As long as the wood is coming from sustainable sources this is a great idea. I'm a bit hesitant because I see first hand the effects of over logging and logging old growth forests everyday.
Those turbine blades could make for great park/bus benches if cut right. Or roofing tiles. Or as a replacement for plastic siding. They're strong enough to stand up to huge amounts of wind and weather, they'd make for great outdoor stuff like that.
I don't know how you could get the siding to reliably interlock in an easy to install way, but there definitely are plenty of uses if anyone bothered to repurpose them.
In Denmark they have actually recently been used to make bicycle shelters. But in truth they could be used for many other similar uses: Covered walkways, bus stop, children's playground etc.
I've been following the growing use of wood/wood composites in architecture for some time on YT channels such as B1M. I'm glad to see that it might play a role in wind towers as well.
My town is building a wind turbine farm right now, they are trucking the blades through town. It's pretty cool, and will finally make use of all the wind we get here on the Central Coast of California
Without having done any calculations it would seem possible to make the blades out of wood also . Having flown and worked on wooden sailplanes over (too) many years which are the most sophisticated wooden structures to date and compare reasonably well in weight to fiberglass wings (the first commercial fibreglass sailplanes were made by Glasflugel who previously made blades for cooling towers and the same designer Ulrich Hutter also designed the single bladed wind turbine 'cyclops' that was erected near Stuttgart in the 70s . I also worked nearby building fiberglass gliders for Schempp Hirth in 1973 - the year of the Yom Kippur war and the Arab oil embargo which stimulated 'alternative' energy schemes . wood is poor in compression but 'improved wood' impregnated under pressure with phenolic resin fills the hollow wood cells and much increases this --used in several of the last generastion of wooden gliders (eg Vogt Lo 150) it would also seem that external bracing could relief some of the blade root bending --a spar extending out from the 'spinner' and a single wire to mid blade (as some early windmills did ) great channel.
6:00 that "extremely recyclable materials" is a claim that needs to be proven. Chemical treatment of the wood, and hard to separate polymer coating may pose a major issue.
Quite. I think it will end up chopped up and used in some sort of fibre board. In contrast, aluminium and steel are very easily separated and can be used to make brand new, pristine material with a fraction of the original energy input.
You're making a mountain out of a molehill. The towers are going to stay in service for 3 decades or more, most likely will have the turbines replaced with newer ones over their long lives. And they can be taken down, and a lengthening base section added to raise the turbine height. But a section of the wooden tower might be used for a dwelling or a silo. If they're in sections that are bolted together as shown in the diagrams, they can be broken down and moved easily to a new location for reuse.
@@acmefixer1 Yeah, "reusable" or "repurposable" might be more accurate that "recyclable" for there - they can be used for some other structure, not turned into something completely different like paper products.
Nothing a planer couldn't handle. There are many biodegradable glues on the market. Even after eventual decommisioning,the structure can be taken down and any rot would be localised due to the capilliary nature of the material. It is simplicity itself to cut up what is left and re-use it. It is even possible to repair such a structure. The biggest problem by a long long way is the total ignorance of the general public and the vast majority of engineers regarding timber and its properties. Hats off to the Scandinavians for not being sucked into modern western ignorance perpetuated by unscrupulous steel magnates and clueless officials.
I just HAD to react to one of the first images shown first. That man holding a 80 cm spirit level against a 120 meter conical tower to see if it stands correcly really made my day! Maybe we must see it as the equivalent of the iconic hex key of this ‘live your life identically’ firm?
ref: 6:13 Laminated wood are very strong as stated in the video, but not easy to be recycled in an easy way. Thinking of laminated wood as wood is like thinking of asphalt as loose gravel. The clue is really the major part by weight and also a large part of volume. Basically the same problem as fiberglass and resin. In fact steel tower are a lot easier to recycle since scrap metal is an important part of making steel. I believe that the real value is that the material source do not need mining and are not a finite resource. The rest are just minor pluses.
Looking at the thickness of the structure it could be ripped up into planks for use in construction, boatboulding and even furniture with the dust produced going into partcle board.
@@thamesmud And that is a lot like what you can do with fiberglass construction like the blades. I am shore that you could use the materials for a lot of things, but not for boats and really not for furniture. strength of playwood it is also a weakness when cut. Then the material can break along a laminated sheet a lot easier then whole wood will do.
I notice this sort of dishonesty often. New construction of "wooden" houses across Europe, touted as renewable and recyclable, when in fact the main structure is between 20 and 40 % epoxy resin, which is absolutely unrecyclable, and any wood particles trapped in it are as well.
Destructive distillation (pyrolysis) reduces wood to its elements, hydrogen, methane, methanol etc with around 50% of the carbon left as elemental carbon that is a good soil additive that improves many soils. Thus, hydrogen for the hydrogen economy and the other gases for power production and other uses to keep oil and other fossil fuels in the ground. Not sure about the binders.
Hemp looks like it would be a good substitute for glass fiber for the blades. It is a weed (plentiful), absorbs CO2, and is biodegradable. It is fairly strong and almost as stiff as glass fiber. In many cases the specific modulus (this is essentially a stiffness to weight ratio but hemp has a more variable value than glass) of hemp is typically higher than glass. The stiffness to weight ratio is important to avoid fluttering. Carbon fiber is stiffer and lighter but is mush more expensive. I am not certain if there are issues with carbon and lightening as well. I wonder why hemp is not used.
Entirely down to the utterly absurd war on drugs nonsense like many other ills in our society, its the prohibition that is causing the problem not the drugs
Hemp fiber composites are being actively researched and show a lot of promise, but wind turbine blades have some ridiculous weight and strength requirements. It’s highly unlikely that they can be made mainly from hemp. Maybe some of the components could benefit, but I doubt we’ll ever see a whole blade made of hemp fiber.
@@luke_fabis In theory based on the specific stiffness, hemp and glass should have similar flutter performances (vibration due to vortex shedding) for the blades. The tensile strength is close to 690MPa which is substantially higher than most mild steels. It is weaker than glass (especially E-glass) but I don't think the strength is the major issue. It is more related to the stiffness and mass. Any added strength is at the base of the blade which contributes much less to the moment of inertia for the rotation of the blades and the aerodynamic performance. I would really like to see a study on this. My gut tells me it is promising but you don't know until you dive into the design.
And there I was thinking, "yes, but what about the blades?", and then you said "And if you're sitting there thinking, "But what about the blades", which was quite spooky! Can you exert some kind of mind control? Or are computer screens actually two way after all? Or perhaps it was just a fairly obvious thought. Thanks for another great video!
Just have a think about the MASSIVE energy-intensive, carbon-hemorrhaging concrete and rebar footing that is required by every wind turbine that is temporarily erected. They will outlast the short-lived turbines by thousands of years, becoming grave-markers for a civilization that destroyed itself thru crooked scams and backroom deals foisted as "settled science".
@@paulslevinsky580 Its a lot less concrete than a dam, nuclear power station need. Even a coal or gas powered plant needs concrete. It is better but not perfect. You can also use micro-piles (dywidags) that minimize or eliminate the use of concrete in the towers. We are already seeing significant consequences from green house gases with 99% of climate change scientists agreeing with peer reviewed research. The other 1% are paid from the oil and gas industries to cast doubt. You can't embrace science where is benefits you and then reject it when it is inconvenient. Model after model and data backing up those models suggest it is pretty much settled.
I became a global warming heretic when the emails were released in Climate Gate. Everything since then has been a stinking pile of manure...manipulated data, erased cache's of information, wildly inaccurate predictions, absence wealth-transfer. It's all sleaze. Why do financially successful climate alarmists always buy beachfront properties? That should tell you something. The Pacific is facing eminent food-chain collapse because of toxic plastics and overfishing. Most of Earth's 8 billion inhabitants will be gravely affected by that event. Ignoring that threat and focusing on carbon commerce is pathological behavior.
Interesting as always Dave. As your past programs have shown, the total life cycle assessment should be the focus striving the best way to achieve our 2050 net zero goals.
I looked into growing bamboo for a small-scale construction/crafting operation (both because I like the aesthetics and properties of bamboo and because I could grow my own from scratch on a reasonable time scale) and it became readily apparent why we don't use it a lot more. The manufacturing process to turn bamboo from plant into usable raw material is manageable (albeit requiring more infrastructure and energy than typical wood milling and curing, even when drying wood with a kiln which can be traded for patience). And there are varieties of bamboo that grow well enough in environments that endure harsh winters. But any varieties that make suitable structural material will _only_ grow in tropical environments. Considering that, it becomes obvious why trees are the natural-fiber structural material of choice for any operation at globally-relevant scale. Taking 10 times longer to grow is a worthy tradeoff when you can grow and harvest 10,000 times as many trees, and do it virtually anywhere in the vicinity of human populations.
