Artifacts

Wind Turbines – Traditional, Modern, and Unconventional Methods of Producing Power

This presentation contains the slides and visual aids used during a presentation in a Green Engineering Seminar course that I took.

Wind energy is a renewable energy source that when compared to other renewable energy sources, has a cheaper “buy-in” cost, pays itself off quicker, and can be installed by homeowners themselves. Some drawbacks are the difficulty of placement, as traditional designs don’t perform well in turbulent wind, the turbines require high maintenance on their many moving parts, and they produce a lot of noise.I studied this topic to shed more light on advancements in turbine technology, as well as to express how abundant the necessary wind speed is across the United States.

Some interesting things that I found from doing the research for this project is  there are windmill designs with solar panels embedded within the turbine blades, doubling as a wind and solar energy source. These are actually quite efficient, as well as easier to maintain than  it sounds. During high intensity sunlight, like during the summer, the winds tend to be not as intense. During the winter, when the solar panels don’t generate much electricity, the winds are generally 6-8mph faster, which is a large boost in energy production. Also, some “artistic” windmills can be made, specifically ones that look like glass trees with rotating leaves, with each individual leaf turning gears and applying force to generate power.

This process of connecting different journals, articles, and research into one synthesis project was very satisfying. I feel like I learned a lot from doing the project and from presenting to fellow Green Engineering students.