The Green Optimistic

Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and Samsung C&T have signed a contract to build a new $6 billion renewable power plant complex in a small village near Toronto in southern Ontario.

It’s almost two years since I first wrote about Flodesign’s Jet Engine-like wind turbine, and, at that time, I was saying it was 4 times more efficient than any regular wind turbine used today. Now it’s good news to hear that they grew up, and their plans pass on from theory to practice.

The researchers from Riso DTU completed the first test on a wind turbine with a laser-based anemometer built into the spinner to increase electricity generation.

The leaves of the tree are connected to a vertical-axis wind turbine. Every leaf has a grouping of high-efficiency photovoltaic solar cells that transmit electricity down the tree’s core. The solar cells are connected from the upper turbine to the trunk through wireless energy transfer by induction.

In standard wind turbines, the blades turn a drive shaft which engages the gearbox. The gearbox is the most vulnerable part, as in wind blasts it has to withstand very high mechanical stress. In time, it will wear down or break some metal teeth making it in short time unusable.

Markus Mueller and Alasdair McDonald of the University of Edinburgh solved one of the fundamental engineering issues faced by builders of offshore wind turbines. They developed a new electric generator that is much cheaper, lighter and reliable than anything seen up to now in the industry.

CalTech scientists have discovered that arranging vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) in a certain pattern will save the space by 100 times compared to classic arrangements, will output the same amount of energy and will be safer for migrating birds.

While some green projects store the excess energy in a kinetic form, such as the fore-mentioned flywheels, others are inventing ways to use frozen water to collect surpluses from wind farms, which are more productive at night, when winds are stronger.

EarthSure, an innovator in alternative energy sources and renewable energy company is planning to develop a zero-emission electric vehicle powered by solar and wind energy. Called AirRay, the new car will be equipped with four wind turbines and a solar roof. All of these to generate necessary electricity to keep the batteries charged up.

A Virginia based company specialized in wind power called Catch the Wind Ltd. has deployed its first laser wind sensor on a buoy in Race Rocks Island, British Columbia, for an initial assessment of a new offshore wind power farm.

The CVT (continuously variable transmission) technology is already being used in hybrid cars, and now it enters the wind turbine industry. Texas-based Viryd Technologies, use CVTs to make the fluctuating wind speeds convert into a more efficient stream of AC current that will be fed to the grids.

Too often, regardless of the energy sources being used, the GSM transmission towers’ power fails, because of various reasons: theft, heavy rain/snow, disturbances in the grid lines. Helix, a San Diego-based wind company, is working on a wind turbine that is designed to power base stations in hard to reach, remote locations from Africa and the US.

The Manassas, Virginia-based Catch the Wind has signed an agreement with National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to test the company’s Vindicator laser wind sensor that automatically optimizes wind turbine direction to boost its output.

Africa’s most ambitious project of renewable energy will be the installation of 365 giant wind turbines around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. The project will be completed in 2012, when the £533m project will have a capacity of 300MW, a quarter of country’s current capacity.

Analyzing stability of hawks’ wings during high turbulent winds, danish scientists have come up with an idea to further develop turbine blades. The idea will be implemented in such a way so to reduce the impact of strong wings on the blades.

In the renewable energy field offshore wind farms are not a new concept and Europe has already made several developments in the technology, which promises better returns than onshore farms being built all over the world.

Some people have realized that our interference with the planet’s ecosystems is in most cases disastrous and have come with several ideas to diminish our influence on the environment. Industrial designer Chris Allen has come up with an idea to use plastic bottles that we usually throw away to help generate energy from wind.

In order to satisfy energy needs for people in the Upper Midwest of US, The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a green energy project. The green power superhighway(around 3,000 miles) will deliver energy to consumers in and around Chicago, Minneapolis and other load centers.

A Taiwanese company called Hi Energy Technology has brought onto market a new design of a vertical wind turbine which they intend to sell for home use.

Cargo boats are among the most polluting things on Earth after cars. Most of them have no emission control and do not obey regulations put in place only a few years ago. Because their value is huge and their profits are enormous, only unobtrusive green thinking can change the way they travel and pollute the air.