Harnessing Wind Energy Without Blades

Wind turbines are a large and growing source of energy but the turning blades have led to concerns about sound and impacts on bird populations. People have also complained that such wind turbines are an eye-sore. A new structure designed by Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo and installed at the Delft University of Technology convert wind to energy without any moving parts.

The new technological innovation was developed by the Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science faculty at Delft. It uses the movement of electrically charged water droplets to generate power.

The prototype of the EWICON (Electrostatic Wind Energy Converter) is not impacted by traditional wear and tear that limit the life of traditional blade based turbines. As such it requires very little maintenance. Further it makes no noise and casts no shadows.

The new bladeless technology has already been incorporated into the design of a project in Rotterdam.

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