Your channel is one of the best ones I've found so far about climate change. Some channels focus on technological solutions but don't mention psychological, political or cultural obstacles, others focus on human obstacles but tend to have a negative or aggressive undertone. Combined with your other channel you focus on all topics yet always manage to give off a positive vibe. You keep it civilised while provoking thought and inspiring change. I'll probably support your Patreon next. Keep it up, you're doing great!
Well they did up to a point. They had issues when they went to the far east with delamination until they understood the bonding in high humidity environments. But to be fair these WTs have better protection from the environment than aircraft do!
@@tcroft2165 yes they were buil with cascamite which is not waterproof. Resorcinol came into use later and has proved very durable in boatboulding. Epoxy is the best but not very green.
@Jorn Paul Winkler Generally, timber is too valuable to cut down and burn -- it is used for lumber. If the forest that has been logged has stumps and other debris then it makes sense to chip the remaining wood and use it rather than have it burned when lightning strikes.
Wooden towers are an awesome concept. In Alberta Canada they had replaced some tall hydro towers (normally made from steel) with laminated timbers. They looked much better. Using wood can be a great idea, however there are nasty environment impacts of forestry that are beyond CO2. Habitat destruction and degradation of surface water quality need to be addressed to make wood a truly great alternative
Regarding your recent videos about solar energy I remember that when I was a child most of the emphasize on solar energy was about panels used to heat water with sunlight. Of course, since they were using direct sunlight their efficiency in warming water was higher than obtaining electric energy from sun and turning it into heat again. I was wondering that why don’t we use a combination of both solar panels which make electricity and solar panels which heat water on the home roof? The sunlight can primarily be used to make electricity and since only almost 20 percent of the sunlight energy is turned into electricity, the rest which turns into heat can be used to warm water which passes through tubes beneath the electric solar panels and is in direct touch with them to absorb the heat. By this way the temperature of the electric solar panels will also be reduced by the heat absorbing tubes filled with water and this will always keep the efficiency of the electric solar panels high.
i remmeber the same. i DO see both on roofs around here, but i guess it depends if the company educates n offers the customer the advantage of direct solar heated water
I work as a rooftop solar installer in the UK - I do both PV and thermal collectors. Your thinking is sound - especially the benefit to PV generation of cooling the panels, which a lot of people miss. There have been a number of hybrid PV+heat panel products developed, but as far as I'm aware, none have yet been commercially successful. Part of the issue is complexity, reliability and maintainability. Mixing water and electricity in a single unit can be done safely, but it brings requirements that add cost and weight. Installing a set of PV panels is pretty quick when you know how, but if they were any heavier it would be much more difficult. Most customers simply want some panels that can be fitted and forgotten for the next 25 years, and be assured of payback of the installation cost. We can confidently offer that for PV, but for hybrid panels, which would be more difficult to fit and might require maintenance, I don't think we could be so sure (yet). Solar thermal is less popular here and in our climate you need the more expensive evacuated tube type collectors for an really effective installation, but where we do them, they are often on a more accessible piece of roof for ease of install and maintenance. They go well on an A-frame on a bit of flat roof - the wind blows between the tubes so they are quite stable, while a PV panel would act like a sail - therefore we can utilise roof space that can't be used otherwise. Customers that want both types are generally quite wealthy and have large roofs, so we simply fit as many panels as their grid collection allows, and then we fit the thermal collector somewhere else - we don't run out of roof space - so the benefit of combining the types of collector, or of seeking greater efficiency, isn't really there. So I think the answer is that there isn't really a strong demand for a hybrid panel because most of the market for solar is satisfied by the existing offerings. However, this might change if the market grows sufficiently that the fraction of customers that would benefit from hybrid panels becomes big enough that they can be profitably mass-produced.
They already exist this kind of Hybrid Solar PV-thermal module. But it´s not worth the investment. And the thermal efficiency is poor and the temperature is not very high like a standard solar panel.
There already exist hybrid panels, it is just not really interesting due to reduced thermal efficiency, higher cost and lower flexibility (if you solar panel is damaged, you replace just that. If a hybrid panel is damaged, it is more expensive to replace and because it isn't easily disconnected, a lot more bothersome). And at this moment it is actually cheaper to get pv panels and heat your water with the electricity produced then using solar boiler panels. However solar boiler panels are more effective, you need possibly almost double the space with pv. So essentially if you don't have much roof space: use solar boilers. If you do have the roofspace, use PV since it is cheaper and more versatile.
I havent seen this sort of sheet product produced from bamboo, is it a thing now? Good news if it is. I've only seed the thousands-of-narrow-slices-lamination in tables, chopping boards etc
@@artsnow8872 Right; bamboos grow (some strains) 6" /day and can be very promising. If you can modify them genetically (it is a kind of grass like rice, wheat etc).
No mention of the serious quantity of resins/glues required to build one of these from wood. Epoxy and Polyester based glues are not exactly kind to the environment, I wonder what their co2 emissions add to the equation.
@@seasong7655 Potatoes carbon neutral? Not unless you source your seed potatoes ethically and grow them in your own permaculture garden. You should take a deeper look at the commercial potato industry. But I agree, it has the potential to be a better solution.
He provided the lifetime emissions for the tower, is there a valid reason to assume the figure was missing critical components of the wood lamination process?
@@bakedbeings If the quantity of resins and energy required was included in that statement, why not draw attention to it if it is somehow been offset in a positive way? Call me cynical but I have been around long enough to not overlook detail when it is missing. Sadly the desire get on a bandwagon more often than not overshadows reality. Just my opinion, I look forward to the component breakdown. 🙂
Thank you for another fascinating video. The resurgence of timber construction is a really intriguing development, particularly for large scale structures that are typically made with concrete and steel. Imo though, it would also be a good idea for industry to try and develop ways for wind turbines to last longer. The highest barrier to adoption of wind powered renewable energy is the cost of installation and maintenance. A turbine that lasts twice as long is basically half the cost in any particular year when amortized over the total lifetime of the device.
A good way to reuse the blades is to cut them into 1 meter slices, and then use the rings of Fibreglass as the border for a raised garden bed. Would be funky shapes in the garden!
Thank you for your time energy and effort in producing this channel. I wish more people would listen and just have a think. On a subject related to your work, I was considering the carbon and methane capture technologies and a rather simple issue occurred to me. All the equipment is built upon the ground or the Terrasphere or the Troposphere, while the problems are in the upper atmosphere. It's like trying to suck water through a straw without putting the straw in the glass of water. Not to effective! There are several layers to the earths atmosphere at least 7. I'm looking forward to supporting you in a modest way $.
This is serious innovation at work followed importantly by practical commercialization. More buildings are being made from mass timber too. There is a 23-storey student housing tower made of mass timber from sustainable local sources (cross-laminated slabs, glue-laminated columns) using steel pins and bolts at the joints at the University of British Columbia, designed by Vancouver architect Michael Green. Wooden high-rises ... who would have thought?
Seems like a win at all levels. Regarding fire resistance. Wind turbines are also unlikely to be installed with forests up close. A grass fire does not generate the sustained heat that would be required to threaten the integrity of the tower.
Seeing that bicycle shelter. The blades could be used at parks for sun shelters. Two halves could fitted together and sealed at the top edge to make small barns or carports. By closing in the ends, possibly a small home.
Paulownia trees are one of the fastest growing hardwoods, can be ready to harvest in about 7 years, if I'm not mistaken. and once harvested, it will grow back from the stump, pretty sustainable. Other options are hemp composite and bamboo.
Has anyone ever tried to build a wind funnel? I run through downtown Houston, and even on a not so windy day, the wind around tall buildings is much stronger. Big piles of dirt forcing the wind to go through hundreds of small turbines seems cheaper than building huge structures.
There are several companies that tried this. Sheerwind and Windrail are two examples. You're correct that this should be exploited, and smaller wind turbines could meet this especially if there is adequate storage.
While conventional wind turbines are more efficient than the Verical Axis machines at this time. By my understanding the vertical axis machines can be installed at a higher density. The bigger the conventional wind turbine the more land area the wind farm* takes up. Plus vertical axis machines would have major benefits from an engineering standpoint. 1) The generator set can be installed at ground or base level. This should reduce the structural requirements on the tower. 2) Elimination of the drive mechanism needed to point the turbine in the most efficient direction. 3) All of your major components are at ground level with the exception of the upper bearing assembly are at ground level easing any maintenance requirements. 4) If the tower is less massive this should reduce the materials required for the foundation. Just how many tons of concrete are required for the average wind turbines foundation? And how much CO2 is produced by that mass of concrete I'm surprised that we haven't seen more effort in pursuing this technology. Sometimes chasing the last bit of efficiency while delaying the introduction of something is a losing proposition IMO. *The best areas for wind farms in a lot of regions would be in agricultural areas. Aside from off shore locations.
