doi:10.3850/9789628014194_0083

ABSTRACT

There are four main factors controlling the amount of wind energy which can be converted through building-integrated wind turbines: the wind climate characterising the location of the project, the building aerodynamics (i.e. the building envelope / form and scale), the wind turbine technology and the efficiency associated with each step of the conversion chain (e.g. aerodynamic conversion, mechanical transmission, electrical conversion and grid connection). The present paper focuses on the experimental and analysis techniques aimed to assess the interaction between ‘wind climate’, ‘building aerodynamics’, and ‘aerodynamic conversion’, whilst the efficiency associated with mechanical transmission, electrical conversion and grid connection will be considered fixed (total contribution in the region of ~70-80%) throughout this document. It is important to point out that the authors believe that, in order to make the installation of building-integrated wind turbines commercially valuable, existing available wind turbine technology should be employed in the context of aerodynamically optimised building arrangement.

Keywords: Aerodynamics conversion, Building aerodynamics, Building-integrated wind turbines, Green building design, Wind climate, Wind energy.

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