Urbines at Elephant & Castle
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 07.30.07
Urbines. That's what World Architecture News labels urban wind turbines; neat neologism.
Ben Coleman of Hamiltons Architects says that to optimise power, "integrate turbines into the design of tall buildings in such a way that the contours of the building envelope focus wind on to the turbine blades, much like the casing around a gas or water turbine." They are doing this at Castle house, a 43 storey, 408 unit apartment building at Elephant and Castle in Southwark, London. "Three 9m wind turbines integrated into the top of the building are expected to generate sufficient power to drive the energy efficient lighting to the building, an integral part of the sustainable credentials for the building as a whole."
Love that wind flow drawing.
::World Architecture News via ::Jetson Green
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Whats with the trend to build skyscrapers like the dark tower of sauron?
So how many birds do they imagine pulverizing through these giant turbines each day, week, year? I can just see the carcasses piling up on someones patio. A bit oogy don'tcha think?
I think these will pose less of a problem than the 450 to 500 foot industrial turbines slated for Western New York.
The proposed turbines will clear cut hundreds of acres and their guy wires and 250-300 foot rotors are more of a hazard to migratory birds, bats and insects.
That, plus ice throw and shadow flicker.... more hazards and health problems. (imagine life looking like an old time flickering movie...)
I think the urbines woiuld cause much less of a problem...
PLUS, they do not impose on farmland or scenic vistas. Tourism in rural areas is at stake with the industrial turbines....
Guy wires?? Clear cutting? 450-500 feet tall? What part of the wind power industry have you been studying??
280 feet is the tallest WTG that I've put up so far. They do not have any guy wires, they are free standing tubular structures that have no landing perches of any kind for birds to roost on. Clear cutting of what, a few acres of desert grassland? They don't get built in forests. The largest towers are only 18 feet in diameter at the base. I was on a 500+ WTG project for 3 years while my best friend was one of the Environmental Study Inspectors who walked 14 miles everyday in a GPS logged grid to check for any dead birds. In 3 years, she found 5 birds & 9 bats. The quail, chukker & pheasant population increased measurably because those birds like the additional shelter the tower bases provide. The rotors of todays WTG's turn at only 18 rpm. That's one revolution every 3.3 seconds. Any bird dumb enough to get "chopped up"in that needed to be eliminated from it's species. Wind power is one of the very cleanest energy supplies we have & yet I think nothing will ever be good enough for some folks.
If they shred a few dozen pigeons I'm all for them. Although, I'd hate to be the people on the top floors — they'll get the gut shower each time some bird goes slams into a turbine.
To be realistic, these turbines rarely, if ever, turn fast enough to shred anything. Very few city birds, including pigeons, fly as high as the urbines. Birds geting injured by turbines are more of a problem in coastal areas where the turbines are much lower to the ground. The chances of injury from an urbine are probable more akin to injury by jet plane -- which happens, but is very infrequent when you calculate the number of birds and planes that fly every day.
I understand that the bird mortality of just the building itself is more significant than that of any turbine (Urbine or freestanding). Nevermind the mortality of birds from fossil fuel plants....
I'm wondering what the noise level is like close to the turbines?
The previous comments regarding birds aren't going to be much of a problem as the only birds found in that part of London are plagues of seagulls ad pigeons ~ both a public hygeine threat.
Mary Poppins has a lot to answer for...
Birds? Let's get concerned with 3 birds dead a year and block every renewable energy project. Perhaps it's better a nuclear-poisoned-without-a-wing-bird or a black-coal-coloured-bird trying to fly away from pollution...