Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumThe future of wind turbines could be bladeless
With their considerable height and large blades turning almost hypnotically, wind turbines have become an iconic symbol of the planet's shift to renewable sources of energy.
In Spain, however, one business is looking to design wind generators that produce renewable energy without blades.
"Our goal is to develop a new wind generator that minimize(s) the amount of mechanical elements to reduce the maintenance costs and
environmental impact," David Yanez, co-founder of Spanish business Vortex Bladeless, told CNBC's Sustainable Energy.
The design of Vortex's generators offers a potentially revolutionary shift from today's traditional designs, blades and all. One key facet of the Vortex design is that it uses less material than conventional turbines, meaning less maintenance as well as less noise.
More: (includes video) https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/29/the-future-of-wind-turbines-could-be-bladeless.html
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)wind speeds. I think bladed wind turbines are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
William Seger
(10,742 posts)I was annoyed that neither the article nor the video actually explained anything at all about the technology, so I did some searching and found several critical articles, such as: Bladeless Wind Turbine Reality Check
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Looks like they are playing with toys that require very controlled conditions; certainly not real world conditions where megawatt summed to gigawatt devices are required. Mechanical bladed wind turbines are here to stay.
William Seger
(10,742 posts)Here's one that does (and it's also critical): https://www.technologyreview.com/s/537721/bladeless-wind-turbines-may-offer-more-form-than-function/
pscot
(21,023 posts)OnlinePoker
(5,702 posts)I think it was part of a crowd-funding campaign. As you can see, the original vision was for something much larger. I can't see those little ones in the video above being able to generate a lot of electricity.