Turbines on car tops? ..Yes, we can!

A school kid threw an interesting question to the adults around: why can’t we have small turbines fitted to the roof tops of cars and buses? As the vehicle is moving, you have wind all the time. Won’t that generate enough energy for the vehicle at least?

The aesthetics apart, of cars that sprout horns, can anyone tell us if this is a feasible idea. If not, why?

After all, similar thinking has already seen some amount of ground action in terms of fitting solar panels to car roofs, not only to generate electricity, but eventually also to store the same into the grid from the parking slot where a stack of such vehicles can generate substantial power. Paris and some other European cities are working on that.

Innovative, and yet simple design changes are constantly being fed into the wind energy technology. The Swift turbine is a new ultra-light, ultra-quiet wind turbine that has begun showing up on rooftops, mostly of commercial installations. Swift Turbine's patented design has several advantages over traditional turbines. The costs, says the site, are almost on par with grid power. The design too is such that the dual tail on either side of the turbine keeps it facing into the wind, and also greatly reduces noise and vibration. While many wind turbines can roar in high winds, the Swift Turbine is whisper quiet, making it ideal for in-city use.

Large wind farms involve substantial costs and other problems like noise and potential harm to birds. But small scale projects show the way out.

Wind power is key technology to prevent dangerous climate change, was the message at the recent Global Wind Power Conference at Beijing. Wind power could produce 12% of the world’s energy needs and save 10 billion tones of CO2 within 12 years, according to a new report, the ‘Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008’, published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Greenpeace International, recently. By 2020, wind power could save as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 every year, which would add up to over 10 billion tonnes in this timeframe. The report also explains how wind energy can provide up to 30% of the world’s electricity by the middle of the century.

Moreover, wind energy is becoming a substantial factor in economic development, providing more than 350,000 ‘green collar’ jobs today both in direct and indirect employment. By 2020, this figure is projected to increase to over 2 million.

With Obama taking over reins in the White House very soon, it is expected that he will power a Green Deal in the US. Looking at alternative energy sources to secure energy independence, and mitigating climate change, it will create a host of green jobs and spur research in alternatives.

Can we hope for our government and research institutions to go on a similar Mission Mode? Yes, we can.. ??