We all know the basics of how a wind turbine works. Using passing winds as an energy source, a typical wind turbine converts kinetic energy into useable electricity.
While many wind turbines are large and found in mountainous regions or open fields, the Enlil has a more urban source of wind energy. By plopping this tiny tower in the middle of a street, even one with relatively little traffic, it captures the wind of passing vehicles and convert it into electricity.
This relatively small wind turbine is easily installed on an island between traffic lanes, where it captures the winds from both directions of traffic flow.
And for moments when there are fewer cars to qualify its usefulness on any given day, the Enlil has a built-in solar panel to take in solar energy as well. Combined with its wind turbine capabilities, the Enlil is capable of generating up to 1kw/h (enough to power two households for a single day).
Apart from providing an easily accessible source of electricity in cities, the urban setting of the Enlil gives it another use: monitoring.
Located inside the wind turbine are a bevy of sensors which measure the city’s temperature, CO2 emissions, earthquake intensity, and of course, wind strength and direction. Plop a couple of these babies in a city and you easily map a ton of information that could help improve cities all over the globe.
The Enlil is still in its prototyping phase, but as soon as testing is complete, the goal is to locate in larger cities worldwide. It’s an ingenious multi-functional solution that could both supplement our energy use and possibly even save lives with the data it is simultaneously able to gather.