Just a note and wood stuff: If you treat dry wood with raw linseed oil, it will last about a hundred years and it actually makes it stronger. The oil soaks in and after a few months turns into a material that is a lot like plastic. Water cant get past it.
There was a prototype wooden tower that I would've expected to hear about in this video: The "Timber Tower" built in Hannover, Germany, back in 2012 was the first of its kind. It was a first attempt to answer the question "can we build wind turbines out of wood?". It stands there to this day, supplying the research facilities with electricity. Unfortunately, most of the media coverage to be found is in German, but there are surely some English-language publications about it.
How many trees do you think it takes to make just one of these towers? This sounds like the dumbest idea ever. Wind power itself is dumb IMO. Can we make it work, sure, but at what cost? The world's energy requirements are set to triple in the next century as people stop buying gas cars and go EVs. If the people of the world wants to make us use solar and wind primarily, you're lookin' at having to build literally millions of these things... Tis a joke. Nuclear is hte only power source capable of supplanting fossil fuels.
5:06 Modvion says in their paper that their wooden towers have a 25-30 year design due to exceeding the lifetime of mechanical parts of the turbine. Wouldn't it make more sense on a bigger scale further down the track to be designing the tower for a 50-60 year operation so that you can just uninstall mechnical parts and reinstall new ones without having to touch the base and tower itself?
I wonder if an ideal of adding a "sap" producing tool to such wind generators that constantly creates coating at the top that drips down the sides, effectively keeping the device constantly newly coated with protective coverings.
i don't really feel like that's a big deal. if you have access to an ikea you should likely be able to find a library or other place which provides internet. or at the very least a mobile phone that can connect to celluar, they could have qr codes on the furniture boxes which link to videos for assembly. or at least detailed instructions regardless of how well the instruct pictures are if you aren't familiar with ikea furniture it's tricky to assemble.
I wonder how good will be if the blades are made out of thin wood, covered with fiberglass. I've seen one youtube channel comparing regular wooden plank with plank covered with 1 layer of fiberglass (he said that many small boats are made out of wood covered with fiberglass giving it stiffness and waterproof properties) and there was lot of difference in strength.
The blades need to be lightweight and strong but also really, really stiff. Wood isn't good enough. They can barely get away with a fiberglass construction while making the blades over a hundred meters long. Carbon fiber would be way better mechanically but very expensive and has more CO2 emissions.
I expect blades will all be formed from synthetic resin, one that can be dissolved from old blades and reused in making new ones. For fiber content, graphene comes to mind, but hemp or other natural fibers may be strong enough, may use multiple types of fiber, research and test, repeat till it's perfect.
@@w0ttheh3ll sandwich construction increases stiffness enormously while decreasing weight, at least for boat construction purposes. From the image of the repurposed blade, the grp is solid for blades. Perhaps the strength to weight calculation changes at these scales? Side note: in composite work, balsa wood is a relatively cost effective core material, but not the lightest or strongest.
My understanding is that some blades are made from balsa wood with fiber glass finish. I also understand that the price of balsa has increased because of its use in wind turbines.
Thnaks for this, I've seen research on this in the last couple of years. Another piece of the puzzle would be to build enough airships to use for transportation, installation and maintenance. They could even be solar powered to significantly diminish the impact on the environment as well as the carbon footprint. FYI fossil fuels are not recyclable. At all.
Well, fossil fuels are not recyclable if you burn them, unless you capture the CO2 and make something out of it. That would be thermodynamically pointless, though, since you can make stuff directly out of hydrocarbons for a lot less money.
@@incognitotorpedo42 That's where I think the fossil fuel Industries going to try to say that they are environmentally friendly. By saying they are capture, when they are a producer. But it's a fear, so only something to watch for.
I love the idea of airships, especially solar powered ones. The ideal might be to "fill" them with vacuum. That is: pump the air out of them instead of using a lifting gas. They'd need to be braced with extremely strong and lightweight material to withstand atmospheric pressure across a large area, but the problem of keeping air out of a large bag should be simpler than the one of trying to keep helium or hydrogen in.
@@Kevin_Street I think most people [ myself included ] love airships, so every few decades or so there seems to be a resurgence of interest in their revival. Unfortunately they have some disadvantages which are next to impossible to overcome. Basically there are two types - rigid structures and non-rigid [ also known as a blimp, which is basically a keel supported by a pressurized ballon ]. Both types suffer from leakage of the lifting gas. The near-insurmountable problem with rigids is that wind sheer when encountered can rip the structure apart. One thing that a lighter than air [ LTA ] body does NOT do well is act like a high lift helicopter because when the load is released there is a need to deal with the excess lift. Rather than vent most of the lifting gas, the classic way this is dealt with is to take on ballast [ typically water ] as the load is released, which introduces another set of problem in practical terms. Finally I think I'm on safe ground when I say that a ' solar powered ' LTA will never be successful. But that is another story !
That statement about the potential energy generation growing as the cube of the wind speed was eye opening. I'm curious though-- combining more powerful winds (lateral force) and a longer "lever" means the amount of force at the base goes up dramatically too, doesn't it? So how does the engineering account for this-- and minimize the chance of one of these getting blown over, followed by tons of debris being hurled downrange? In sites where the predominant wind is highly directional, I can imagine one or more supporting legs on the leeward, "not gonna get smacked by the rotor" side. However all of the images in this video-- and the wind turbines I've seen in the wild-- show a solitary tower, one that touches the ground and concentrates force in a single location.
Is this wooden construction intended for onshore turbines only? I'm thinking how resilient they will be to sea spray and how well they will cope with sea gales if used for offshore wind farms.
Are you familiar with these things called sailing ships? They require maintenance but timber structures have been operating in marine environments for literal centuries.
@@AlRoderick Sailing vessels are typically built from hard woods such as oak. These towers are built from Spruce which is a softwood. The open grain of softwoods makes them porous and prone to moisture absorption. That absorption makes it unsuitable for maritime usage.
An interesting building material to use in these constructions may be bamboo, which grows a lot faster than most softwood and has excellent physical properties. I also wonder whether a wooden windmill produces less noise, which is important in built-up areas.
I was thinking the same thing. It's a bit trickier to make veneer from bamboo but doable. It's generally stronger than wood and more fire resistant. If the wooden towers take off I'm sure they'll explore bamooo as an option.
"Indeed I have not seen them roused like this for many an age. We Ents do not like being roused; and we never are roused unless it is clear to us that our trees and our lives are in great danger." -Treebeard, regarding wooden wind turbines, obviously He knows the Ents need to protect the planet!
I have a Ms.c. in forestry and woodtechnology. Some 20+ years ago, I worked at the Danish Institute of Technology dept. of Wood. My main task was to develop a programe for teaching the danish furniture industry to exploite the environmentally aspects of their wood products, in their marketing. The very short version is, that when growing trees for one (!) cbm of solid wood products, you will need an increment of 4 cbm in the forest. 2 cbm will be felled as small trees (thinning), trees which can be used for particleboards, energy etc. These first 2 cbm are very important as they help to define the quality - and thereby the technical possibilities - for the last 2 cbm, that will be felled for delivering the only cbm of solid wood, you will find in the end product. From these biggest 2 cbm of logs, roughly 1 cbm will be chips and other byproducts, and only the last cbm will be found as solid wood in the end product. This last cbm - as far as it is used in a durable construction - buildings, towers for windturbines etc. it represents a carbon storage. (a rough measure is that one cbm of solid wood more or less equalizes 1 ton of CO2. The experience is, that the bark and sawdust alone from the one cbm that are sawn, represents more energy, than used in the sawmill. When only having 1 of 4 cbm in our primary product cbm in our primary product it could look like a lot of waste is produced. The remaining 3 cbm of wood is not waste. It can / will / should be used for a number of purposes - OSB-boards, energy just to name 2. Often these products will have shorter life spand compared to the main product. Never the less the still acts like carbon sinks, and provided the wood is used for substituting other materials, the benefits becomes huge.
