Savonius Wind Turbine

The motivation of this book is to contribute to the global trend towards clean and green energy in a feasible way. Wind is the fastest growing source of green energy worldwide however; it is limited by variable natural conditions. Highways can provide a required considerable amount of wind to drive a turbine due to rapidly moving vehicles. There are two main types of wind turbines which are categorized by their axis of rotation: horizontal axis wind turbine and vertical axis wind turbine. VAWTs are typically put into two subtypes: Darrieus and Savonius. Darrieus turbine has efficiency close to that of HAWT, but it can take a large space and can also be difficult to operate and maintain. Savonius turbine has lower power output and efficiency, but can operate better at lower wind speeds. Having wind come from multiple directions is also fine for a Savonius turbine as it can capture wind from any directions. It can thus be concluded that a Savonius turbine would operate well in the setting of a highway median. The research continues as we now look to find how much energy we could expect to get out of a Savonius turbine in a highway setting, and how feasible this practice would be.