Urban Wind Energy

✍ Scribed by Sinisa Stankovic, Neil Campbell, Alan Harries

• Publisher: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 200
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Energy security, rising energy prices (oil, gas, electricity), 'peak oil', environmental pollution, nuclear energy, climate change and sustainable living are hot topics across the globe. Meanwhile, abundant and perpetual wind resources offer opportunities, via recent technological developments, to provide part of the solution to address these key issues. The rapid growth of large-scale wind farm installations has now led to the generation of clean electricity for tens of millions of homes around the world. However, despite the potential to reduce the losses and costs associated with transmission and to use local wind acceleration techniques to improve energy yields, the potential for urban wind energy has yet to be realised. Although there is increasing public interest, the uptake of urban wind energy in suitable areas has been slow. This is in part due to a lack of understanding of key issues such as: available wind resources; technology integration; planning processes (include assessment of environmental impacts and public safety due to close proximity to people and property); energy consumption in buildings versus energy production from turbines; economics (including grants, subsidies, maintenance); and the effect of complex urban windscapes on performance. Urban Wind Energy attempts to illuminate these areas, addressing common concerns highlighting pitfalls, offering real world examples and providing a framework to assess viability in energy, environmental and economic terms. It is a comprehensive guide to urban wind energy for architects, engineers, planners, developers, investors, policy-makers, manufacturers and students as well as community organisations and home-owners interested in generating their own clean electricity.

✦ Table of Contents

Authors......Page 4
Introduction......Page 5
Untitled......Page 7
Part 1 Wind Energy in Context......Page 11
Introduction : Energy energy energy…......Page 12
Wind energy and global energy supply......Page 13
Overview......Page 15
What role should nuclear energy play in the future of energy supply?......Page 17
Are decentralized energy networks viable?......Page 18
How much energy can a turbine generate?......Page 19
Can the wind resource be relied upon for a secure energy source?......Page 22
Are wind turbines reliable?......Page 23
Can wind turbines be economical?......Page 24
What are the impacts of climate change?......Page 27
How dependent is climate change on man-made CO2?......Page 28
Is nuclear energy a low carbon emitter?......Page 30
How much carbon does the energy from one wind turbine save?......Page 31
Are the impacts of turbines too small to be considered worthwhile?......Page 33
Shouldn’t money be spent on other things?......Page 34
Can we afford renewable energy and sustainability when economies are slow?......Page 37
Summary......Page 38
References......Page 41
Part 2 Urban Wind Energy Potential......Page 43
Introduction: Where there's a wind there's a way: Design options and opportunities......Page 44
1) Small wind energy: Retrofitting and building-mounted wind turbines......Page 47
2) Large wind energy: Stand-alone wind turbines......Page 55
Ford Estate in Dagenham, UK......Page 58
Antrim Area Hospital Wind Turbine, Northern Ireland......Page 59
Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, USA......Page 60
3) Building-integrated wind turbines......Page 61
Energy yields – a potential concern?......Page 63
Value of investment – a potential concern?......Page 65
Percentage of energy demand – a potential concern?......Page 67
Building-integrated turbine design examples......Page 68
4) The future of urban wind energy......Page 71
Where are we today? A model for the future......Page 72
Emerging technological innovations......Page 74
Summary......Page 76
References......Page 78
Part 3 Urban Wind Energy Feasibility Study......Page 79
Introduction: Initial investigations, decision-making and the feasibility study......Page 80
1) Project aims......Page 81
2) Initial wind resource estimation and site study......Page 82
Macro-scale wind speeds......Page 85
Micro-scale wind speeds......Page 87
What, where and when to assess?......Page 90
3) Environmental impacts and suitable/available technologies......Page 95
Public safety......Page 96
Visual effects......Page 98
Noise......Page 100
Shadow flicker and blade-reflected light......Page 106
Electromagnetic interference (EMI)......Page 109
Biodiversity and birds......Page 110
Property values/house prices......Page 111
4) Economic aspects......Page 113
Simple predicted payback assessment......Page 115
NPV equation......Page 117
Grants and fund-raising......Page 119
Summary......Page 121
References......Page 123
Part 4 Turbine Technology......Page 125
Introduction: Design practicalities......Page 126
HAWT vs VAWT......Page 127
Lift vs drag......Page 128
Gearbox and direct-drive......Page 131
Permanent magnets and electromagnets......Page 132
Coefficient of performance for differing number of blades and tip speed ratios (TSR)......Page 133
Coefficient of performance and wind speed......Page 136
Active blade pitch control (also called ‘feathering’ or ‘furling’)......Page 137
Lightning protection......Page 139
5) Tower design......Page 140
How high should a tower be?......Page 141
Erecting towers on building roofs......Page 143
6) Grid connection......Page 144
7) Sourcing equipment......Page 146
Wind class......Page 147
Sourcing for building-integrated turbines......Page 148
8) Wind energy yield enhancement techniques......Page 150
Wind acceleration and turbine siting......Page 151
Summary......Page 152
References......Page 154
Part 5 Building-Integrated Wind Turbines......Page 155
Introduction: Powerful architecture......Page 156
1) General guidelines for building-integrated wind turbines......Page 157
A) On top of building......Page 160
C) Concentrator on top of rounded building......Page 161
E) Circular concentrator within a building façade......Page 162
G) Between multiple building forms......Page 163
2) Wind directionality and building orientation......Page 164
3) Predicting energy yields from turbines integrated into shrouds within tall buildings......Page 167
Visual impacts......Page 177
Safety and turbine suspension......Page 178
Noise Emission of building-integrated turbines......Page 180
Simulation of noise emission and propagation from a prototype......Page 182
Architectural integration and organization of space......Page 185
Planning and the effect of local buildings on turbine performance......Page 186
Summary......Page 188
References......Page 190
Conclusions......Page 191
Appendix 1: Turbine manufacturers......Page 195
Acronyms and abbreviations......Page 197
Index......Page 198

✦ Subjects

Топливно-энергетический комплекс;Ветроэнергетика;