It may look rude, but this vibrating wind turbine is producing clean energy
Nicknamed 'the Skybrator' by the internet, a bladeless wind turbine has been designed to generate energy from its vibrations alone.
Global wind power growth must triple over the next decade to achieve carbon neutrality, says the UN. But traditional wind turbines are struggling to meaningfully contribute to this goal.
They are widely criticised for being expensive, noisy and harming wildlife. However, the majority of these problems come down to the traditional windmill design that is dating back to the ninth century.
Spanish start-up Vortex Bladeless has decided to break with this tradition. The company came up with a bladeless design, which they call an environmentally friendly aerogenerator. The technology harnesses energy from the wind through oscillation.
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The pioneering start-up 'Vortex Bladeless' plans to reinvent wind power by forgoing the need for turbine towers, blades, and even wind. A curve-topped cylinder designed to oscillate in the wind and generate electricity from the vibration. This design has multiple advantages, such as allowing these slimmer windfarm designs in more crowded urban areas and also reducing the number of bird fatalities. Each turbine installed along a motorway could generate as much electricity as 20m2 of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, enough electricity to keep the streetlight on and help power the local energy grid.
The Norwegian state energy company 'Equinor' already named Vortex on a list of the 10 most exciting start-ups in the energy sector. It will also offer the firm development support through its tech accelerator program.
A brilliant design that can complement other green urban sources of energy as solar panels produce electricity during the day, while wind speeds tend to be higher at night. These new turbines are a useful local based system that can supply electricity to local immediate needs. However, there is still the essential requirement to change large-scale energy production from fossil fuel based systems to a clean energy supply, such as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which can generate huge amounts of electricity to the grid, in addition to green hydrogen and freshwater.
