- Wind Tree, as we can guess from the name, is a wind turbine that looks like a tree. But, that is just a speck of this unconventional wind turbine’s definition.
- Noisy, Monstrous, Nauseous, giant, unpleasant, bird scaring are some of the properties that flash in our mind when we think about wind turbines.
- ‘Wind Tree’ can be defined by characteristics like silent, tiny, noiseless, pleasant, beautiful, green – not only in purpose but also in looks and possibly bird friendly. It tapped the main difference between an original tree and a wind turbine. What the leaves of a tree can do but not the blades of a large wind turbine – Being sensitive to light breezes. Just like leaves,Wind Tree’s blades are sensitive even to the light breezes.
- The wind turbine for your backyard: 26ft ‘Wind Tree’ uses tiny silent blades to generate electricity from light breezes
- The ‘Wind Tree’ uses tiny blades housed in the ‘leaves’ that turn in breezes
- A French firm is installing the first model at Place de la Concorde in Paris
- ‘Aeroleaves’ generate electricity in wind speeds as low as 4.5mph (7km/h)
- This can provide enough power to supply 15 street lamps or one electrical car for 10,168 miles (1,360km) over the course of a year
- Monstrous, noisy conventional wind turbines may soon be a thing of the past thanks to tree-shaped wind turbines being installed in Paris.
- What started out as a concept is now being turned into reality, with several being planned for the French capital.
- French company ‘New Wind’ is installing the first at Place de la Concorde in Paris and is hoping to expand throughout the country and abroad.
- The 26ft (8 metre) trees are fitted with 63 aeroleaves.
- Each one uses tiny blades inside the ‘leaves’ and can generate electricity in wind speeds as low as 4.5mph (7km/h), and regardless of the wind’s direction.
- A light breeze is classified as having a wind speed of between 4mph and 7mph on the Beaufort Scale.
- The company’s founder, Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, hopes the trees can be used to exploit small air currents flowing along buildings and streets, and could eventually be installed in people’s backgardens and urban centres.
- The power output of the tree is 3.1 kilowatts a year depending on the wind.
- The trees are also silent, so sound pollution would not be an issue – a major improvement from past designs.
- The trees currently retail at £23,500 ($33,670).
- ‘The idea came to me in a square where I saw the leaves tremble when there was not a breath of air,’ said Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, the founder of the Parisian start-up.
- Last year, after three years of research, the team of engineers developed a prototype and installed it in the Pleumeur-Bodou commune in Brittany in northwestern France.
Wind tree