Wind generates enough energy to produce  about 35 times more electricity than  

the entire planet could even use each  day. It's free, clean, and renewable,  

so why don't we see more wind turbines  used on rooftops like solar panels?

In a nutshell, it's the blades. More moving parts  means more complexity, and you don't have to worry  

about that with solar. But what if we could  contain those moving parts in a way that's  

safer and more efficient? Using a similar design  as the “wings” on race cars, Aeromine Technologies  

has done just that. Its turbine works on rooftops  without exposed blades, all while taking up far  

less space than solar panels. Can the Aeromine  make generating wind energy on rooftops a breeze?

I'm Matt Ferrell ... welcome to Undecided.

Along with other renewables, the use of wind  energy is growing. In 2021, turbines contributed  

about 9% of the utility-scale generation of  electricity in the U.S, which is a big jump  

from less than 1% in 1990. Wind also produces a  lot more power than solar in general. Last year,  

wind energy generated more than twice the  electricity of solar in the United States.

As effective as wind turbines can be, they still  have their limitations. That's because the giant  

propellers that you see dotting landscapes are  imposing in more ways than one. Their high upfront  

costs, maintenance requirements, and effects  on wildlife all present significant challenges.

Small wind turbines, or SWTs, are no different,  with factors like their sound, height,  

and aesthetics often hindering their practicality.  They can vibrate, which leads to both noise and  

structural issues. Unstable wind flows can cause  turbulence, stressing the turbine's components.  

And nearby buildings can affect the wind path,  significantly reducing their power capacity.

Basically, there's a reason why you probably  associate wind turbines with rolling hills  

(or grinding wheat), not gables and chimneys.  They're just not as easy to adapt to rooftops  

the way solar panels are. We've discussed these  difficulties in depth in a previous video.

Aeromine aims to solve that problem.  The company claims its “motionless”  

turbine can generate as much as 50%  more energy than solar panels using  

10% of the space. To understand how  the Aeromine can accomplish this,  

though, we need to take a quick step back and  explain how conventional wind turbines work.

It all comes down to airfoils. Anything that you  need to function aerodynamically requires one:  

airplanes, helicopters, pinwheels, and of course,  wind turbines. In fact, turbines in the U.S.  

initially used the same airfoil type as airplane  wings before scientists developed blade-specific  

ones. Without the feather-like shape of airfoils,  we wouldn't be able to conquer the skies.

The purpose of an airfoil is to make physics  work for you. Both turbines and airplanes want  

more lift than drag, so they use airfoils  to take advantage of the Bernoulli Effect.  

This refers to how gasses and liquids  flow around an object at different  

speeds. A slower-moving fluid (like  air) will build up more pressure than  

a faster-moving fluid, and this forces  objects toward the faster-moving fluid.

The layout of an airplane wing causes  air to flow faster over the top side  

and slower on the bottom side.This results  in the bottom side producing the higher air  

pressure needed for the lift that gets planes  off the ground – and the blades of turbines  

moving. And as the rotor of the turbine spins,  it powers a generator, producing electricity.

In the case of auto racing, though, you  don't want your car to go flying. That's why  

both the contours of the car's chassis and the  “wings” that engineers stick on its surface are  

_upside-down_ airfoils. As the air underneath  the car moves faster than the air above it,  

negative lift, or downforce, pushes down on it.  This downforce stabilizes vehicles and allows  

them to maintain speed as they turn corners. What does this have to do with Aeromine? Well,  

the airfoils on race cars are  stationary, and so are “Formula  

1” style airfoils that power the company's  turbine. Looking at it from the exterior,  

there's no exposed moving parts. Instead,  two vertically mounted, hollow foils stand  

opposite each other with a space between  them. This creates a low-pressure zone,  

and as wind flows through the space, it's  drawn through perforations in the wings.  

A short pipe then leads the captured wind to a  fully enclosed turbine located at ground level.

Several of the weaknesses that hold typical  turbines back are addressed by the structure  

of an Aeromine. Because the turbine-generator is  housed inside, it's both protected from extreme  

weather and inaccessible to people and animals,  eliminating a major safety concern.The company  

claims that the Aeromine is silent and that  its lack of exposed moving parts means less  

maintenance.It also can operate with wind  speeds as low as 5 mph (8 kph). In contrast,  

conventional turbines need wind speeds  of 9 mph (15 kph) or higher to operate.

How do Aeromines compare to solar?  Right now, the answer is a little vague,  

or at least not yet verified. Its  website claims that “a single Aeromine  

unit provides the same amount of power as  up to 16 solar panels,” but doesn't offer  

any specs. We do have a rough idea of what  the Aeromine might be capable of, though,  

because the company participated in the  2021 AFWERX Reimagining Energy Challenge,  

a U.S. Department of Defense crowdfunding  program. At its “virtual booth,” Aeromine  

rates its turbines for 5 kW and estimates  that each one could produce 14.3 MWh annually.

To put that into perspective, a 5 kW  rating is comparable to the power of  

the average 21-panel rooftop home solar system.  

These types of setups generally produce  about 4.5 MWh of electricity a year.