OSB panels ARE NOT BEING RECOGNIZED AS THE LOW QUALITY JUNK THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here in Canada new home construction uses a lot of OSB material and it DOES NOT HOLD NAILS AS WELL AS ACTUAL WOOD PLANKS - thus we see shingles being more easily stripped from roofs on new construction than is normal for older construction using solid wood when storms hit!!!!!!!!!! And it does not help that OSB panels being used are VERY OFTEN THINNER than the older wood planks that used to be quite common ....................... thus lighter, thinner material that does not hold nails so well has contributed to the damage allegedly caused by "global warming"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In related news - there simply IS NOT A MARKET for another massive new supply of OSB thus there is NO REASON TO EXPAND THE SUPPLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@abellseaman4114 I´m afraid, that your comment may be right. Being a forester , some of my carrier has been to battle engineers. In my experience a lot of progresses will be lost by reducing dimensions and quality as far as calculations can bring you.
@@clausbuhlsrensen602 One has only to drive past any new housing subdivision under construction in Canada to see the heaps of OSB panels awaiting installation on roofs......................... and one has only to note the rising number of roofs being blown off newer construction - while older buildings ride out storms more safely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course this issue of wind damage to roofs may also be a result of shingles being installed using staples rather than with hand drive nails as staples do not provide the same resistance to wind as large head nails....................... and of course a pneumatic gun shooting staples is FASTER than a guy with a hammer and nails - so we can again easily blame shoddy materials for growing amounts of damage allegedly from climate change!!!!!!!!! When I was younger and in the construction biz we noted that standard plywood made the old way with actual layers of solid wood glued together - WOULD RESIST DELAMINATION when wet for a notably LONGER TIME than OSB panels!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But so could using an omi direction sail based wind turbine. But using 3 sails on a single axis that can produce electricity whichever the wind is blowing. And you don't need to even make them have to be so high to do it. Also if a solar sail material is used with a magnifying glass that can change direction to hit the sail at the best angles at all times. Then you can have electricity generation at all times. And at any level of elevation. Add in a glass water tank that uses magnifier to boil the water in the glass. To create steam to turn the electric turbine. As of course other renewable. Which should include every home, business, public building, residences, and public areas. That have a modified septic system to draw out the methane/natural gas. And you can be 100% renewable. And cover any and all energy needs. For everything from transportation, electricity, cars, homes, and so on. The larger the population the more energy produced. Nevermind the jobs, small businesses, and other economic benefits such a green renewable infrastructure would bring.
Repurposed ideas: sections of blades could be connected together to make sub-surface drains or utility tunnels. The wider thicker sections could be sliced into 3m sections and made into aerodynamic trailers. Cut horizontal they could form tanks og even small boats.
Have you seen the Lagerwey climbin crane system that uses flat pack steel modules and an integrated crane that uses the wind turbine tower itself as it's crane structure?
YES wood is and has always been a marvellous material, and unless we destroy the planet, should also always be available. One problem is though that both steel and wood prices fluctuate wildly in response to market forces, and should be viewed in the same way as pork bellies or orange juice. Oh and BTW that company which turns out cheap furniture which you have to assemble at home with a screw driver and one of those nifty little hex keys, might be well advised to use more wood in their products in place of that hodge podge stuff which appears to be wood chips stuck together with lots of glue !
@@trikepilot101 Oh I think it's clear that it CAN be done but it does not necessarily follow that it SHOULD be done. To the manufacturer, the main concern is being able to maximize his selling price. An interesting question is what is the aggregate effect of putting a waste product to use and the concomitant adverse environmental effect of synthetic glue production - even disregarding the environmental cost of disposal of the furniture at the end of its useful life.
There is windturbine at Hannover, Germany that has a wood tower. It was made by the company Timbertower GmbH in 2012. These times they where advertising on every wind energy fair. But i thnk it was the only demonstration project, now the company does not exist any more. The tower is 100m tall, on top there is a Vensys 77 1,5MW direct drive turbine. de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windkraftanlage_Hannover-Marienwerder
Trees have incredible complex genetics - many more chromosomes than humans, so this is not a trivial task. Also, from standard genetic selection tree improvement programs so far, there are always tradeoffs. You can select for trees that grow faster OR stronger, but not both (fast-growing wood does not have enough of the internal layers that give hardwoods their strength). It's also incredibly important to include genetic diversity in your tree improvement program (and if possible a mix of tree species in any plantation), as the long lifecycle of trees (compared to food crops) means that they are highly vulnerable to pest invasions (insects, fungi, etc.) if you try to grow cloned monocultures. Tldr; nice idea, but impractical at the moment.
@@kimwarburton8490 Bamboo is amazing stuff, but not useful in the same ways as traditional soft and hardwoods - and is difficult to turn into laminated structural wood products like the wood turbine towers mentioned in the video above. Bamboo definitely has scope to be used in creative ways in the construction industry. It's not that easy to ship the raw bamboo around the world though, so it's better to find innovative ways to use bamboo in the regions where it actually grows well.
It's almost like wood evolved to make tall thin towers.
It is impossible anything popped itself into existence.
I'm fairly certain trees grow tall because they were self conscious about how they were shorter than the tall wind mills.
@@BloodSprite-tan all the pieces fit!
@@senatorjosephmccarthy2720 no I faver the magic sky daddy came and made trees in his image ......
@@mistaowickkuh6249 You just described roughly half of all pre-Christian creation myths.
As long as the wood is coming from sustainable sources this is a great idea. I'm a bit hesitant because I see first hand the effects of over logging and logging old growth forests everyday.
@The Southern Cross Yep. Use nuclear to heat desert sand into bricks for houses that glow in the dark! A Win-Win situation! :D
Those turbine blades could make for great park/bus benches if cut right.
Or roofing tiles. Or as a replacement for plastic siding.
They're strong enough to stand up to huge amounts of wind and weather, they'd make for great outdoor stuff like that.
I don't know how you could get the siding to reliably interlock in an easy to install way, but there definitely are plenty of uses if anyone bothered to repurpose them.
I have seen a gazebo type structure roofed with GRP tiles cut from old Reliant Robin car bodies... It was very successful!
I'd love to have some cut up and buried, forming a wall. But after seeing the bicycle shade, holy crap are they big.
In Denmark they have actually recently been used to make bicycle shelters. But in truth they could be used for many other similar uses: Covered walkways, bus stop, children's playground etc.
I've been following the growing use of wood/wood composites in architecture for some time on YT channels such as B1M. I'm glad to see that it might play a role in wind towers as well.
My town is building a wind turbine farm right now, they are trucking the blades through town. It's pretty cool, and will finally make use of all the wind we get here on the Central Coast of California
they are WAY bigger than you think arent they?
@Anthony R
Where is the wind farm being built?
Is that wind from the politicians?
@@acmefixer1 it's being built on South Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Are you in Lompoc
Strauss Wind Farm
Without having done any calculations it would seem possible to make the blades out of wood also . Having flown and worked on wooden sailplanes over (too) many years which are the most sophisticated wooden structures to date and compare reasonably well in weight to fiberglass wings (the first commercial fibreglass sailplanes were made by Glasflugel who previously made blades for cooling towers and the same designer Ulrich Hutter also designed the single bladed wind turbine 'cyclops' that was erected near Stuttgart in the 70s . I also worked nearby building fiberglass gliders for Schempp Hirth in 1973 - the year of the Yom Kippur war and the Arab oil embargo which stimulated 'alternative' energy schemes . wood is poor in compression but 'improved wood' impregnated under pressure with phenolic resin fills the hollow wood cells and much increases this --used in several of the last generastion of wooden gliders (eg Vogt Lo 150) it would also seem that external bracing could relief some of the blade root bending --a spar extending out from the 'spinner' and a single wire to mid blade (as some early windmills did ) great channel.
8:40 Of course we're good at lateral thinking. Everything we do goes sideways.
Blades may still be viable as stationary “sails” for freighter ships as a recycling idea. Just a thought.
6:00 that "extremely recyclable materials" is a claim that needs to be proven. Chemical treatment of the wood, and hard to separate polymer coating may pose a major issue.
Quite. I think it will end up chopped up and used in some sort of fibre board. In contrast, aluminium and steel are very easily separated and can be used to make brand new, pristine material with a fraction of the original energy input.
You're making a mountain out of a molehill. The towers are going to stay in service for 3 decades or more, most likely will have the turbines replaced with newer ones over their long lives. And they can be taken down, and a lengthening base section added to raise the turbine height.
But a section of the wooden tower might be used for a dwelling or a silo. If they're in sections that are bolted together as shown in the diagrams, they can be broken down and moved easily to a new location for reuse.
@@acmefixer1 Yeah, "reusable" or "repurposable" might be more accurate that "recyclable" for there - they can be used for some other structure, not turned into something completely different like paper products.
Nothing a planer couldn't handle.
There are many biodegradable glues on the market.
Even after eventual decommisioning,the structure can be taken down and any rot would be localised due to the capilliary nature of the material.
