The Elegance of Stylish Wind Turbines: Wind Energy: Eco20/20

The Elegance of Stylish Wind Turbines

In The Windmill Longfellow wrote: "...And the wind, the wind in my sails, louder and louder roars. I stand here in my place with my foot on the rock below, and whichever way it may blow, I meet it face to face, as a brave man meets his foe."

If you don't feel strength and restfulness are inherent in the very essence of a windmill, you may be spinning your own world just a tad too hard and fast to see clearly. Take a moment to watch the patient, timeless treading of a windmill's blades and be centered, be lifted on breathless echoes of pinwheel laughter. Let images of wistful sentinels standing in forlorn duty catch your heartbeat.

Or, if simplicity and practicality don't beckon to you, take the moment anyway; use it to figure out what does uplift you, and pause to enjoy that instead. Meanwhile, for all who love windmills, we'll briefly notice new standards of style and elegance.

Vertical Axis

* The sweeping delicacy of the quietrevolution qr5 is reminiscent of a ribbon-twirler, but that doesn't hamper her hardworking nature. She's a durable treasure of the vertical axis family.

o Vertical axis windmills are those whose shafts are pointed to the sky and whose blades are spread in balletic grace to collect winds from every direction.

* Pictured on the home page of the Helix Wind website is their S549 turbine. It looms like a brooding stranger, when it stands alone; not exceptionally appealing at first glance. But in Chicago, (at a car-parking facility, of all odd places,) several curvaceous Helix Wind funnels were incorporated into a strong architectural design, where they proved to be perfectly suited to the role of mobile sculpture; while quietly doing their job.

o Also from Helix Wind, The D100 and D361 Darrieus vertical axis wind turbines have a sleek, futuristic look.

Horizontal Axis

* There will always be a special place in romantic hearts for Holland's traditional smock windmills, with their long sweeping sails. Fourth-generation millwright, Lucas Verbij, (of Verbij Hoogmade BV in the Netherlands,) designs, builds and restores these charming stylized windmills all over the world - including Japan and Little Chute, Wisconsin.

o You may be surprised to learn Holland's 'little' windmills average a hundred feet tall.

* The futuristic Loopwing, from Japan, is a small turbine aimed at private buyers. Its blade is loop-shaped, making it less noisy than the familiar propeller-type turbines; which at high speeds can develop 'tip-vortex' with a subsequent dramatic increase in noise.

This indisputably brief sampling was no more than a wisp of a visit. Other designer beauties are to be found on uncrossed paths. So, if you seek further, good hunting.

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