SINGAPORE (Commonwealth Union) – With the global energy crisis hitting low- and middle-income communities across the world there is no greater time for the implementation of alternative energy that is economical and efficient.
Researchers from The Nanyang Technological University Singapore, where Professor Yang Yaowen, Associate Chair of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering who led a study, have produced an economical device that can generate energy from wind as gentle as a light breeze and keep it in storage as energy.
The encountering of winds with a speed as minor as 2 meters per second (m/s), the device can generate a voltage of 3 volts and bring about electricity power of up to 290 microwatts, which is enough to provide energy to a commercial sensor device and it can transmit the data to a mobile phone or a computer as well.
The use of wind power is not new and goes back thousands of years where wind power has been used to power boats and to pump water from underground a basic technology that goes back over 3000 years. Over the years efficiency of wind power has made it available to more home’s worldwide and the further enhancement of wind power could easily expand its reach and possibly be a solution to the current energy crisis.
The light and durable device, known as a wind harvester, also diverts any electricity that is unused to a battery, where it can be retained to energize devices during times of low wind.
The researchers stated that the invention has the ability to replace batteries in powering light emitting diode lights together with structural health monitoring sensors, which is usually applied to urban structures, such as bridges and skyscrapers, to keep watch on their structural health, notifying engineers to problems like instabilities or physical changes.