It is simplicity itself to cut up what is left and re-use it.
It is even possible to repair such a structure.
The biggest problem by a long long way is the total ignorance of the general public and the vast majority of engineers regarding timber and its properties.
Hats off to the Scandinavians for not being sucked into modern western ignorance perpetuated by unscrupulous steel magnates and clueless officials.
Natural materials like linseed oil can be used.
I just HAD to react to one of the first images shown first. That man holding a 80 cm spirit level against a 120 meter conical tower to see if it stands correcly really made my day! Maybe we must see it as the equivalent of the iconic hex key of this ‘live your life identically’ firm?
ref: 6:13
Laminated wood are very strong as stated in the video, but not easy to be recycled in an easy way.
Thinking of laminated wood as wood is like thinking of asphalt as loose gravel. The clue is really the major part by weight and also a large part of volume.
Basically the same problem as fiberglass and resin. In fact steel tower are a lot easier to recycle since scrap metal is an important part of making steel.
I believe that the real value is that the material source do not need mining and are not a finite resource. The rest are just minor pluses.
Looking at the thickness of the structure it could be ripped up into planks for use in construction, boatboulding and even furniture with the dust produced going into partcle board.
@@thamesmud And that is a lot like what you can do with fiberglass construction like the blades.
I am shore that you could use the materials for a lot of things, but not for boats and really not for furniture.
strength of playwood it is also a weakness when cut. Then the material can break along a laminated sheet a lot easier then whole wood will do.
I notice this sort of dishonesty often. New construction of "wooden" houses across Europe, touted as renewable and recyclable, when in fact the main structure is between 20 and 40 % epoxy resin, which is absolutely unrecyclable, and any wood particles trapped in it are as well.
Destructive distillation (pyrolysis) reduces wood to its elements, hydrogen, methane, methanol etc with around 50% of the carbon left as elemental carbon that is a good soil additive that improves many soils. Thus, hydrogen for the hydrogen economy and the other gases for power production and other uses to keep oil and other fossil fuels in the ground. Not sure about the binders.
@@robertcircleone The binder is the problem. Pyrolysis is interesting but it creates a lot of nasty chemicals. Not really a clean process.
I love the image at 6:38 with the guy checking the tower for plumb with a 2' B@Q spirit level!
Hemp looks like it would be a good substitute for glass fiber for the blades. It is a weed (plentiful), absorbs CO2, and is biodegradable. It is fairly strong and almost as stiff as glass fiber. In many cases the specific modulus (this is essentially a stiffness to weight ratio but hemp has a more variable value than glass) of hemp is typically higher than glass. The stiffness to weight ratio is important to avoid fluttering. Carbon fiber is stiffer and lighter but is mush more expensive. I am not certain if there are issues with carbon and lightening as well. I wonder why hemp is not used.
Entirely down to the utterly absurd war on drugs nonsense like many other ills in our society, its the prohibition that is causing the problem not the drugs
Hemp fiber composites are being actively researched and show a lot of promise, but wind turbine blades have some ridiculous weight and strength requirements.
It’s highly unlikely that they can be made mainly from hemp. Maybe some of the components could benefit, but I doubt we’ll ever see a whole blade made of hemp fiber.
@@luke_fabis In theory based on the specific stiffness, hemp and glass should have similar flutter performances (vibration due to vortex shedding) for the blades. The tensile strength is close to 690MPa which is substantially higher than most mild steels. It is weaker than glass (especially E-glass) but I don't think the strength is the major issue. It is more related to the stiffness and mass.
Any added strength is at the base of the blade which contributes much less to the moment of inertia for the rotation of the blades and the aerodynamic performance.
I would really like to see a study on this. My gut tells me it is promising but you don't know until you dive into the design.
@@quadq6598 you are probably right. It is incredible such a versatile and sustainable material is sacrificed for political reasons.
@@yodaiam1000 That’s the thing, though. The bulk of these blades are carbon fiber composite, not fiberglass.
What a joy it was to have a tutor who became later COO of Vestas Denmark, rotor and hub.
Lucky you :-)
And there I was thinking, "yes, but what about the blades?", and then you said "And if you're sitting there thinking, "But what about the blades", which was quite spooky! Can you exert some kind of mind control? Or are computer screens actually two way after all? Or perhaps it was just a fairly obvious thought. Thanks for another great video!
As my neighbour always says: Great minds think alike ........... OR Fools seldom differ !!
Just dumb luck on my part I'm afraid :-)
Just have a think about the MASSIVE energy-intensive, carbon-hemorrhaging concrete and rebar footing that is required by every wind turbine that is temporarily erected. They will outlast the short-lived turbines by thousands of years, becoming grave-markers for a civilization that destroyed itself thru crooked scams and backroom deals foisted as "settled science".
@@paulslevinsky580 Its a lot less concrete than a dam, nuclear power station need. Even a coal or gas powered plant needs concrete. It is better but not perfect. You can also use micro-piles (dywidags) that minimize or eliminate the use of concrete in the towers.
We are already seeing significant consequences from green house gases with 99% of climate change scientists agreeing with peer reviewed research. The other 1% are paid from the oil and gas industries to cast doubt. You can't embrace science where is benefits you and then reject it when it is inconvenient. Model after model and data backing up those models suggest it is pretty much settled.
I became a global warming heretic when the emails were released in Climate Gate. Everything since then has been a stinking pile of manure...manipulated data, erased cache's of information, wildly inaccurate predictions, absence wealth-transfer. It's all sleaze. Why do financially successful climate alarmists always buy beachfront properties? That should tell you something.
The Pacific is facing eminent food-chain collapse because of toxic plastics and overfishing. Most of Earth's 8 billion inhabitants will be gravely affected by that event. Ignoring that threat and focusing on carbon commerce is pathological behavior.
Interesting as always Dave. As your past programs have shown, the total life cycle assessment should be the focus striving the best way to achieve our 2050 net zero goals.
funny to think that early windmills were made of wood and that we're going back to this material ^^
I love that bike shelter! Also, I wonder if a combination of bamboo and hemp couldn't outperform spruce in the sequestration/performance race.
So, instead of our typical trees that take many years to grow, could hemp or bamboo be fashioned into long lasting building materials?
Yes, they can. Bamboo is often used for structural purposes in areas where it grows. Hemp can be turned into a sort of fake wood that is quite tough.
I looked into growing bamboo for a small-scale construction/crafting operation (both because I like the aesthetics and properties of bamboo and because I could grow my own from scratch on a reasonable time scale) and it became readily apparent why we don't use it a lot more. The manufacturing process to turn bamboo from plant into usable raw material is manageable (albeit requiring more infrastructure and energy than typical wood milling and curing, even when drying wood with a kiln which can be traded for patience). And there are varieties of bamboo that grow well enough in environments that endure harsh winters.
But any varieties that make suitable structural material will _only_ grow in tropical environments.
Considering that, it becomes obvious why trees are the natural-fiber structural material of choice for any operation at globally-relevant scale. Taking 10 times longer to grow is a worthy tradeoff when you can grow and harvest 10,000 times as many trees, and do it virtually anywhere in the vicinity of human populations.
@@HonoredMule Thank you for offering a LOGICAL REBUTTAL regarding why Bamboo is not more often used for building things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very large structures that are not that heavy need transporting. Airships spring to mind.
Airships aren't viable though that's why we aren't already using them
Your channel is one of the best ones I've found so far about climate change.
Some channels focus on technological solutions but don't mention psychological, political or cultural obstacles, others focus on human obstacles but tend to have a negative or aggressive undertone.
Combined with your other channel you focus on all topics yet always manage to give off a positive vibe. You keep it civilised while provoking thought and inspiring change.
I'll probably support your Patreon next.
Keep it up, you're doing great!
Necessity is the mother of invention and Wood towers and recyclable blade certainly address real issues. Thanks for sharing this.
Excellent analysis. Brief pauses as you move from topic to topic would be much welcome for assimilation of these great insights.
Wood Composit worked well for the DH Mosquito . Perhaps the blades could be timber too, wood is still used in small aircraft propellers.
Well they did up to a point. They had issues when they went to the far east with delamination until they understood the bonding in high humidity environments. But to be fair these WTs have better protection from the environment than aircraft do!
@@tcroft2165 yes they were buil with cascamite which is not waterproof. Resorcinol came into use later and has proved very durable in boatboulding. Epoxy is the best but not very green.
This channel is a real beacon of hope. Always love it.
Thank you :-)
Great video! The bike shelter is super cool!
Interesting. There are onsite welded wind turbine towers. That’s useful for remote locations. Very helpful for transportation.
