The Tech That Could Fix One of Wind Power's Biggest Problems

Hello World’s Ashlee Vance paid a recent visit to Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik to see the next part of the green energy story. He found a start-up called Icewind that is building a new type of funky wind turbine designed to perform well in low-wind conditions but also to slow itself down in high-winds, preventing it from catching on fire or ripping apart.

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[coriscotupi]

The video failed to mention a major advantage of this type of turbine - it works with wind from any direction with no need for reorientation as wind shifts.

[RealEngineering]

This a poorly researched and misleading video. Showing a wind turbine on fire, and not adequately explaining what happened is criminal. Send science literate journalists for these kind of topics Bloomberg

[marvinkitfox]

These are Savonius type vertical turbines.
Disadvantages:
generates less than 50% the power from same wind area.
scales down quite well, but does *not* scale up very well. Largest practical size is MUCH smaller than conventional bladed rotors.
Handles low winds well. handles variable wind speed and direction VERY well. but gains no benefit at high wind speeds. at all!
Uses between 50% more to 4000% more material to construct, for a given wind area.

i.e.
They are *great* for near-the-ground small-power systems. Especially in inaccessible locations where maintenance is not a viable option.
And utterly useless for grid power generation.

[KBConsulting]

No real information in this video. Efficiency, capabilities not thing.

[TheSandkastenverbot]

Bloomberg sure didn't overwhelm us with technical details

[integza]

Oh, we are making a video about an energy solution? Let's not talk about efficiency, power, cost, applicability ...

[Maxime_K-G]

People don't understand, the idea isn't for these to replace convetional wind turbines. They function more like solar panels, you can make lot's of them and put them everywhere you need a little bit of power. Though I have to admit they mislead us a bit in the video comparing the turbines to big, conventional wind turbines, as though they would replace them. They only hinted at their real purpose by showing us the bus stop and weather station.

[batman]

“Bloomberg why did you replace our power grid with vertical wind turbines?”
“Well, they just look cool 😎”

[BoopShooBee]

Good idea. Small distributed power generation is more robust than large centralized systems that corporations prefer.

[MelindaGreen]

How does this design avoid the dangers of high winds? It's claimed in the video but not explained.

[wooderdsaunders]

How high above the ground can this be installed (minimum hight).?
What is it's power output and cost?

[Nikos]

How does it avoid overspinning? Why is this design efficient?

[TheBoomBoomRoomStLouis]

When I first got into wind energy as a hobby a few years ago, I thought people would be nicer. It seems everyone is so competitive and negative. Not these guys in the video, but example of comments below. I made my first wind turbine, (as a hobby as a novice, and for the fun of it) and people posted a lot of negative things. It was far from perfect. I would give it a 2 from 1-10, laugh, but it was my first try. People think they are going to reinvent something in the turbine biz, that no once else knows, so I feel it has created this weird negative environment. We are all working towards the same goal, and people who do these kinds of businesses, usually it is because they have a passion for it. If one has ideas on how to make things better, just give them the idea, don't brag about it. Don't make fun of them. I love the person out side of the kitchen, as the chef works 12 hours to make a great meal, they sit on the couch, take a bite and say, I could have done better. But the point is, you didn't do better because you didn't do anything. This guys has a business, a team, he is making an effort, and doing amazing. I love the design. And I am sure it is just going to get better. People, please, be nice, be kind, and keep it positive. Otherwise you are just advertising that you are not happy in your own life. And last, if you ever come to St. Louis Mo USA, please visit out 1920s speakeasy, dinner theater. The Boom Boom Room STL

[paullangford]

Savonius wind turbine has been around a long time: usually made from 44-gallon (US 55 gallon) drums cut in half...

[anywherewithphil]

The video never said how they solved one of wind turbines biggest problems!

[Iamtopcoach]

The power available to these is 50% of the profile cross section of the blade unit.
The power available to conventional turbines is 3.41 x the length of the blade squared.

These are fine for phone batteries, and a couple of LEDs.
They cannot provide serious power (not that conventional fans do either)
But be honest in reporting these things.

[hempev]

They must have pretty constant wind to be able to mount them so low. Usually, you have to put turbines high to avoid non-laminar airflow - the ground itself acts as a friction force, disrupting the energy, not to mention trees and houses.

[wheeler]

This video was not about why old style turbines catch fire, most of them are falling into disrepair anyway, but this is about progress like going from a buggy wheel to rubber tires. Hats off to the innovators, we should concern ourselves with 50 to 100 years down the road. Not worry about repairing old school.

[mrdman]

You didnt talk about the real breakthrough with this design. Having a propeller that works no matter what direction the wind is coming from. Thats huge.