The wheel in the sky keeps on turning -- or at least it will if a Japanese renewable energy professor's "Wind Lens" turbine design is realized. Resembling giant white rims, these offshore turbines have the potential to produce up to three times as much energy as a standard offshore one.
Yuji Oyha, a professor of renewable energy dynamics and applied mechanics at Kyushu University in Japan, and his team presented their wild vision for wind power recently at the Yokohama Renewable Energy International Exhibition. The "Wind Lens" design is essentially a hoop roughly 360 feet in diameter -- a brimmed diffuser -- that functions like a magnifying glass. Blades turn quickly within the diffuser, so quickly that they could increase the energy output two or threefold, according to CNN International. One of these "lenses" should be able to power a household.
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Right now the design is still conceptual and there aren't any immediate plans to start making them commercially. But if any turbine design has serious merit, Oyha's does. Not only is the aesthetic much more attractive than conventional turbines, but if it truly can increase power output, that would mean a better cost-benefit ratio.
The best part is that higher speeds inside the efficient diffusers mean less of a chance that wildlife could get spliced by the blades. Bat conservation expert Ed Arnett once told me he found that higher cut-in speeds reduced kill rates.
Better output and fewer downsides make Wind Lenses look like winners all around.
Image: Yuji Ohya's wind lens turbine design, which was shown recently at the Yokohama Renewable Energy International Exhibition in Yokohama, Japan. Credit: Yuji Ohya.
Tags: Alternative Power Sources, Energy, Green Tech, Renewable Energy, Wind Power
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