@Jorn Paul Winkler
Generally, timber is too valuable to cut down and burn -- it is used for lumber. If the forest that has been logged has stumps and other debris then it makes sense to chip the remaining wood and use it rather than have it burned when lightning strikes.
What a fantastic post, brilliant
Love the cycle shed.
Thank You. Informative. The effort shown here Is much appreciated.
Another brilliant Video, thanks Dave!
Wooden towers are an awesome concept. In Alberta Canada they had replaced some tall hydro towers (normally made from steel) with laminated timbers. They looked much better. Using wood can be a great idea, however there are nasty environment impacts of forestry that are beyond CO2. Habitat destruction and degradation of surface water quality need to be addressed to make wood a truly great alternative
In Calgary on the Sarcee Trail, there were some.
Those were the ones I thinking about - at the 17th Ave overpass if I recall.
Great video, thanks Dave
Thanks for another excellent presentation 😃👌👌👌👏👏👏❤️
Thanks, you got me thinking.
Great video! I was wondering if you could do a video on airborne wind energy. This also saves a lot on materials. One example is ampyx power. Startup.
Nice one yet again!
Another awesome video!
Thanks for sharing! Very interesting.
Regarding your recent videos about solar energy I remember that when I was a child most of the emphasize on solar energy was about panels used to heat water with sunlight. Of course, since they were using direct sunlight their efficiency in warming water was higher than obtaining electric energy from sun and turning it into heat again. I was wondering that why don’t we use a combination of both solar panels which make electricity and solar panels which heat water on the home roof? The sunlight can primarily be used to make electricity and since only almost 20 percent of the sunlight energy is turned into electricity, the rest which turns into heat can be used to warm water which passes through tubes beneath the electric solar panels and is in direct touch with them to absorb the heat. By this way the temperature of the electric solar panels will also be reduced by the heat absorbing tubes filled with water and this will always keep the efficiency of the electric solar panels high.
i remmeber the same. i DO see both on roofs around here, but i guess it depends if the company educates n offers the customer the advantage of direct solar heated water
I work as a rooftop solar installer in the UK - I do both PV and thermal collectors. Your thinking is sound - especially the benefit to PV generation of cooling the panels, which a lot of people miss. There have been a number of hybrid PV+heat panel products developed, but as far as I'm aware, none have yet been commercially successful.
Part of the issue is complexity, reliability and maintainability. Mixing water and electricity in a single unit can be done safely, but it brings requirements that add cost and weight. Installing a set of PV panels is pretty quick when you know how, but if they were any heavier it would be much more difficult. Most customers simply want some panels that can be fitted and forgotten for the next 25 years, and be assured of payback of the installation cost. We can confidently offer that for PV, but for hybrid panels, which would be more difficult to fit and might require maintenance, I don't think we could be so sure (yet).
Solar thermal is less popular here and in our climate you need the more expensive evacuated tube type collectors for an really effective installation, but where we do them, they are often on a more accessible piece of roof for ease of install and maintenance. They go well on an A-frame on a bit of flat roof - the wind blows between the tubes so they are quite stable, while a PV panel would act like a sail - therefore we can utilise roof space that can't be used otherwise.
Customers that want both types are generally quite wealthy and have large roofs, so we simply fit as many panels as their grid collection allows, and then we fit the thermal collector somewhere else - we don't run out of roof space - so the benefit of combining the types of collector, or of seeking greater efficiency, isn't really there.
So I think the answer is that there isn't really a strong demand for a hybrid panel because most of the market for solar is satisfied by the existing offerings. However, this might change if the market grows sufficiently that the fraction of customers that would benefit from hybrid panels becomes big enough that they can be profitably mass-produced.
@@bimblinghill Thank you very very much for your excellent information!
They already exist this kind of Hybrid Solar PV-thermal module. But it´s not worth the investment. And the thermal efficiency is poor and the temperature is not very high like a standard solar panel.
There already exist hybrid panels, it is just not really interesting due to reduced thermal efficiency, higher cost and lower flexibility (if you solar panel is damaged, you replace just that. If a hybrid panel is damaged, it is more expensive to replace and because it isn't easily disconnected, a lot more bothersome).
And at this moment it is actually cheaper to get pv panels and heat your water with the electricity produced then using solar boiler panels. However solar boiler panels are more effective, you need possibly almost double the space with pv. So essentially if you don't have much roof space: use solar boilers. If you do have the roofspace, use PV since it is cheaper and more versatile.
Thanks MK
Great to see the effort going into progressing the climate and waste challenges!
Why not bamboo? It grows much faster than trees and is very strong and lightweight and can be chemically treated just like wood can to prevent rot.
You want to give China more power over the market? Kidding. :) It would be a great solution as well.
I havent seen this sort of sheet product produced from bamboo, is it a thing now? Good news if it is. I've only seed the thousands-of-narrow-slices-lamination in tables, chopping boards etc
@@artboymoy Other southeast Asian countries are sources of bamboo. So, China wouldn't have a monopoly.
@@artsnow8872 Right; bamboos grow (some strains) 6" /day and can be very promising. If you can modify them genetically (it is a kind of grass like rice, wheat etc).
Definitely something to look into, I myself know little about it except that it is durable and is used in flooring...
No mention of the serious quantity of resins/glues required to build one of these from wood. Epoxy and Polyester based glues are not exactly kind to the environment, I wonder what their co2 emissions add to the equation.
They could use hemp base products...
Glue can be made from potatoes. So it's actually carbon negative
@@seasong7655 Potatoes carbon neutral? Not unless you source your seed potatoes ethically and grow them in your own permaculture garden. You should take a deeper look at the commercial potato industry. But I agree, it has the potential to be a better solution.
He provided the lifetime emissions for the tower, is there a valid reason to assume the figure was missing critical components of the wood lamination process?
@@bakedbeings If the quantity of resins and energy required was included in that statement, why not draw attention to it if it is somehow been offset in a positive way? Call me cynical but I have been around long enough to not overlook detail when it is missing. Sadly the desire get on a bandwagon more often than not overshadows reality. Just my opinion, I look forward to the component breakdown. 🙂
Thank you for another fascinating video. The resurgence of timber construction is a really intriguing development, particularly for large scale structures that are typically made with concrete and steel. Imo though, it would also be a good idea for industry to try and develop ways for wind turbines to last longer. The highest barrier to adoption of wind powered renewable energy is the cost of installation and maintenance. A turbine that lasts twice as long is basically half the cost in any particular year when amortized over the total lifetime of the device.
The wind turbines are being designed for long lifetimes, as long as the blades are repaired and maintained.
Great video as always
I would use the fiberboard they can make from the old blades to be the structural backings of solar panels
Hi and thanks from Thought Stream UK on Facebook
A good way to reuse the blades is to cut them into 1 meter slices, and then use the rings of Fibreglass as the border for a raised garden bed. Would be funky shapes in the garden!
Great video thank you
3:53 I Think there is a mistake there. Wood is lighter per volume then steel, but steel is stronger per weight.
Thank you for your time energy and effort in producing this channel. I wish more people would listen and just have a think.
On a subject related to your work, I was considering the carbon and methane capture technologies and a rather simple issue occurred to me. All the equipment is built upon the ground or the Terrasphere or the Troposphere, while the problems are in the upper atmosphere. It's like trying to suck water through a straw without putting the straw in the glass of water. Not to effective! There are several layers to the earths atmosphere at least 7. I'm looking forward to supporting you in a modest way $.
Thank you very much. Good to see that the current manufacturing already seeking technology That Is 100% Reduce , Reuse , Recycle From Day One
This is serious innovation at work followed importantly by practical commercialization. More buildings are being made from mass timber too. There is a 23-storey student housing tower made of mass timber from sustainable local sources (cross-laminated slabs, glue-laminated columns) using steel pins and bolts at the joints at the University of British Columbia, designed by Vancouver architect Michael Green. Wooden high-rises ... who would have thought?
Seems like a win at all levels.
Regarding fire resistance. Wind turbines are also unlikely to be installed with forests up close. A grass fire does not generate the sustained heat that would be required to threaten the integrity of the tower.
Great show, good info easily explained.
How about lap pools. How big are they?
Seeing that bicycle shelter.
The blades could be used at parks for sun shelters.
Two halves could fitted together and sealed at the top edge to make small barns or carports.
By closing in the ends, possibly a small home.
Paulownia trees are one of the fastest growing hardwoods, can be ready to harvest in about 7 years, if I'm not mistaken. and once harvested, it will grow back from the stump, pretty sustainable. Other options are hemp composite and bamboo.
Has anyone ever tried to build a wind funnel? I run through downtown Houston, and even on a not so windy day, the wind around tall buildings is much stronger. Big piles of dirt forcing the wind to go through hundreds of small turbines seems cheaper than building huge structures.
