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Innovative wind turbine uses wind generated by air conditioning to produce electricity. Learn how this technology can revolutionize energy consumption in urban and residential environments!
What if the wind generated by the air conditioning system could be used to produce electrical energy? This is the proposal of a group of researchers from National University of Distance Education of Madrid, who developed an innovative concept using artificial wind produced by heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to drive a wind turbine and generate electricity.
Published in the journal Nature, the study explores a sustainable solution that could reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint.
How wind turbine technology works with air conditioning
HVAC systems are widely used in buildings and consume large amounts of energy. These systems typically have an external fan that dissipates heat and moves air. It is this wind that Spanish researchers plan to take advantage of.
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The team installed small vertical turbines in the HVAC systems of a data center in Colombia, allowing artificial wind from the fans to turn the turbines and produce power.
These experiment HVAC systems contain Liebert HPC-M chillers, each with eight 480 V EC-FAN fans operating at 900 RPM. To capture the energy potential, the researchers installed 9 kW V7 model wind turbines from the company Tesup, in the systems.
Energy performance: Producing more than you consume
The result was surprising: the turbines generated about 467,6 megawatt-hours of energy per year, while the annual consumption of the HVAC system was 336,39 megawatt-hours.
This means that the system produced more energy than it consumed over the course of a year. This surplus can be used to power other data center equipment or even be injected into the electrical grid.
Economic and environmental advantages
The initial cost of the project was $123.101, including the purchase of the turbines and installation costs. With a 20-year lifespan and an annual maintenance cost of around $1.109, the investment should pay for itself after the third year of operation.
Additionally, it is estimated that the technology can reduce data center CO₂ emissions by up to 300 tons per year, making a significant contribution to sustainability.
In addition to reducing energy consumption and the emission of polluting gases, the use of this technology on a large scale could transform the air conditioning sector into a source of renewable energy.
Air conditioning energy consumption
The use of air conditioning has a significant impact on electricity consumption, especially in countries with climate hot climates or densely populated urban areas. These devices, responsible for controlling the temperature and humidity of environments, are large consumers of energy, representing around 30% of total consumption in residential and commercial buildings.
In large complexes, such as data centers and hospitals, where constant cooling is essential, air conditioning costs become even more significant, increasing expenses and contributing to a greater demand for electricity.
This high energy demand, in addition to weighing on energy bills, is directly related to the increase in carbon dioxide emissions, since a large part of the world's electricity still comes from non-renewable sources.
Solutions such as more efficient HVAC systems and new technologies, such as the use of wind turbines in conjunction with air conditioning, are promising alternatives that aim to reduce environmental impact without compromising the comfort and safety of users.
This story of producing more energy than it consumes is obscure.
How much power does this device have? If it wastes enough energy to be used as a generator, the power would have to be less than 0,5. Does anyone still use something like this?
Probably because it can capture energy from the wind coming from the environment in addition to that generated by the air conditioning.
I am wary of these studies that develop something miraculous. It seems more like they want to sell the fish to the market and get a return and profit from the expenses and time spent on the research. In particular, producing more energy than it uses is the principle of infinite energy, which is absurd at the moment. If that were the case, all you would have to do is turn on the air conditioning system and disconnect it from the power grid, and you would have an air conditioning system with zero energy costs.
No, no, no, I had proposed this before them. It's on one of my Facebook accounts, published 3 years ago.
No, no, no, I had proposed this before them. It's on one of my Facebook accounts, post from 3 years ago
This so-called “perpetual motion machine” is physically impossible. So either the information is wrong or incomplete.