Wind Trees – How Eco-Innovators Are Branching Out

With renewable energy technologies becoming more prevalent in our day-to-day lives, eco-innovators are continually developing new methods of bringing green energy into our homes. The latest development has come from New World Wind, pioneer of the ‘Aeroleaf’ technology. [1].

New World Wind have created ‘wind trees’, comprising of micro turbines designed to look like trees. Luc Eric Krief, owner of New World Wind, claims, “as it is biomorphic, people cannot see at the first look that it is a renewable system”[…] “There is no visual pollution and we can install a bench around the tree for people to sit on”. The metal trees consist of branches topped with the micro turbines to mimic leaves and are between five and 10 metres tall.

Energy Yield – Are They efficient?

The trees are not connected to the national grid and supply energy directly to the building’s electrical system. One leaf is predicted to be capable of producing up to 1,000 kWh per year and each tree is made up of 36 leaves, producing up to 36,000 kWh annually, at a speed of 12 m/s. 

On average, based on regular conditions, it is anticipated that 18,000 kWh per year would be produced by the tree, which is enough to power a four person household. Project Solar UK, a 4kW home solar power system can produce up to 3,000kWh of electricity per year, approximately six times less than the wind tree.

The reason behind such a high output is the technology used within the trees. The wind trees are able to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, compared to only daylight hours (roughly 10am to 4pm) for solar panel systems. 

Embracing Other Aspects of Green Energy

Taking the product one step further, New World Wind have created a hybrid option that features solar panel ‘petals’ beneath the turbine. The design theme remains with the petals adding to the tree like structure, and the product is able to exploit both the sun and wind for optimum green energy yield. [3]

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References

[1] https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/11/12/could-wind-trees-with-micro-turbines-be-a-solution-to-green-energy-in-tight-urban-spaces

[2] https://www.renewableinstitute.org/wind-trees-a-new-solution-to-green-energy-production/ 

[3] https://www.newworldwind.com/aeroleaf-technology 

Thumbnail image accreditation: Victor (May 2019) on Unsplash.com. Last accessed on 21 November 2023. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/building-covered-in-plants-0NJ9urGXrIg