There are several companies that tried this. Sheerwind and Windrail are two examples. You're correct that this should be exploited, and smaller wind turbines could meet this especially if there is adequate storage.
@@lawrencetaylor4101 Thanks for the reply. Just being on the ground makes maintenance cheaper also.
@@lawrencetaylor4101 There are turbines being fitted to the poles of street lights to make use of wind from passing traffic.
iv also heard that the vertical wind turbines are gunna be used along motorways to make use of the wind that comes off the traffic
@@kimwarburton8490 as seen here on just have a think!
As always, thanks for the great video!
Cheers Robert :-)
While conventional wind turbines are more efficient than the Verical Axis machines at this time. By my understanding the vertical axis machines can be installed at a higher density. The bigger the conventional wind turbine the more land area the wind farm* takes up. Plus vertical axis machines would have major benefits from an engineering standpoint.
1) The generator set can be installed at ground or base level. This should reduce the structural requirements on the tower.
2) Elimination of the drive mechanism needed to point the turbine in the most efficient direction.
3) All of your major components are at ground level with the exception of the upper bearing assembly are at ground level easing any maintenance requirements.
4) If the tower is less massive this should reduce the materials required for the foundation. Just how many tons of concrete are required for the average wind turbines foundation? And how much CO2 is produced by that mass of concrete
I'm surprised that we haven't seen more effort in pursuing this technology. Sometimes chasing the last bit of efficiency while delaying the introduction of something is a losing proposition IMO.
*The best areas for wind farms in a lot of regions would be in agricultural areas. Aside from off shore locations.
Just a note and wood stuff:
If you treat dry wood with raw linseed oil, it will last about a hundred years and it actually makes it stronger. The oil soaks in and after a few months turns into a material that is a lot like plastic. Water cant get past it.
I see the "Timber Tower" in Hannover, the world's first wooden wind turbine, on my way to work every day. Going strong since 2012
Great idea
There is also "engineered wood" which is hardwood plus resin composites... such a brilliant way to prefab construction
Great stuff!
There was a prototype wooden tower that I would've expected to hear about in this video: The "Timber Tower" built in Hannover, Germany, back in 2012 was the first of its kind. It was a first attempt to answer the question "can we build wind turbines out of wood?". It stands there to this day, supplying the research facilities with electricity. Unfortunately, most of the media coverage to be found is in German, but there are surely some English-language publications about it.
How many trees do you think it takes to make just one of these towers? This sounds like the dumbest idea ever. Wind power itself is dumb IMO. Can we make it work, sure, but at what cost?
The world's energy requirements are set to triple in the next century as people stop buying gas cars and go EVs.
If the people of the world wants to make us use solar and wind primarily, you're lookin' at having to build literally millions of these things...
Tis a joke. Nuclear is hte only power source capable of supplanting fossil fuels.
Several businesses in our area have repurposed smaller turbine blades as signs for their businesses.
5:06 Modvion says in their paper that their wooden towers have a 25-30 year design due to exceeding the lifetime of mechanical parts of the turbine. Wouldn't it make more sense on a bigger scale further down the track to be designing the tower for a 50-60 year operation so that you can just uninstall mechnical parts and reinstall new ones without having to touch the base and tower itself?
I wonder if an ideal of adding a "sap" producing tool to such wind generators that constantly creates coating at the top that drips down the sides, effectively keeping the device constantly newly coated with protective coverings.
Cycle shelters would be so nice!
Seeing your list of new pateons, it seems I'm not the only french guy listening to this channel ! ^^
Je pense que tu as raison Benjamin :-)
I don’t know about IKEA, but your explanations are totally comprehensible.
Bless you Ron. Much appreciated :-)
As usual, brilliant!!!!
Shouldn’t IKEA do TH-cam videos for assembling their products.
Brilliant idea 😊
@@royharkins7066
true
especially since they can add ads and stuff
Swedes are naturally mechanical minded; both boys and girls love to fiddle with everything!
They probably do, but it's still more important to have them be buildable with no knowledge/access to internet
i don't really feel like that's a big deal. if you have access to an ikea you should likely be able to find a library or other place which provides internet. or at the very least a mobile phone that can connect to celluar, they could have qr codes on the furniture boxes which link to videos for assembly. or at least detailed instructions
regardless of how well the instruct pictures are if you aren't familiar with ikea furniture it's tricky to assemble.
I wonder how good will be if the blades are made out of thin wood, covered with fiberglass. I've seen one youtube channel comparing regular wooden plank with plank covered with 1 layer of fiberglass (he said that many small boats are made out of wood covered with fiberglass giving it stiffness and waterproof properties) and there was lot of difference in strength.
The blades need to be lightweight and strong but also really, really stiff. Wood isn't good enough. They can barely get away with a fiberglass construction while making the blades over a hundred meters long. Carbon fiber would be way better mechanically but very expensive and has more CO2 emissions.
I don't see it replacing metal turbines only as alternative in a needed area if called for...
I expect blades will all be formed from synthetic resin, one that can be dissolved from old blades and reused in making new ones. For fiber content, graphene comes to mind, but hemp or other natural fibers may be strong enough, may use multiple types of fiber, research and test, repeat till it's perfect.
@@w0ttheh3ll sandwich construction increases stiffness enormously while decreasing weight, at least for boat construction purposes. From the image of the repurposed blade, the grp is solid for blades. Perhaps the strength to weight calculation changes at these scales? Side note: in composite work, balsa wood is a relatively cost effective core material, but not the lightest or strongest.
My understanding is that some blades are made from balsa wood with fiber glass finish. I also understand that the price of balsa has increased because of its use in wind turbines.
Wood is amazingly durable as it is a type of composite material.
Old fibreglass turbine blades could be very useful for flood control.
Thnaks for this, I've seen research on this in the last couple of years. Another piece of the puzzle would be to build enough airships to use for transportation, installation and maintenance. They could even be solar powered to significantly diminish the impact on the environment as well as the carbon footprint.
FYI fossil fuels are not recyclable. At all.
Well, fossil fuels are not recyclable if you burn them, unless you capture the CO2 and make something out of it. That would be thermodynamically pointless, though, since you can make stuff directly out of hydrocarbons for a lot less money.
@@incognitotorpedo42
That's where I think the fossil fuel Industries going to try to say that they are environmentally friendly. By saying they are capture, when they are a producer. But it's a fear, so only something to watch for.
I love the idea of airships, especially solar powered ones. The ideal might be to "fill" them with vacuum. That is: pump the air out of them instead of using a lifting gas. They'd need to be braced with extremely strong and lightweight material to withstand atmospheric pressure across a large area, but the problem of keeping air out of a large bag should be simpler than the one of trying to keep helium or hydrogen in.
@@Kevin_Street I think most people [ myself included ] love airships, so every few decades or so there seems to be a resurgence of interest in their revival. Unfortunately they have some disadvantages which are next to impossible to overcome. Basically there are two types - rigid structures and non-rigid [ also known as a blimp, which is basically a keel supported by a pressurized ballon ]. Both types suffer from leakage of the lifting gas. The near-insurmountable problem with rigids is that wind sheer when encountered can rip the structure apart.
One thing that a lighter than air [ LTA ] body does NOT do well is act like a high lift helicopter because when the load is released there is a need to deal with the excess lift. Rather than vent most of the lifting gas, the classic way this is dealt with is to take on ballast [ typically water ] as the load is released, which introduces another set of problem in practical terms. Finally I think I'm on safe ground when I say that a ' solar powered ' LTA will never be successful. But that is another story !
@@crustyoldfart Thanks for the reply! There are certainly a lot of interesting problems that need to be overcome in regard to airships.
That statement about the potential energy generation growing as the cube of the wind speed was eye opening. I'm curious though-- combining more powerful winds (lateral force) and a longer "lever" means the amount of force at the base goes up dramatically too, doesn't it? So how does the engineering account for this-- and minimize the chance of one of these getting blown over, followed by tons of debris being hurled downrange?
In sites where the predominant wind is highly directional, I can imagine one or more supporting legs on the leeward, "not gonna get smacked by the rotor" side. However all of the images in this video-- and the wind turbines I've seen in the wild-- show a solitary tower, one that touches the ground and concentrates force in a single location.
Is this wooden construction intended for onshore turbines only? I'm thinking how resilient they will be to sea spray and how well they will cope with sea gales if used for offshore wind farms.
Just another hair-brained scheme from the wind power crowd.
Are you familiar with these things called sailing ships? They require maintenance but timber structures have been operating in marine environments for literal centuries.
@@brucewilson77 But, what is this hare-brained scheme works? Wouldn't that be great?!
