1. Wind Energy Educators’ Workshop
This slide show is a basic outline. We often make changes to this template depending on the time and location of the event.
The Kidwind Project and WindWise

2. What is KidWind?
The KidWind Project is a team of teachers, students, engineers and practitioners exploring the science behind wind energy in classrooms around the US. 
Our goal is to introduce as many people as possible to the elegance of wind power through hands-on science activities which are challenging, engaging and teach basic science principles.
KidWind Project |
KidWind Project |

3. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
Wind Power
Yesterday & Today
Key Issues
The Wind Resource
Technology
Wind in the Classroom
Resources & Opportunities
KidWind Project |

4. Yesterday & Today Holland & Colonial America
First documented windmill: Afghanistan (900AD)
Greece
First windmills were found in Persia. They were vertical axis and were used to grind grains and seeds. Reeds form blades. They were kind of like a waterwheel turned on its side. Most of the paddles were covered by a wall and wind would run through a narrow opening to push the blades. Many have seen the Dutch windmills.
Used to grind grains, seeds, pump water, saw lumber…these were fairly sophisticated devices. Used to cover much of New England coastline.

5. Water pumpers were (and still are) a common site on farms in the Midwest and West. These devices pump water into a pond or cistern when it is windy and can be used at any time. Notice the blades on this device and compare them to electrical generating wind turbines are they the same or different?

6. Smith-Putnam Turbine Vermont, 1940's
Jacobs Turbine –
Smith-Putnam Turbine Vermont, 1940's
WinCharger –
1930s – 40s
In 1888, Charles F. Brush invented a large wind turbine which created electricity. This enormous windmill produced enough electricity for about 10 homes. Brush’s invention was soon adapted and copied all over the world. Electricity generating wind turbines spread throughout Europe in the early 1900’s, and they soon appeared in the United States as well. In the 1930s Marcellus Jacobs producing an affordable small turbine called the Jacobs that provided electricity for homes and farms throughout rural America. However, these small American turbines faded away with the widespread installation of power lines through the end of the 1930s.

7. Modern Small Wind Turbines:
50 kW
10 kW
Technically Advanced
Minimal Moving Parts
Very Low Maintenance Requirements
Proven: ~ 5,000 On-Grid
American Companies are the Market and Technology Leaders
400 W
900 W
When teachers build their Basic PVC Turbines they are more like a small wind turbine, simple direct drive systems.
Emphasize high RPM…these things spin fast RPM.
Many of these are sent to villages offshore as they can provide power for an entire village…here in the US is hard to justify the cost for one household. $$ on small wind turbines 10K-100K
(Not to scale)

8. Various small HAWTs
1. Southwest Skystream
2. Bergey
3. ARE (now Xzeres)
Check out

9. Orientation
Turbines can be categorized into two overarching classes based on the orientation of the rotor Vertical Axis Horizontal Axis
Turbine can spin on a vertical axis or a horizontal axis

10. Vertical Axis Turbines
Advantages
Omnidirectional
Accepts wind from any angle
Components can be mounted at ground level
Ease of service
Lighter weight towers
Can theoretically use less materials to capture the same amount of wind
Disadvantages
Rotors generally near ground where wind poorer
Centrifugal force stresses blades & components
Poor self-starting capabilities
Requires support at top of turbine rotor
Requires entire rotor to be removed to replace bearings
Overall poor performance and reliability/less efficient
Have never been commercially successful (large scale)
Windspire
See testing on early Mariah Windspire at NREL – test was discontinued due to failures.
Spire seen swaying in the wind. Beware “Hope & hype” hucksters
Savonious

11. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
Rotors are usually Up-wind of tower
Some machines have down-wind rotors, but only commercially available ones are small turbines
Proven, viable technology
Ask what is upwind and what is downwind.
Explain how small turbines can turn into or away from wind with

12. Large Wind Turbines 450’ base to blade Each blade 112’
Span greater than 747
163+ tons total
Foundation 20+ feet deep
Rated at 1.5 – 5 megawatt
Supply at least 350 homes

13. At right – world’s largest turbine Enercon E-126 near Emden, Germany 6MW to be adjusted to 7+ Over 20,000,000 kW produced – enough to power 5000 European families of four

14. Wind Turbine Perspective
Workers
Blade
112’ long
Nacelle
56 tons
Tower
3 sections

15. Turbines Being Tested
One “ballast” model is being tested right now off the coast of Norway. Search “hywind” for some cool info and images.
Commercial application of this technology is still a long way off…
Imagine one of these in a 10 year storm event. Yikes!

16. Wind Energy is a Growing Industry
50% growth rate!
US total installed wind energy capacity now over 43,635 MW as of Sept 2011 per WindPoweringAmerica.com
Enough electricity to power the equivalent of over 7 million households!

17. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org

18. US Capacity is Growing in fits and starts

19. Wind Energy Industry Growth
1979: 40 cents/kWh
2000:
4 - 6 cents/kWh
NSP 107 MW Lake Benton wind farm
4 cents/kWh (unsubsidized)
Increased Turbine Size
R&D Advances
Manufacturing Improvements
The rapid growth in wind power can be attributed to two things….reduction in cost of the electricity produced and more interested in Green Power.
I usually ask people here what they pay for their electricity by kwh….typical # are 7-20 cents. Wind has come way down in terms of cost over the last 40 years. The cheapest power out there is coal and wind cannot compete with that…Natural Gas and coal are comparable. The costs for wind listed above are the wholesale rate…do not include transmission etc.
On this slide I often ask the crowd how we generate most of our electrical power in the US.
Coal 50%
Nuclear 20%
Natural Gas 17%
Hydro 7%
Oil 3%
Renewables 3% Wind less than 1%
2004:
3 – 4.5 cents/kWh

20. Wind Farm in the MidWest.
Farmers and landowners are paid by wind developers to lease land for turbines. Not a bad cash crop!

21. Wind Farms

22. Off-Shore Wind Farms
Many developers would like to move windfarms offshore because the wind are faster, smoother and they can be close to major population centers on the coast. This is very controversial in the US….we have a few planned offshore farms…CapeWind and Long Island…but nothing installed.
Major complaints about offshore are related visual impact, navigation impact and lack of history.
Check

23. Middelgrunden
There are quiet a few offshore wind farms in Europe near Holland, England, Ireland, Sweden and the Denmark.
This one is off the coast of Copehagen.

24. Key Issues

25. Fighting windmills has a long history!
Don Quixote fighting “Giants”

26. Costs & Benefits
We also need to change students perceptions about what the future may look like and the limits of this technology.
Wind will never be “base load” for the grid. The wind farm above is capable of generating 15-20Mw of electricity at full capacity. The oil fired facility below is at 300Mw. Most Nuclear plants are at Mw…
Must keep the scale in mind….a very aggressive wind program can generate 10-20% of our power needs. To move towards a green future we are going to need mix of sources and also a great deal of energy efficiency….Wind cannot do it all.

27. Where do we get our electricity?
KidWind Project | 27

28. What’s in Common Here? Nitrous oxides, sulfur oxides
leading to sulfuric and nitric acid formation
Toxic heavy metals including mercury, arsenic and others
Volatile organic compounds
Surface ozone pollution
Soot particles
Hydrocarbons
Greenhouse gases

29. And linked to… Asthma & breathing troubles
Cancer & other health problems
Damaged lakes and forest ecosystems
Damaged monuments
Injury to trees and other plants
Injury to animals
Haze, smog and poor visibility
Oil spills
Poisoned water supplies
Strip mined mountains
Conflict among people

30. Burning fossil fuels contributes to many serious issues impacting our health, environment, society and security …including global warming
4 in 10 adults cannot name a fossil fuel.
6 in 10 adults cannot name a renewable energy source.
-Public Agenda
Pass around coal

31. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org

32. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
Accidents & Troubles
“So far no evacuation zone has been declared. There are no threats to sea life, and the fallout from the disaster was not detectable thousands of miles away. Cleanup efforts are in progress, and will not include covering the area in a giant concrete dome. No workers have been asked to give their lives in order to save their countrymen from the menace of this fallen wind turbine.”
– Christopher Mims
KidWind Project |

33. 1980’s California Wind Farm Older Technology + Higher RPMs
+ Lower Elevations
+ Lattice Towers
+ Poorly Sited
= Bad News!
Altamont Pass Wind Farm in California…
This wind farm was built in the 1980’s. Without doing an Environmental Impact Assessment, they built the wind farm in a raptor migration path. This wind farm had a major problem with avian mortality, and scarred the industry.
Today this farm is being repowered. This means they are taking down the old turbines and replacing them with new. With one new turbine, they can replace 10 old turbines. Still poorly sited, but this is an improvement.

34. In the November-December Audubon Magazine, John Flicker, President of National Audubon Society, wrote a column stating that Audubon "strongly supports wind power as a clean alternative energy source," pointing to the link between global warming and the birds and other wildlife that scientist say it will kill.
National Audubon Society endorses wind power…

35. It is a common complaint that wind turbines kill birds
It is a common complaint that wind turbines kill birds. While it is true that turbines kill birds, this graph puts that in perspective with other human technologies.

36. Impacts of Wind Power: Noise
Modern turbines are relatively quiet
Rule of thumb – stay about 3x hub-height away from houses
Many people think wind turbines are noisy.
While this may have been true in the past (it is still somewhat true on older smaller devices)…newer larger devices are much quieter.

37. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
Note the Wind Belt
KidWind Project |

38. The Transmission Challenge
Where is the wind?
Where are the population centers?
Where are the wind farms?
How do we get wind energy from the wind farms to the population centers?
Probably the largest issue facing Commercial Wind Energy is transmission. It is typically windy where people don’t want to live so how will you get the power from where it is generated to where the people live? Most people oppose new power line construction vehemently….so this will be a touchy issue for a very long time.
Quick Fact: 1 mile of High Voltage transmission line can cost upwards of $1 million!

40. Importance of Wind Speed
No other factor is more important to the amount of power available in the wind than the speed of the wind
Power is a cubic function of wind speed
V X V X V
20% increase in wind speed means 73% more power
Doubling wind speed means 8 times more power

41. Calculation of Wind Power
Power in the wind
Effect of swept area, A
Effect of wind speed, V
Effect of air density, 
Power in the Wind = ½ρAV3 R
This is the equation for the power in the wind. (Don’t fear – there are only 2 equations in this presentation.) Each of the terms in this equation can tell us a lot about wind turbines and how they work. Lets look at wind speed (V), swept area (A), and density (Greek letter “rho,” ) one at a time.
First, let’s look at wind speed, V. Because V is cubed in the equation, a small increase in V makes for a increase in power. (illustrated on next slide)
(Click on the links at the bottom to get the values of both k and .)
Swept Area: A = πR2 Area of the circle swept by the rotor (m2).

42. Why do wind turbines need to be high in the sky??
The higher we get the more faster and cleaner the wind are.
As you move closer to the earth the friction with the surface of the earth causes the wind to slow down and to become more turbulent…bad things if you want to generate energy from the wind. The nacelle of most commercial wind turbines is around 100 meters.

43. Turbulent wind is bad wind
“Micro-Siting” refers to how a wind turbine is placed on a given property.
Trees and buildings are significant obstacles to the wind.
We can’t see it, but the region of disturbed flow downwind of an obstacle is twice the height of that obstacle and quite long. For example, a 30-ft tall house creates a region of turbulence that is 60 ft high and 600 ft long (2 football fields!).
This turbulence reduces power output from a wind turbine, and increases the stress and wear on that turbine.
THE SOLUTION  Place the turbine upwind of obstacles (in the prevailing wind direction), or use a tower twice the height of the obstacles, or both.

44. Technology
Part of a turbine…all turbines from our little models to the biggest in the world have these parts.

45. A look inside.
Things to note as compared to Small Wind Turbines
Blades can be actively pitched by hydraulics. Spin at RPM --- much slower than a small wind turbine
Large driveshaft attached to a gearbox….must go from RPM to 1600 RPM for the generator.
Generator creates electricity.
Small Wind Turbines use vanes (typcally) to track the wind…they uses and anemometer and hydraulics to move the turbine.
Highly computerized and automated….senses conditions and can turn itself off if there is a problem.
Often connected by computers to one location and run from there.

46. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
The “guts” of a wind turbine
KidWind Project |

47. How does a generator generate electricity?

48. Airfoil Shape
Just like the wings of an airplane, wind turbine blades use the airfoil shape to create lift and maximize efficiency.
The Bernoulli Effect

49. Lift & Drag Forces
The Lift Force is perpendicular to the direction of motion. We want to make this force BIG.
The Drag Force is parallel to the direction of motion. We want to make this force small.
α = low
α = medium
<10 degrees
α = High
Stall!!

50. Pitch Control Mechanisms
KidWind Project |

51. Twist & Taper
Speed through the air of a point on the blade changes with distance from hub
To optimize angle of attack all along blade, it must twist from root to tip
Fast
Faster
Fastest

52. Tip-Speed Ratio ΩR TSR = V R Ω = rotational speed in radians /sec
Tip-speed ratio is the ratio of the speed of the rotating blade tip to the speed of the free stream wind.
There is an optimum angle of attack which creates the highest lift to drag ratio.
Because angle of attack is dependant on wind speed, there is an optimum tip-speed ratio R ΩR V
TSR =
Where,
Ω = rotational speed in radians /sec
R = Rotor Radius
V = Wind “Free Stream” Velocity

53. Performance Over Range of Tip Speed Ratios
Power Coefficient Varies with Tip Speed Ratio
Characterized by Cp vs Tip Speed Ratio Curve

54. Betz Limit
All wind power cannot be captured by rotor or air would be completely still behind rotor and not allow more wind to pass through.
Theoretical limit of rotor efficiency is 59%
Most modern wind turbines are in the 35 – 45% range

55. Rotor Solidity
Solidity is the ratio of total rotor planform area to total swept area
Low solidity (0.10) = high speed, low torque
High solidity (>0.80) = low speed, high torque R a A
Solidity = 3a/A

