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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.
I know this might be too serious a response, but given the city structure would it not be more efficient and indeed more appealing to hav the windmils between the buildings where the structures force the wind to flow in a given direction? Like micro turbines on traffic stops and cross walks. And what about placing them horizontally instead of vertically in between buildings? Health and safety nightmare but would be one hell of a sight.
Wasnt someone working on the rolling wind turbines for beside highways instead of the propellor style?
Great idea, but it won’t work anytime soon. The current generation of wind turbines has two problems that make application in urban areas difficult:
– They are directional and need to be facing the wind. Urban areas, especially with high-rise buildings like NYC, typically have locally frequently changing wind directions. The wind mills will be constantly adapting to the new direction of the wind and loose a lot of efficiency that way.
– These things make a lot of noise. NY will truly become the city that never sleeps, due to the low-frequency noise these things generate. I’m not sure whether Bloomberg has taken into account the health issues that may cause.
The idea of renewable energy is nice, but putting these windmills on top of buildings in an urban area seem stupid.
1. THE BUILDING CREATE THEIR own wind Tunnel affects..
2. some buildings create a small hurricane, winds around 40+mph..
3. SMALL turbines Up and down the sides wont hurt much.. and could generate most the POWEr the buildings USE…
Lame idea from a lame mayor. Nothing worse than a tree hugging butt Nazi.
I think it’s a great idea, but those skinny things have GOT to go! Get some designers in to style the things up a bit. DKNY maybe? Perry Ellis? Who?
Nice open mind peeps.
They won’t use that type of windmill anyway. They would most likely use a “vertical-axis” or eggbeater style.
http://www.pacwind.net/
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#5 – you expect more from folks whose idea of “acquiring knowledge” is to listen to politicians and economists?
Assuming that the technology exists to make this work, the environmentalists should be happy right? After all, all that matters is the environment, right? This feels very NIMBY.
Put em in Jersey, no one will give a damn. 😉
If this was built into new construction or remodels, it might have some merit.
http://bahrainwtc.com/
What’s so idiotic about it? If they can somehow incorporate it nicely into the architecture why not?
But i see many other places that should get them planted on before Manhattan. Yeah New Jersey is one of them. It might actually get prettier by doing so.
#5 – GRTak
Hey, if they’re good enough for the roof of Jay Leno’s garage
http://www.popularmechanics.com/greengarage
They should be good enough for NYC. They’d be good enough for ME, if somebody would underwrite the cost of installation.
Go for it !!!
#1, xr,
Modern turbines are not uni-directional. They do swivel.
I don’t live in NYC, nor am I a Republican, however use of the word “idiot” is not something I would tolerate from my 8 year old. Name calling is a cheap device used by bullies.
#3- I think the butt Nazi was Giuliani.
What, are those pointy-headed thinking people at it again?
Can’t they just sit back and watch the planet deteriorate? I mean, why even try to do anything?
A round of Brawndo(TM) for everyone!
Many things will need to be tried, tinkered with , and improved or abandoned as we move into the future. Energy, as it has always done, will control our destiny and determine the direction of our civilization. We need to start with the technology we have, determine it’s strengths and weaknesses (by employing it), enhance those strengths and ameliorate the weaknesses. Rejecting or abandoning today’s technology because it’s not perfect is simply foolishness. If the environmental movement had pushed for better, safer, cleaner, more efficient nuclear power plants 40 years ago, instead of the industries destruction, we’d very likely be driving electric cars today, with electricity produced by generation 4 nuclear plants with little or no waste and with a design which eliminated the possibility of a meltdown or other disaster.
I’d rather “ruin” the NYC skyline than ruin a beautiful rural countryside.
Put the power generation closer to where the energy is used. Cut the NIMBY crap.
XR.. for decades the devices have NOT been unidirectional. Cripes, are you thinking Holland windmills from 1650? And the modern large mills make almost no noise.
Seeing as how NYC is right next to an ocean it would seem like tidal power would be a real option.
@davidvanb
Some times you just have to call a spade a spade.
@1,4,5,10,11:
“The wind turbines that engineer Bil Becker installed on top of a Chicago apartment building last year probably don’t resemble the structures that pop into your head when you think “windmill.” Instead of propellers mounted on soaring poles, these turbines are made primarily with curved, galvanized steel shaped like the double helix of DNA placed horizontally. This special design means that they can generate renewable electricity in the densely-built urban environment, unlike their counterparts found twirling in the boonies….”
http://www.plentymag.com/features/2007/09/a_mighty_wind.php?display_results=1
@Editor: Please do not “tinyurlize” my link above. In my opinion URL carries information useful to the user which is obliterated by tinyurl (ex. source and type of the content linked,…)
@23: Tidal power is already in experimental use in NYC. One block and certain businesses are powered by the tidal turbines placed in the East River. Plans exist to expand that as well.
If the turbines were built out of a clear see-through material, they’d be close to invisible.
Whenever a politician (or anyone) talks about how great windmill power is, ask them how many they have in their back yard.
Being that I don’t live in NY this sounds like a great idea. No drawbacks other than aesthetic. I think there is probably an elegant solution. After all, the Aibo is cute, they can likely make good looking windmills.
“Whenever a politician (or anyone) talks about how great windmill power is, ask them how many they have in their back yard.”
If somebody else paid for a windmill in my backyard, I’d happily take it! Funny how were arguing about a 19th Century technology that worked so successfully for so long until cheap oil made it uneconomic. Now that economics and politics are making oil less desirable, we have to educate he public all over again.
#19, Paddy,
Gee, we agree on something. I guess that means you’re more than just a pretty face.
8)
#30, Geof,
If somebody else paid for a windmill in my backyard, I’d happily take it!
Good point, I’d agree except my yard is full of mature trees I just ain’t about to cut down.
With careful design this might be very useful. The energy available increases dramatically as you go higher.
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/engineer/facts/03-047f7.gif
A vertical rotor with some attention to beauty & noise abatement might be great.
Nothing more attractive than than low utility bills and clean air.