LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - West Texans are used to seeing wind turbines while driving down the road, but it would be a surprise to pass one in a major city.
“Those as you can see are big turbines. You can’t put those in suburban areas, urban areas,” Jeff Macon said. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Renewable wind energy is currently generated in rural areas. Bertrand Piccard, founder of Solar Impulse Foundation, says that’s what flower turbines are made to change.
“You can store them basically in your garden, on the side of the road, on the roof of factories,” Piccard said.
The Solar Impulse Foundation sees flower turbines as a way to create sustainable, reliable energy. Not only are tulip turbines small and mobile, they are quiet, and unlike wind turbines, harmless to birds. These turbines take advantage of the West Texas wind in all kinds of places.
“Energy is needed, renewable energy; wind and solar are two huge components of that. Flower turbines provide wind solutions by being vertical instead of horizontal,” Jeff Macon said.
Flower turbines come in different sizes to fit each desired energy need. Small turbines can be used to charge small devices traveling somewhere, medium turbines that look good can be put in homes; to provide quiet, safe, and meaningful energy at low cost.
Large turbines can be used in commercial and industrial operations, data centers and airports. Flower turbines are currently used in parts of Europe, but the Solar Impulse Foundation recognizes startups that are working to expand clean, affordable and renewable energy sources in places like West Texas.
“The fact that people don’t know about it, they don’t know that they can be so much more efficient, to pull these new solutions on the market and allow the startups to bloom and create jobs,” Bertrand Piccard said.
Jessica Biel Blade Copyright 2023 KCBD. All rights reserved.