Countries that are keen to reduce their carbon emissions are building giant solar and wind farms that will power millions of homes, while individual homeowners have the option to go solo and pick smaller energy systems that produce enough energy to keep the house and even the electric car off the grid.
Addressing the intermittency of renewables
Even after devising multiple ways of harnessing renewable energy, the major problem of intermittency of power generation still persists. One truly cannot prepare for the impact of a cloudy sky on a solar farm or look for an alternate when the winds slow down over the sea.
Power utilities are investing in giant batteries to overcome this hurdle, but when the world goes fully renewable, conventional batteries might not mature enough to fit the task. Unéole's design has a built-in backup in case renewable energy production drops. It can simply switch to another renewable source or use the partial power of both to address the energy need.
As seen in the video above, the designers have turned to vertical-axis wind turbines to harness wind power without having to build tall structures. Interesting Engineering has previously reported how vertical-axis wind turbines could make it easier to harness wind energy.
Going beyond the combination
Unéole's genius does not lie in just combining the two technologies in one setup but in going above and beyond existing technologies to make the setup truly eco-friendly. The vertical turbines are built using materials such as aluminum and stainless steel that are either recycled or can be recycled after their life cycle.