56. Over-Speed Protection During High Winds
Upward Furling: The rotor tilts back during high winds
Angle Governor: The rotor turns up and to one side

57. Yawing – Facing the Wind
Active Yaw (all medium & large turbines produced today, & some small turbines from Europe)
Anemometer on nacelle tells controller which way to point rotor into the wind
Yaw drive turns gears to point rotor into wind
Passive Yaw (Most small turbines)
Wind forces alone direct rotor
Tail vanes
Downwind turbines

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Maintenance
Now Hiring!
KidWind Project |

59. In addition to teaching about wind power because of it’s growth in the US I find it to be an elegant source of power as do students when they try to build their own spinning devices. Solar boring….just sits there;-)
I will often tell a story about the Research done by Smart Power
SmartPower research is based on the fact that studies continue to show consumers are willing to switch and pay more for renewable energy, yet there is minimal market activity to date. SmartPower wanted to understand what are the emotional barriers which prevent people from purchasing clean energy and what are the most powerful emotional hooks that could make clean energy important and desirable to the American public?
SmartPower brought together focus groups to explore how the public perceives current energy choices. Participants were charged to write an obituary. Respondents were asked to imagine fossil fuels on earth have died. Their task is to then to write an obituary including:
What was the cause of death?
What will it be remembered for?
Who will take its place?
Who will miss it?
They found that many people were far less critical of fossil fuels than you might have imagined. Many felt it was scary to imagine our world without fossil fuels.  While many participants clearly recognized the problems of pollution, health and energy independence, they see fossil fuels as a necessary evil because it can be relied on to power our world. They also did not know about reliable alternatives. While they were all comfortable discussing clean energy and know how it’s made -- they don’t see it as “being up to the job” and is viewed as “eccentric” with “kinks to work out.”
Next, they asked respondents to draw what their “clean energy” world would look like and to name their “worlds” and date them. The pictures reinforced the prior findings; fossil fuels are viewed as a necessary evil -- bad for health, bad for the environment, bad for national security. But at the end of the day, it keeps my house warm. Some other findings were that:
Clean energy is simply not seen as up to the job
Using clean energy would require sacrifices
Clean energy is just too far in the future to be useful now
As the obituaries and the drawings tell us we need to convince people that clean energy is strong enough to take the place of coal, oil and nuclear. They also found that we need to inform consumers that these sources are available and happening now. From this research came an advertising campaign that tries to convince people that clean energy is viable and available.
The slogans, ads and radio spots created by this research is called Clean Energy: Its Real. It’s Here. It’s Working. Let’s Make More. Now SmartPower is doing research to see if this campaign changes any peoples mind about renewable energy choices.

60. Wind Energy in the Classroom

61. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
Many Topics Addressed
Use of Simple Tools & Equipment
Forces Cause Change
Energy Transformations (Forms of Energy)
Circuits/Electricity/Magnetism
Weather Patterns
Renewable – Non Renewable Energy
KidWind Project |

62. Scientific & Engineering Practices New National Frameworks
Asking questions & defining problems
Developing & using models
Planning & carrying out investigations
Analyzing & interpreting data
Using mathematics & computational thinking
Developing explanations & designing solutions
Engaging in argument from evidence
Obtaining, evaluating & communicating information

63. Elementary Engineering is Elementary Wind Chimes Wind Art
Designing Simple Blades 63

64. Upper Elementary/Middle
Building Wind Turbines
Assessing Wind Resource
Mathematics
balloon
~3m
streamers
Kite or balloon string 64

66. Secondary Advanced Blade Design School Siting Projects Data Analysis
Mathematics -
Download lessons
Math lessons – free downloads on topics such as gear ratios, tip speed ratio & tower height estimation. 66

67. Wind Turbine Blade Challenge
Students perform experiments and design different wind turbine blades
Use simple wind turbine models
Test one variable while holding others constant
Record performance with a multimeter or other load device
Goals: Produce the most voltage, pump the most water, lift the most weight
Minimize Drag
Maximize LIFT
Harness the POWER of the wind!

68. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org

69. KidWind Project | www.kidwind.org
KidWind Opportunities & Resources
KidWind and Wind Wise Web Sites
Free Downloads -- Wind Wise – Math Lessons
NEW On-Line Turbine Design Competition
KidWind store – good prices: great stuff
KidWind Competitions
NEW Western Massachusetts Event May 5, 2012
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Download Wind Energy curriculum at
Individual lessons are FREE to download
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JOIN US!
Register On-Line at KidWind.
See link below:
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72. The KidWind Project www.kidwind.org Presenters: Susan Reyes
Science & Sustainability Educator
KidWind Wind Senator
Lynda Elie
NYSERDA - Energy & Sustainability Educator
KidWind - WindWise Curriculum Presenter