They can be built with all kinds of materials and the barrier for entry is low for the beginner. Wind turbines are a great source of renewable energy, and a great DIY project, too. Instead of horizontally-situated blades arranged like spokes or flower petals, these turbines have vertical cylinders that collect wind by harnessing the Magnus effect.Д¬ontinue reading вЂњTyphoon-Tough Turbines Withstand Wild WindsвЂќ в†’ Posted in Engineering, Featured, green hacks, Original Art, Slider Tagged Magnus effect, turbine, typhoon, vertical axis wind turbine, wind power TheyвЂ™ve built a vertical axis wind turbine thatвЂ™s built to not only to withstand typhoon-level winds, itвЂ™s designed to make the most of them. Though they have been around for many years, they may have finally found their niche.ДЄ Japanese startup called Challenergy wants to face the challenge of typhoons head on. Unfortunately, the conventional three-bladed wind turbines you see dotting the plains canвЂ™t stand up to the awesome power of typhoons.

As long as the turbines themselves can stand up to the challenge, they can be used to power micro-grids when other delivery is knocked out. Wind power is the ideal solution where storms have come through and knocked out traditional power delivery all over a region. Studies have shown that these storms are gaining strength over the years, leading to more frequent disruption of existing power systems in those areas. Once the storms pass, they leave large swaths of lengthy power outages in their wake. Eastern and Southeast Asian countries are frequently under the threat of typhoons that bring strong, turbulent winds with them. In the meantime, there are also natural disasters to deal with, some of which are worsened by climate change.

And for the most part, weвЂ™re already doing that. You know, solar panels in sunny places, and wind turbines in windy places. While we definitely need to switch as much of the planet over to clean, green energy as soon as possible, the deployment should be strategic. ItвЂ™s really beginning to feel as though the problem of climate change is a huge boulder rolling down a steep hill, and we have the Sisyphean task of trying to reverse it.

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