First we had windmills. Then wind turbines. Now it's time to meet the Windwheel.
Picture this:
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You're waking up in your beautiful new apartment, looking out on the canal it's situated upon. You sit at your kitchen counter with a cup of coffee, grab the stack of envelopes waiting to be opened, and peruse the invoices within to be paid. But one is missing.
It's the electricity bill.
You frantically search through your mail — and then you remember. You don't have an electricity bill. Because your new apartment is part of a giant circular "Windwheel" that not only generates enough power for your complex, but enough to power your whole town.
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Does a giant Windwheel you can live in sound like a fantasy? Well, it's actually closer than you think.
It's a plan that's so zany it just might work, and its itty-bitty prototype is expected to be easily scalable to the sizes required for the head trip we just went on to become a reality. And it could be ready to operate and live in within 10 years.
How does this Windwheel thing work?
Here's a glimpse of the concept from the Dutch Windwheel company and the Deft University of Technology. Mary Beth Griggs explains in Popular Science:
"Horizontal beams will stretch across the center of the Windwheel. Thousands of nozzles located along them will spray positively charged water molecules into the air. When wind pushes the droplets against the beams' high-voltage electric field, it will create a negative charge.
The negative charge will form a current as the electricity discharges, much like when the negative charge that builds up in thunderclouds discharges to the ground via lightning strike. The electricity will then be converted from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) for use in the Windwheel or storage in an industrial battery."
Or here's another way of looking at that.
We know we can harness energy through mechanical conversion via windmills and wind turbines, like so:
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But these Delft University of Technology geniuses wondered if they could get the energy without the mechanical part. (Short story — they can.)
"We wondered whether it is possible to produce energy from wind without the conversion via mechanical energy. It is! By letting the wind move charged particles against the direction of an electric field. How does that work? This is an electric field and a positively charged particle. This can be any object that can hold charge. For example, a ping pong ball. But for the EWICON, we use water droplets. The electric force of the field moves the particle toward the negative electrode. Now when we let the wind push the particle toward the positive electrode, the potential energy of the particle is increased — similar to pushing a rock up a mountain against gravity."
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They're already using this technology on a much smaller scale and looking to improve its efficiency. Researchers think that with funding and more work on the design, it can be ready to go, in an affordable way, in a decade. And they're betting that making it a design that actually provides housing — yes, actually being able to live in one of the magical Windwheels — is a win-win economically.
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Imagine going night-night in this place. Image from Dutch Windwheel.
It's also proposed, as shown in this diagram, that the Windwheel could have solar panels to enhance its energy production capacity.
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It's not clear if this technology could eventually be retrofitted to benefit existing apartment buildings, and we're a bit too far from the actuality to start putting in a rental application for the first Windwheel apartment just yet, but...
2025 is the projected year that the Windwheel could be up and running.
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And for people who are looking forward to seeing their electric bills go down (not to mention switching to cleaner energy), it won't be a moment too soon.
http://www.upworthy.com/first-we-had-windmills-then-wind-turbines-now-its-time-to-meet-the-windwheel
Rotating Wind Power Tower to begin construction in Dubai
by Mahesh Basantani, 06/09/2008(http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/twirlingtower1.jpg)
QuoteDubai has garnered much attention in recent years with a never-ending supply of architectural wonders being built, or proposed, at a head spinning pace. Mostly these towering structures are grand and tall, but some are also green. We've covered many an ambitious Dubai skyscraper scheme here at Inhabitat, including David Fisher's Rotating Tower, but there is new news from Fisher's Dynamic Architecture firm. This self-sufficient, sun and wind powered design is making headlines once again as the Italian-Israeli architect has just unveiled the latest design for his twirling tower, and construction is set to begin this month!
