Windstalks: Window Power Without the Blades

OP - October 18, 2010, 01:37 PM

Pretty fucking awesome:

Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks. Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets them waving. The designers came up with the idea for the planned city Masdar, a 2.3-square-mile, automobile-free area being built outside of Abu Dhabi. Atelier DNA’s “Windstalk” project came in second in the Land Art Generator competition a contest sponsored by Madsar to identify the best work of art that generates renewable energy from a pool of international submissions.

The proposed design calls for 1,203 “stalks,” each 180-feet high with concrete bases that are between about 33- and 66-feet wide. The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge.

“The idea came from trying to find kinetic models in nature that could be tapped to produce energy,” explained Atelier DNA founding partner Darío Núñez-Ameni.

In the proposal for Masdar, the Windstalk wind farm spans 280,000 square feet. Based on rough estimates, said Núñez-Ameni the output would be comparable to that of a conventional wind farm covering the same area.

“Our system is very efficient in that there is no friction loss associated with more mechanical systems such as conventional wind turbines,” he said.

Read rest of article: http://news.discovery.com/tech/wind-power-without-the-blades.html

Re: Windstalks: Window Power Without the Blades

Reply #2 - October 18, 2010, 02:07 PM

Looks like a razor shaving commercial

So once again I'm left with the classic Irish man's dilemma, do I eat the potato or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
My political philosophy below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwGat4i8pJI&feature=g-vrec
Just kidding, here are some true heros
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTgvK6LQqA

Re: Windstalks: Window Power Without the Blades

Reply #4 - October 19, 2010, 10:25 AM

More than awesome. Think of the possibilities for genetic manipulation: fields of cereals that also generate electricity.

Religion is ignorance giftwrapped in lyricism.

Re: Windstalks: Window Power Without the Blades

Reply #6 - October 19, 2010, 03:04 PM

I can see my old office building on the background. dance

Seriulsy though, I think this is just outside dubai, not Abu Dhabi. You can see the Dubai skyline.

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

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Topic: Windstalks: Window Power Without the Blades

King Koopa

OP - October 18, 2010, 01:37 PM

Ishina

Reply #1 - October 18, 2010, 01:44 PM

deusvult

Reply #2 - October 18, 2010, 02:07 PM

Luthiel

Reply #3 - October 19, 2010, 04:06 AM

sojournerlumus

Reply #4 - October 19, 2010, 10:25 AM

Saif Rahman

Reply #5 - October 19, 2010, 12:08 PM

Faiz

Reply #6 - October 19, 2010, 03:04 PM

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