Cattail-Like Windstalks Generate Electricity By Blowing in the Wind

What whether a wind energy technology could be beautiful, silent and as much a threat to flying creatures as trees?  A lovely new design called Windstalks by New York design firm Atelier DNA accomplishes all of those things.

The concept resembles tall cattails that generate electricity by moving with the wind.  Each stalk is a 180-feet-tall carbon-fiber flexible poll that is a foot wide at the base, tapering to two-inches wide at the

top.  Each is secured in a 33 to 66-feet-wide concrete base.  The stalks are outfitted with layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material.  As the stalks blow in the wind, the bending motions compress the discs and an electric current is generated.

The concept won the Land Art Generator competition sponsored by Masdar

City. For the Masdar design, Atelier envisioned a wind farm featuring […]

[Source] Cynthia