Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/11/23/helix_wind/
Wind turbines to power phone masts
Cold Green calling?
Posted in Personal Tech, 23rd November 2009 16:03 GMT
Forget mobile phone covers made of recycled plastic bottles or handsets powered by sunlight. If you really want to make a green phone call then move to California, where some phone masts will soon run on wind energy.
Helix Wind's turbines capture wind using a helix shaped blades
Wind turbine manufacturer Helix Wind has announced plans to fit “two small wind turbines” onto mobile phone towers in Southern California, with the aim of exploring whether storms and gales are a good way of powering phone calls.
The turbines will be installed early next year and the energy production test will run for up to three months, Helix said.
Although Helix Wind hasn’t released any details about the turbines themselves, it’s reasonable to assume that the company will use its famous double helix-shaped technology.
The helix turbine works just like a normal turbine, according to Helix Wind’s website. In a home environment (as shown above) the system’s DNA-like design enables electricity to be generated in winds “as low as 10mph”.
If Helix Wind does use the DNA design then we’re guessing that both the height and size of the turbine’s blades will be increased in order to power mobile phone masts.
Helix Wind is so confident the design will work that it even said the test will explore the feasibility of selling power back to the electrical grid – apparently marking one of the first grid-connected phone mast sites powered by renewable energy in Southern California. ®