mdmathis6 wrote: “There is a wind turbine design that was used in Spain where the turbine sits horizontally in side of a tower and the wind comes in through openings in the tower and drives the turbine.”
Do these horizontal towers rotate to follow the wind?
From what I remembered when I saw the specials on wind energy the inlets were designed so that no matter the wind direction , a breeze would always get to the turbines. I think that is why there was a little less efficiency than with the exposed turbines. Now I have seen some designs and you-tubes done by engineering students that suggest such enclosed vertical turbine systems, depending on the angle of the blade and how the wind would be channeled, could have greater efficiency at a given wind speed(than exposed conventional turbines) by means of venturie effects of how the wind could be channeled into a smaller space; but like anything else involving a conservation of mass and energy, you can have a greater push but loss of over all current(again probably why the Spanish “Towers” had lesser start up efficiency).
Now Spain also has conventional wind turbines as well but the ones I saw were looked like chimney towers poking up out of the ground.
It seems to me wind power could be good supplements to power in marginal areas but couldn’t replace what the big plants do. If you want to protect birds, and one is looking to improve wind power devices, then enclosed vertical spiral type turbines would be the way to do it. The inlets and towers could be screened to keep the birds out.