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QuoteThe Dynamic Architecture building has been aptly named Rotating Tower as the floors would be capable of rotating around a central axis. It will be continually in motion, changing shape and giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button. The form of the building would constantly change as each floor rotates separately giving a new view of the building as it turns. According to Fisher, the building ensures a very high resistance to earthquakes as each floor rotates independently.
The new tower is the first building of its size to produced in a factory. Each floor, made up of 12 individual units, complete with plumbing, electric connections, air conditioning, etc., will be fabricated in a factory. These modular units will be fitted on the concrete core or spine of the building at the central tower.
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QuoteThe 59-floor building will be powered entirely by sun and wind energy. And, the architect claims that the building will generate 10 times more energy than required to power it, thus making it a positive energy building. Solar panels will be fitted on the roof to harness sunlight, and a total of 48 wind turbines will be sandwiched between the rotating floors, placed so that they are practically invisible. Each wind turbine could produce up to 0.3 megawatt of electricity, and it is estimated that 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy would be generated every year.
Construction is going to start soon, with an official launch later this month, and plans are also afoot to build a similar tower in Moscow.
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http://inhabitat.com/rotating-wind-powered-tower-to-begin-construction-in-dubai/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY0Uuyf8Xhw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY0Uuyf8Xhw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biNVTsaeCc4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biNVTsaeCc4
ANARA TOWER: Dubai's Titanic Turbine-Shaped Superstructure
by Mike Chino, 11/03/2008(http://imgfave-herokuapp-com.global.ssl.fastly.net/image_cache/1375392004255200.jpg)
QuoteIt seems that hardly a week passes before Dubai's prospective skyline is updated with plans for yet another soaring skyscraper or incredible development. The latest world-class superstructure to grace the modern megopolis is Anara Tower, an ambitious project crowned with an eye-catching propeller-shaped peak. Designed by Atkins Designs Studio and Developed by Tameer Holding Investment, the 2,150 foot tall skyscraper will be aiming for LEED silver certification when construction begins next year.
(http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/anaratower234.jpg)
QuoteShaped like super-massive wind turbine, Anara Tower is a mixed-use high-rise that will features residences, offices, retail spaces, a hotel, and a world-class art gallery. The 125 story structure will incorporate sky gardens every 27 floors and will boast a luxury restaurant situated within the glossy glass capsule in the center of the tower's peak. Atkins Design Studio is aiming to maximize the skyscraper's efficiency by incorporating water and energy efficiency strategies and potentially installing renewable sources of energy.
The Anara Tower website states: "Inspired by the vertical shape and representation of the Minaret, the antecedent of lighthouses and skyscrapers of today, the central aim behind the creation of Anara Tower is to produce a form that would be instantly recognizable on the local, regional, and architectural stage"
Construction is currently slated to begin at the end of 2009.
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http://inhabitat.com/anara-tower-by-atkins-design-studio/
Giant Eco-Egg Skyscraper: A Conceptual Luxury Hotel
by Haily Zaki, 03/12/09(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/37/36/47/3736471d39916e0d76773a83e688ca64.jpg)
QuoteFrom the unseen, unsung files of design competitions past comes the Envision Green Hotel designed by Richard Moreta Architecture (founded by a partner of GMZ-Design) with interiors by Miami-based MRA Design for Hospitality Design's Radical Innovation design competition. Part wind tower, part urban eco-resort, and all egg, this "lobular" structure is touted as one of the most recognizable landmarks for the city in which it would ultimately be...laid. Inhabitat leaves it up to you to decide whether this is an egg-cellent idea or something not quite fully hatched.
http://inhabitat.com/giant-eco-egg-skyscraper-a-conceptual-luxury-hotel/
Very Interesting additions you added here "Z".
What amazing design and technology it appears to be.
Looking at some of them, its a wonder that they have not been thought of before now.
They look some great ideas for use with Natural energy from the elements...
I wonder if they could so something similar installing similar structures in the sea to obtain the wave energy..
It will of great interest to see how much almost free energy that could be possible after the cost of producing such structures.