Decision Support For Urban Wind Energy Extraction
Creators: name: Cooper, Ruth
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: wind energy
sustainable building design
sustainable development
wind power
hybrid power
building augmented wind turbine
BAWT
building integrated wind turbine
BUWT
building integrated renewable energy
wind turbines
urban wind energy conversion systems
UWECS

description: The assessment of urban morphology-induced wind amplification, specifically in support of siting building-integrated and/or mounted UWECSs, is a very recent undertaking.  Only a small number of wind turbine manufacturers are even exploring the development of suitably-scaled devices whose performance characteristics are tailored to urban wind conditions.  As such, this research explored the feasibility of BAWT-theory in an urban setting through the development of a prototype Urban Wind Energy Planning (UWEP) Decision Support System (DSS). 

The prototype UWEP DSS focuses primarily on building aerodynamics-induced wind amplification, including consideration of peak-wind seasons.  Microsoft® Excel was selected as the platform for the UWEP DSS, supporting development of user forms and integral databases.  This tool is intended for a broad range of users, including the average home owner, UWECS developers, and energy planners.  With minimal user input, the UWEP DSS determines the mean wind speed within the amplification zones, the location of the amplification zones, and the energy that could potentially be generated by an appropriately-sited UWECS.

Two case study applications of the UWEP DSS were conducted to validate the estimations and demonstrate the capabilities of the tool.  The University of Toronto Robarts Library application and the Green Venture EcoHouse application yielded credible mean wind speed and potential wind energy estimates on comparison to the online wind atlases.  The EcoHouse case study application included the selection and siting of various UWECSs.  It highlighted the potential of a hypothetical wind energy conversion device being able to generate almost 40% of the 700 kWh per month, average household energy demand. 

Conversely, it demonstrated that the traditional tower-mounted horizontal axis wind turbines, situated outside of the potential amplification zones in accordance with current siting guidelines, would only be able to generate 5% of the demand.

By demonstrating the prototype UWEP DSS through an institutional and a residential application case study, it is hoped that the scope and capabilities of, and the amplified wind energy potential identified by, this tool will foster further research in urban wind energy planning, building aerodynamics-induced amplification assessment, and development of new UWECSs.  The prototype UWEP DSS appears to be the first to estimate building aerodynamics-induced amplification from peak composite pressure-gust coefficients published in building codes.  Further research is recommended to gain a better understanding of sustained, as opposed to peak, wind amplification.  The modular nature of the UWEP DSS lends itself to the modifications that will undoubtedly be required as further knowledge is developed in this field.
description: Appendices to this thesis are posted through the following site:
https://mcmaster.academia.edu/RuthCooper