Recently even more unconventional wind turbine designs have started to appear on the market. Vortex Bladeless has developed a prototype wind turbine with no blades. This concept flies in the face of the standard wind turbine model. If you thought that a helical wind turbine looked weird, how about a turbine that looks like a tall pipe or a cell phone tower?

We’ve all seen those Dyson fans that have no blades and wondered how they work, but a bladeless wind turbine seems even more counter-intuitive.

How does it work?

From a logical point of view, the Vortex Bladeless wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine because it stands vertically, and the axis is perpendicular to the air flow. However, rather than spin around, the “axis” oscillates to generate energy. Similar to the way a badly-designed bridge can collapse when it vibrates to a certain resonance frequency, the turbine oscillates when positioned in the wind stream.

Benefits

Bladeless wind turbines have fewer moving parts and require significantly less maintenance. This makes them ideal for more remote applications. Additionally, with no moving blades, they do not pose any threat to birds or their habitats. They operate silently and have a low visual profile, which helps reduce the impact to local resident NIMBYs. They are lightweight and can handle high winds, although haven’t been tested in extreme weather conditions yet.

Do these Bladeless Wind Turbines work?

As yet these turbines have not proven commercially viable, but the designer claims energy production at 30% of the cost of conventional wind turbines. Currently, the company has a small pilot wind turbine at the University of Salamanca, in Spain

Image credit Clean Technica

Wind turbines are supposed to be good for the environment. That’s the point, after all; by harnessing a natural, limitless resource, we can cut down on pollution and save the Earth’s forests for future generations. But despite the good intentions, there’s one unexpected side effect to the local ecosystem: the danger to birds.

Unexpected Collisions

Aside from the occasional airplane, birds are the undisputed masters of the skies. They fly unimpeded across long distances, travelling at fairly ridiculous speeds without worrying about traffic congestion or road blocks. Or at least, they did, until we decided to fill the sky with turbines.

The average turbine is about 140 feet high. For reference, that’s 14 standard basketball hoops stacked on top of each other, or a 10-14 story building. Each of these turbines has rotating blades, which can reach speeds of over 170 miles per hour. However, the scale of these turbines makes those blades look like they’re rotating fairly slow.

Now imagine you’re an eagle, flying through a wind farm. You see an opening, glide on through, only to have one of those blades clip your wing. Eagle, human, or elephant, anything going 170 mph is going to hurt, and cause a serious injury.

An estimated 570,000 birds are killed by turbines in the US each year, either by colliding head-on with a blade or simply getting blown off course. Some birds perch on the top of a turbine while the blades are still, and get to enjoy a deadly ride when that breeze pick up again.

Granted, collision injuries and deaths are nothing new to avians. Far more birds fall victim to an impact with a glass window in an office building. Still, this unintended impact on the environment is definitely something the industry is hoping to minimize.

Saving Birds Through Turbine Design

A surprisingly easy way to cut down on bird casualties is to switch to a vertical axis wind turbine. VAWTs are easier to avoid; imagine flying past a barber shop pole, versus flying around a giant fan. They are also far more difficult to perch on; even if a bird does decide to sit on the top, it isn’t in line of any whirring blades.

If that won’t work, you can try installing a sound system, much like those used by gardeners. Avian distress calls and unnatural noises will help birds vacate the area, and keep them away from the dangerous turbines. You can also find a way to make the turbines shiny; reflected light has a similar effect.

Another suggestion is to make the turbines more visible. An Energy Norway project dubbed INTACT is testing out the effect of brightly colored blades. White tends to blend in against clouds and the light blue sky. Black, bright green, or even red would be far easier for birds to register – although it might not be as appealing to the human eye. But for the sake of saving countless feathered lives, a few eyesores might be worth it.

Image credit Offshore Wind Development Coalition

Recently, the first prototype off-shore wind turbine in the US was launched off the coast of Maine. Off-shore wind energy holds a lot of promise – or at least, the companies participating in a recent ocean rights auction seem to think so. Deepwater Energy won development rights on a 165,000 acre piece of land for the sum of $3.8 million. That’s a hefty sum, but the company definitely thinks the price is worth it.

Offshore Wind Potential

Offshore farms are nothing new in the world of wind energy, but the US still doesn’t have one. The auctioned land, which is located off the coast of Rhode Island, is perfect for a wind farm; the steady breezes and lack of obstructions take care of any technical needs, while the distance from high-traffic areas takes care of the complaints that wind farms typically generate.

Of course, offshore projects in the US have been attempted before. Bluewater Wind, a project run by NRG energy, was put on an indefinite hold in 2012. Cape Wind is still in the financing stage, and doesn’t project that they’ll have the funding they need until 2015. Even the images of turbines on their site are just artists representation.

One large problem is actually constructing turbines out on the water. There are two main options: make the turbine float, or find a way to build it from the ocean floor. If you’re close to land, the second option works just fine; but this makes the idea of getting turbines away from residential areas a moot point.

The difficulty isn’t just in the technical aspects; after all, there are countless wind farms in Europe already. The main difficulty is finding investors willing to finance these expensive and potentially risky projects. If Deepwater Energy has the funding they need to create a complete wind farm, they’ll be ahead of the curve – in the United States, at least.

How Will the Land be Used?

Right now, Deepwater Energy has the rights to the land, but there’s a time limit. The company has 4 years to come up with a plan and set it in motion. Basically, they’ve got a rather expensive reservation. If they do something with it, they’ll get to keep the land and the profits from it. But if they fail to develop it, rights will likely be passed onto another hopeful company.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which ran the auction, will be holding another on September 4th. The goal is to encourage the development of clean energy; by creating competitive auctions and placing a time limit on the lease, companies are incentive to complete their research as quickly and effectively as possible. With any luck, we’ll be seeing offshore turbines within the next 5 years, although it may take longer.

If the project is successful, the United States will finally catch up to Europe in the use of cleaner and cheaper energy. The land purchased by Deepwater Energy could power over a million homes, if used correctly. Keep an eye on the coasts; they’ll be dotted with turbines in no time.