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New York mayor wants windmills to generate power for city | guardian.co.uk
Could visitors to New York in 10 years’ time walk over the Brooklyn Bridge beneath gently whirring turbines, and gaze up at the Empire State Building topped by a giant windmill?
Michael Bloomberg has raised the possibility by calling for the city to become a major generator of renewable energy.
New York’s mayor wants to see the city wean itself from dependency on the conventional power grid by massive investment in wind, solar and wave energy. He opened the prospect of wind turbines being placed on bridges and skyscrapers, in a way that could transform the city’s iconic skyline.
As a symbol of the change he had in mind, he conjured up the vision of the Statue of Liberty “powered by an ocean wind farm”.
That would be a “thing of beauty” he said.
They could put a small one in the statue of liberty’s hand. Make it look like a pinwheel.
So now it has to be clean and preety or the enviro wacko’s are against it.
@ 33 GigG
You think it is the enviro wackos that are against it? I figured it was the people that are just generally opposed to it, opposing it by whatever means are available.
Look at the Prius and solar panels, clearly enviro wackos don’t need things to be pretty.
Pull this post John. As others have stated it would not be those kind of turbines.
Look at this for a pic and video.
http://www.metaefficient.com/renewable-power/rooftop-wind-turbines-ready-for-commercial-use.html
Saw something on this on the Science Channel. Pretty cool stuff, with minimal visual pollution. And this is coming from a conservative Republican.
“So now it has to be clean and preety or the enviro wacko’s are against it.”
Your spelling and punctuation expertise compel me to strongly consider your opinion.
@ 35 turbo63
Why should the post be pulled because the photo is misleading? Plenty of the photos on this site don’t represent the actual facts of the story. We can still discuss the story just fine.
Even John acknowledged that they wouldn’t look like that.
There are turbines, and there are Turbines. Some of them look quite smart and high tech. Not everything that generates power from the wind looks like the Photoshopped illustration that is obviously designed to spin the story negatively.
#12 noted the ones on Leno’s garage roof. Numerous other designs are available, too.
The essence: Capture power. Don’t waste it.
What part of that is worth misunderstanding?
Vertical turbines don’t look too much different then the standard antennae on top of sky scrapers currently.
#37 I think John should pull it becuase it makes him look stupid. It makes him look like he is against the plan becuase of the looks. Maybe he should just change the title.
Actually I think he changed the post from when I saw it. Below the article there was another snide remark I no longer see.
I don’t understand people who get worked up about windmills. I think they are pretty cool looking myself. I think it would be quite interesting to see a city full of windmills. Like drawings of “future cities” with bridges between the building and blimps it would seem kind of retro-futuristic
#32 “Gee, we agree on something. I guess that means you’re more than just a pretty face.”
My friends say I’m correct, like a clock… twice a day. 😉
#42 – Turbo
>>Actually I think he changed the post from
>>when I saw it. Below the article there was
>>another snide remark I no longer see.
Heh heh. Yeah, I thinks there’s a little bit of backpedaling going on. The Prodigious Prognosticator of All Things Tech can’t come off looking like a luddite now, you know?
Heh heh heh.
Well, the windmills might help eliminate some of the pigeon problem in NYC.
What a great way to ruin an impressive skyline. It would look like a cross between something out of Bladerunner and Waterworld.
Time to require that all buildings manufacture their own energy.
I’m afraid the picture may not be showing the right wind mills.
I’ve seen some recent pictures that look sort of like the blades on an old push mower that could be mounted at various locations without doing much to the skyline. Standing up or laying a few feet above the edge of a building; it does not matter.
They also don’t seem to care about wind direction and the rotation speed seems to be self controled.
They were designed by a guy who wanted to stick wind mills on city buildings.
Windmills are not all directional (sorry, xr) and are not all ugly.
These are neither:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/11/15/quiet-revolution-wind-turbine/
Plopping a windmill on top of an existing building will rarely ever enhance its visual appeal, because it doesn’t mesh with the buildings original design aesthetic. The building simply weren’t designed to look good with a windmill sitting on top. However, I think some of the windmill designs linked to in this thread have the potential to be really beautiful when integrated into new building design. There are a lot of exciting technologies available to architects nowadays. Hopefully they will begin implementing them soon.
I saw this one on SCI channel. Looks OK. They had just fired up the lower one for the documentary.
Bahrain
#51 – Mr. Jones
>>The building simply weren’t designed to look
>>good with a windmill sitting on top.
The buildings weren’t really designed to look good with cell phone towers, antennae, satellite dishes, radio shit and all the other crap they put on top either.
At least the windmills would be doing something good for humanity.
And who gives a shit what the building-tops in New Yawk Schitty look like anyway? If someone is looking for an aesthetically pleasing skyline, they’re going to run, not walk, away from NYC as fast as they can.
I hate people who complain about how ugly windmills are …like pollution is any prettier! Windmills sure beat Manhattan being under water after the continued effects of global warming. At least Manhattan will still be here.
Ow and before the you try to get me on the technicality:
These old mills had to be directed by ‘hand’… they didn’t point themselves into the wind.
@#23
Okay my earlier comment didn’t come through… so the short version again:
– John C., please show me where I said UNIdirectional? Read the entire bullet!
– go to google scholar and search ‘wind turbine sound’, or to snipurl.com/windmills (first hit), and then come again with your ‘modern large windmills make almost no noise’
– classic Dutch windmills could be pointed into the wind (I’m not sure whether the specific 1650 model could, but still), albeit ‘manually’
And for the record: I did know about vertical axis turbines, but hadn’t kept up with their efficiency development. Totally my bad there if they are of usable efficiency now…
Actually, I imagine that any building that goes up to a point would look pretty cool with a large vertical turbine on top, and the square ones would look cool with several on top. And this is cheap energy, in the end, and cheap energy=economic growth. Nothing is more beautiful than prosperity.
The idea of windmills on buildings is not the idea of an idiot. I had the same idea, but the present generation of windmills is not suitable, because the vibration of the windmills is transmitted to the buildings. I have developed a windmill that is much more suitable for placing on buildings. My windmill, the Appelmill, causes no vibration, and also causes no turbulence, so they can be placed close together. The Appelmill consists of a square frame in which a system of horizontal blades move vertically. I have been on Dutch national television with this windmill, and the video can still be watched on Google video : go to Google and enter these three words : “google video appelspade” and you can see the Appelmill, and also the Appelspade. Enjoy !
The video mentioned is no longer on Google. Try :
http://www.manbijthond.nl/fragmenten/uitvinder-nood