As for costs, a 2019 analysis published  by Aeromine in collaboration with Sandia  

National Laboratories and Texas Tech  University estimated that the turbine  

can be installed at $2,400 per kW.By comparison,  

the average cost of constructing solar panels  of all types was $1,655 per kW in 2020.However,  

only time will tell how closely the actual cost  of the Aeromine matches the company's estimate.

Let's be clear, though: Aeromines are  not the kind of turbine you'll see on  

a single-family home. In the company's  own words, they're intended for “large,  

flat rooftop buildings” like warehouses, data  centers, and big-box retail stores. And remember,  

the airfoils are stationary. Their angle won't  change even when the wind's direction does,  

so they're best suited for locations where there  isn't much variation in the wind's direction.

Aeromines aren't commercially available  yet; the company hopes to have them  

on the market by 2023. However, one  unit is currently undergoing testing  

on top of the roof of a BASF Corporation  manufacturing plant in Wyandotte, Michigan.  

In theory, a fully deployed Aeromine system would  look like 20 to 40 turbines lining the edge of the  

building in a row, spaced about 4.6 meters apart  and facing the predominant wind direction. The  

company emphasizes that because the turbines  leave room for panels, they're “complementary”  

to solar, allowing for power production to  continue after sunset or on cloudy days.

Luckily, we don't have to wait for the Aeromine  to witness the potential of rooftop wind energy.  

The Dutch company IBIS Power is already  demonstrating the benefits of combining  

solar panels with small turbines with a form of  installation called a “PowerNEST.” PowerNESTs  

are specifically designed to blend  in with the existing architecture  

of a city. They require a flat roof on a  building with a minimum of five floors.

Attempting to harness wind energy  within a metropolitan area usually  

isn't logistically possible. But  PowerNESTs integrate small turbines,  

funnels, and solar panels into what IBIS refers  to as a modular “kinetic sculpture” to maximize  

the amount of electricity a single roof can  produce. In each “nest,” turbines and funnels  

lie beneath a raised platform of bifacial  solar panels. The company claims that this  

arrangement provides as much as six times more  energy than solar panels could generate alone.

How is this possible? With more physics  — this time the Venturi effect. Have you  

ever held your thumb over the end of  a garden hose while the water was on  

and noticed the flow speed up? That's the  Venturi effect in action. As a fluid moves  

through a constricted space, like  a funnel, its velocity increases.

IBIS claims that the PowerNEST's use of the  Venturi effect accelerates the wind's speed  

by 140 to 160%. Its turbines can also turn  in wind speeds as low as about 4.5 mph. 

Meanwhile, the solar panels are optimized  through their placement on a raised platform,  

which means covering a bit more  than the entire area of the roof,  

rather than only about 40%.Plus, the wind cools  the solar panels as it travels below them,  

which can translate into a 10  to 25% boost in efficiency.

Europe saw the construction of the  first commercial PowerNEST in 2019,  

and so far, the results seem promising  in terms of how well it gets along with  

its neighbors. According to a 12-month  study of a demo version of the PowerNEST,  

an installation atop a residential complex  in the Dutch city of Utrecht caused no noise  

or vibration in the apartment below it. The  building's residents didn't have any complaints,  

and the company states that it discovered zero  bird or bat casualties inside or near the system.

This past July, IBIS constructed a PowerNEST  atop Haasje Over, a 70-meter residential tower  

in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. With  296 solar panels and four turbines,  

the company estimates that the modules will  generate “no less than 140 MWh a year.”  

IBIS is in the midst of installing more PowerNESTs  in the Netherlands and Belgium, and the company's  

CEO, Alexander Suma, has also expressed interest  in major U.S. cities like Boston and New York.

Concepts like the Aeromine and the PowerNEST  show us that small wind turbines can not  

only be effective independently, but  even more impactful in the way that  

they can diversify our renewable energy  sources — meaning more energy generation,  

more of the time. It's like peanut butter and  chocolate: Why have one when you could have both?

If you'd like to learn more about some of the  concepts behind these wind turbines the physics  

invovled, I'd strongly recommend checking out  the “Classical Mechanics” and "Electricity and  

Magnitism" courses at today's sponsor, Brilliant.  All of their courses are highly interactive and  

the "Classical Mechanics" course covers things  like the conservation of energy and drag forces,  

which applies directly to wind turbines. And  the "Electricity and Magnetism" course will  

walk you through how that kinetic energy  is used to generate electricity to power  

the things we use everyday. These courses have  helped me refresh my knowledge and to wrap my  

head around some of the more complex concepts.  There's so many other lessons to chose from.  

Everything from Logic to Solar Energy. The more  we understand the science behind these problems,  

the better we can solve them. And you can go at  your own pace, learning a little bit each day.  

But the best part is how hands-on the interactive  courses are, which is the best way to learn. Join  

over 11 million people learning on Brilliant  today. Go to https://brilliant.org/Undecided  

to sign up for free. And also, the first  200 people will get 20% off their annual  

premium membership. Thanks to Brilliant and  to all of you for supporting the channel.

So what do you think? Do you think any of these  wind turbine concepts have a shot? Jump into the  

comments and let me know and be sure to check  out my follow up podcast Still TBD where we'll  

be discussing some of your feedback. If you  liked this video, be sure to check out one of  

these videos over here. And thanks to all of my  patrons for your continued support, you really  

make these videos possible. And thanks to all of  you for watching. I'll see you in the next one.