@@AlRoderick Sailing vessels are typically built from hard woods such as oak. These towers are built from Spruce which is a softwood. The open grain of softwoods makes them porous and prone to moisture absorption. That absorption makes it unsuitable for maritime usage.
@@UKSimon4170 Balsa has been used for a sailing boat.
Here I am, having a think... Great video, thanks!
it would be nice to see more air ship transport for these instalations there must be huge saveings to be had there.
An interesting building material to use in these constructions may be bamboo, which grows a lot faster than most softwood and has excellent physical properties. I also wonder whether a wooden windmill produces less noise, which is important in built-up areas.
I was thinking the same thing. It's a bit trickier to make veneer from bamboo but doable. It's generally stronger than wood and more fire resistant. If the wooden towers take off I'm sure they'll explore bamooo as an option.
"Indeed I have not seen them roused like this for many an age. We Ents do not like being roused; and we never are roused unless it is clear to us that our trees and our lives are in great danger."
-Treebeard, regarding wooden wind turbines, obviously
He knows the Ents need to protect the planet!
I have a Ms.c. in forestry and woodtechnology. Some 20+ years ago, I worked at the Danish Institute of Technology dept. of Wood. My main task was to develop a programe for teaching the danish furniture industry to exploite the environmentally aspects of their wood products, in their marketing. The very short version is, that when growing trees for one (!) cbm of solid wood products, you will need an increment of 4 cbm in the forest. 2 cbm will be felled as small trees (thinning), trees which can be used for particleboards, energy etc. These first 2 cbm are very important as they help to define the quality - and thereby the technical possibilities - for the last 2 cbm, that will be felled for delivering the only cbm of solid wood, you will find in the end product. From these biggest 2 cbm of logs, roughly 1 cbm will be chips and other byproducts, and only the last cbm will be found as solid wood in the end product. This last cbm - as far as it is used in a durable construction - buildings, towers for windturbines etc. it represents a carbon storage. (a rough measure is that one cbm of solid wood more or less equalizes 1 ton of CO2. The experience is, that the bark and sawdust alone from the one cbm that are sawn, represents more energy, than used in the sawmill.
When only having 1 of 4 cbm in our primary product cbm in our primary product it could look like a lot of waste is produced. The remaining 3 cbm of wood is not waste. It can / will / should be used for a number of purposes - OSB-boards, energy just to name 2. Often these products will have shorter life spand compared to the main product. Never the less the still acts like carbon sinks, and provided the wood is used for substituting other materials, the benefits becomes huge.
OSB panels ARE NOT BEING RECOGNIZED AS THE LOW QUALITY JUNK THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here in Canada new home construction uses a lot of OSB material and it DOES NOT HOLD NAILS AS WELL AS ACTUAL WOOD PLANKS - thus we see shingles being more easily stripped from roofs on new construction than is normal for older construction using solid wood when storms hit!!!!!!!!!!
And it does not help that OSB panels being used are VERY OFTEN THINNER than the older wood planks that used to be quite common .......................
thus lighter, thinner material that does not hold nails so well has contributed to the damage allegedly caused by "global warming"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In related news - there simply IS NOT A MARKET for another massive new supply of OSB thus there is NO REASON TO EXPAND THE SUPPLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@abellseaman4114 I´m afraid, that your comment may be right. Being a forester , some of my carrier has been to battle engineers. In my experience a lot of progresses will be lost by reducing dimensions and quality as far as calculations can bring you.
@@clausbuhlsrensen602 One has only to drive past any new housing subdivision under construction in Canada to see the heaps of OSB panels awaiting installation on roofs.........................
and one has only to note the rising number of roofs being blown off newer construction - while older buildings ride out storms more safely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course this issue of wind damage to roofs may also be a result of shingles being installed using staples rather than with hand drive nails as staples do not provide the same resistance to wind as large head nails.......................
and of course a pneumatic gun shooting staples is FASTER than a guy with a hammer and nails - so we can again easily blame shoddy materials for growing amounts of damage allegedly from climate change!!!!!!!!!
When I was younger and in the construction biz we noted that standard plywood made the old way with actual layers of solid wood glued together - WOULD RESIST DELAMINATION when wet for a notably LONGER TIME than OSB panels!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But so could using an omi direction sail based wind turbine. But using 3 sails on a single axis that can produce electricity whichever the wind is blowing. And you don't need to even make them have to be so high to do it. Also if a solar sail material is used with a magnifying glass that can change direction to hit the sail at the best angles at all times. Then you can have electricity generation at all times. And at any level of elevation. Add in a glass water tank that uses magnifier to boil the water in the glass. To create steam to turn the electric turbine. As of course other renewable. Which should include every home, business, public building, residences, and public areas. That have a modified septic system to draw out the methane/natural gas. And you can be 100% renewable. And cover any and all energy needs. For everything from transportation, electricity, cars, homes, and so on. The larger the population the more energy produced. Nevermind the jobs, small businesses, and other economic benefits such a green renewable infrastructure would bring.
Repurposed ideas: sections of blades could be connected together to make sub-surface drains or utility tunnels. The wider thicker sections could be sliced into 3m sections and made into aerodynamic trailers. Cut horizontal they could form tanks og even small boats.
composite wood likely also handle the bending forces on a tower better than steel. The top of a big turbine sways more than 5M in certain conditions.
bigups Adebayo!
Very interesting
Gotta love how it was stood vertical using a 500mm long spirit level!!!
Have you seen the Lagerwey climbin crane system that uses flat pack steel modules and an integrated crane that uses the wind turbine tower itself as it's crane structure?
Get your new Wyndkaptür at Ikea! Don't forget to have some wood pulp MeatballsTM while there.
You could take a small section of the blade and make s really cool camper
YES wood is and has always been a marvellous material, and unless we destroy the planet, should also always be available. One problem is though that both steel and wood prices fluctuate wildly in response to market forces, and should be viewed in the same way as pork bellies or orange juice. Oh and BTW that company which turns out cheap furniture which you have to assemble at home with a screw driver and one of those nifty little hex keys, might be well advised to use more wood in their products in place of that hodge podge stuff which appears to be wood chips stuck together with lots of glue !
Making things out of woodchips means it is an upcycled waste matterial. Not great for everything but when it can be done it should be.
@@trikepilot101 Oh I think it's clear that it CAN be done but it does not necessarily follow that it SHOULD be done. To the manufacturer, the main concern is being able to maximize his selling price.
An interesting question is what is the aggregate effect of putting a waste product to use and the concomitant adverse environmental effect of synthetic glue production - even disregarding the environmental cost of disposal of the furniture at the end of its useful life.
Laminated bamboo, laminated bamboo, laminated bamboo.
If they can manage to genetically change all our grains and fruits as they now do maybe they could grow giant bamboo
Doesn't grow well in Sweden
@@seamuscharles9028 giant bamboo grows in the tropics
@@julianshepherd2038 I was kinda thinking 100 + meters😁
There is windturbine at Hannover, Germany that has a wood tower. It was made by the company Timbertower GmbH in 2012. These times they where advertising on every wind energy fair. But i thnk it was the only demonstration project, now the company does not exist any more.
The tower is 100m tall, on top there is a Vensys 77 1,5MW direct drive turbine.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windkraftanlage_Hannover-Marienwerder
with so many new cool applications for lumber, we really need scientists to work on improving tree genetics - e.g. faster growth, stronger, etc.
Trees have incredible complex genetics - many more chromosomes than humans, so this is not a trivial task. Also, from standard genetic selection tree improvement programs so far, there are always tradeoffs. You can select for trees that grow faster OR stronger, but not both (fast-growing wood does not have enough of the internal layers that give hardwoods their strength). It's also incredibly important to include genetic diversity in your tree improvement program (and if possible a mix of tree species in any plantation), as the long lifecycle of trees (compared to food crops) means that they are highly vulnerable to pest invasions (insects, fungi, etc.) if you try to grow cloned monocultures.
Tldr; nice idea, but impractical at the moment.
@@davidbarry6900 what about bamboo? i know asian contries use it for scaffolding
@@kimwarburton8490 Bamboo is amazing stuff, but not useful in the same ways as traditional soft and hardwoods - and is difficult to turn into laminated structural wood products like the wood turbine towers mentioned in the video above.
Bamboo definitely has scope to be used in creative ways in the construction industry. It's not that easy to ship the raw bamboo around the world though, so it's better to find innovative ways to use bamboo in the regions where it actually grows well.
You can build as big as you like on the Cromarty Firth, then tow them out to sea. No road required...
I believe those blades could be used in structural construction if transportation is viable. I seen a pedestrian bridge made of those.