Designer Joe Doucet has designed a windbreak fence that could help produce clean energy in cities.
Doucet’s system features a twisted vertical wind turbine that resembles the helix of DNA or a fusilli noodle, according to Twist Engineering. The designers had a long road to settling on the design, initially coming up with 16 different turbine blade designs before narrowing it down to the top three, which they tested in their facility and ultimately determined the helix design was the best.
According to IE, each unit designed by Doucet will measure approximately 14 feet by 7 feet and will be constructed using 80 percent recycled materials.
A standard wind fence setup has eight blades, generating a total of 2,200 kilowatt-hours of energy per outlet per year. Based on the Energy Information Administration’s estimates of the average household demand, a total of five standard wind fences (or a total of 40 blades) would allow the average American home to be completely self-powered, with no reliance on the power grid.
This also means that one windbreak can produce around 20% of the electricity an average home uses each year.
Doucet first introduced the windbreak fence idea with his company Airriva in 2021. The company could start installing custom pilots as soon as this year, with the first commercial orders likely coming next year.
Clean energy such as wind power is essential to minimizing the overheating of the planet because burning polluting energy sources produces alarming amounts of toxic gases that pollute the environment. Other breakthroughs in wind technology are aimed at bladeless rooftop turbines, turbines that float on water, and giant turbines that can withstand typhoons.
Doucet’s system is unique in the wind industry because it can be installed in smaller buildings, such as real estate agencies and businesses. Other wind infrastructure tends to take up much more space. This allows smaller buildings to install distributed energy generation, similar to recent investments in solar panels.
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