[DC83]

Company to put rooftop turbine to the test

January 17, 2008
The Hamilton Spectator

FLAMBOROUGH (Jan 17, 2008)
A plan to install 150 power-producing windmills on City of Hamilton buildings is beginning with a test turbine on the roof of the Hamilton Incubator of Technology on Innovation Drive at Clappison's Corners.

Cleanfield Energy of Ancaster, which has developed a vertical-axis windmill that resembles an egg beater rather than an airplane propeller, expects to put the unit into operation soon. Tony Verrelli, company president, says a funding application for the wind-energy showcase passed a screening by Sustainable Development Technology Canada and its second-stage submission is due next week.

Horizon Utilities has provided the city with a metering system that will compare the 3.5-kilowatt turbine's energy input and output and measure the business incubator's hourly electrical load. Verrelli said Cleanfield has set up a local parts supply chain for parts, with blades being built in Hamilton, shafts in Ancaster, arms in Mississauga, rooftop towers in Ancaster and electronic controls in Burlington.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/310757

[DC83]

Wow, what a great idea! Hopefully the test works out.
I'd love to see these on all buildings in the city eventually. Mixed with solar panels, these ideas could be a great solution to the enegery problems we have now.

I found the company's website: http://www.cleanfieldenergy.com/

[SteelTown]

There's two of those turbine at the roof of the Camco building, been there for awhile.

Well you are at it, notice all the Wifi boxes around the core? Anyone getting free internet yet?

[DC83]

^^ No! I think the border is like Hunter or something, so I'm just outside of the "wireless zone".

I haven't actually seen the boxes around the core? What do they look like? Are they smaller boxes with like 2 antenas coming out of them?
In Toronto's CBD, the wifi boxes look like beehives. It's kinda neat!

[SteelTown]

Boxes with antenas, there mostly on streetlights. There's one right at the top of the Central Library.

[DC83]

^^ Ok. I've seen them then. I think there's one at John/King that I've seen.

[SteelTown]

Lukey lives right in the core I wonder if he gets free internet, bastard! lol

[DC83]

so we're getting totally off-topic, but I found a pic of one

http://www.thespec.com/images/assets/413001_3.JPG
Ted Brellisford, the Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/article/300712

"The project is designed make wireless service available in the area between Victoria and Queen streets and Barton and Main streets."

[block43]

I've used the free wifi on my iPod touch. It works pretty well. Looses the signal in Jackson Square though.

[DC83]

I've used the free wifi on my iPod touch. It works pretty well. Looses the signal in Jackson Square though.

Ok, you've just convinced me to suck it up and buy the touch. Thanks A LOT, BLOCK43!!! hahaha

[the dude]

...just to get back to wind energy.

while we sit around talking about how dirty and awful china is, they're actually doing things to ease their burdon upon the environment...unlike us.

Guangdong, China

When the Guangdong Tobacco Company solicited proposals for a new headquarters last fall, the company asked architects to incorporate measures for sustainability. The Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) took the project as a challenge, submitting a design for a 300-meter tower that the firm says will require no net energy to operate. Known officially as the Guangdong Tobacco Tower, but informally called the Zero Energy Tower, SOM’s proposal is among three finalists. A winner is expected to be announced shortly.

"We have been doing a lot of research into energy efficiency for tall buildings," says Gordon Gill, an associate partner at SOM, who worked on the proposal with partner Adrian Smith and engineer Roger Frechette. "We felt this was an ideal opportunity to showcase how a large building could be designed to utilize energy harvested from the local environment."

The tower’s primary facade would face south to take advantage of prevailing winds from that direction, which would drive a series of building-integrated wind turbines located on two separate mechanical floors. The curved geometry of the facade was designed to maximize the power generated by the wind, says Frechette.

This south facade would also be double-glazed and mechanically ventilated, with integrated louvers that would adjust automatically to the sun’s angle and intensity. Ventilated air would be channeled through a passive dehumidification system to remove moisture. Frechette says despite Guangdong’s humid, subtropical climate, calculations showed such a system could be used successfully.

The tower has other energy-efficiency strategies as well. A unique geothermal system would be integrated into the tower’s caissons and connected to high-efficiency chillers that would reduce the size of the mechanical plant by about 30 percent. Radiant slab cooling on each floor would reduce energy used for cooling by 40 percent compared to a conventional HVAC system, say the designers. Underfloor displacement ventilation would further reduce cooling energy and provide improved indoor air quality. Perhaps more important, the improved ceiling heights achieved through these HVAC strategies would allow the architects to fit the building’s program into a tower several stories shorter than originally anticipated, which would shave operating and maintenance costs throughout the life of the building.

source: architectural record - china
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa121/the_dude1974/zero-energyofficetower.jpg