a giant jet engine up in a migratory path. On the bright side, KFC’s productivity would be up 500 percent!
March 6th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
how big is it maybe it would make a great rotating roof.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
yeah like a ram jet engine on a stick
March 11th, 2008 at 7:18 am
power = force*velocity. Altho the pressure will be similar, the area is smaller, hence the force will be greater. this coupled with greater velocity will lead to greater power