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Tornadoes: The next great source of electricity?
July 11, 2008
While living in eastern Massachusetts I have had minimal exposure and experience with tornadoes. As anyone who has ever watched the news during tornado season in the US, I am well aware of the fact that this natural phenomenon is wild, uncontrollable, and devastating to those affected.
What if you were told that these monsters of nature could be our next great source of energy? The image of Storm Chasers and movies like Twister make it seem impossible to control and harness such energy. Yet, Canadian engineer Louis Michaud believes he has found a way to create a tame tornado that may be used to generate electricity.
Michaud has studied tornadoes for 40 years, and suggests that it is possible to create small-scale tornadoes on demand using his device known as the Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE).
According to Michaud’s description, the AVE is “a process for capturing the energy produced when heat is carried upward by convection in the atmosphere. The process is protected by patent applications and could become a major source of electrical energy. The unit cost of energy produced with an AVE could be half the cost of the next most economical alternative.”
Ideally, a full-scale vortex engine would create a funnel cloud that would stretch several kilometers into the atmosphere. These artificial tornados would be powered at their base by waste heat. This waste heat would come from a power-generating facility.
The latest concept for design would consist of a circular wall 200 meters across and 100 meters high with no roof. The collected waste heat would be blown in through side vents, and as it spins around the walls a vortex forms creating a real tornado. As it is formed, the vortex would pull in more hot air from the vents, past turbines, and thus generate electricity.
Louis Michaud has developed a number of working models to display his concept, and calculates that a vortex engine of this size would create a tornado almost 50 meters in diameter and generate between 50 and 500 MW of electricity. Further testing is being done by Michaud and his company, AVEtec Energy, to perfect their design.
Interestingly, the Mercedes-Benz Museum, located in Stuttgart, Germany, is the home to the world’s largest artificial tornado, as documented by the Guinness Book of world records.
As engineers begin to focus on the potential power source of harboring tornadoes, it is interesting to look at the recent reports and the current data collect for this US tornado season. The 2008 season, which lasts from April through June, has been labeled as “extreme,” and in recent months the Storm Prediction Center has released data to show how strong this season is. By mid June there were over 1500 reported tornados and 118 confirmed deaths; numbers both much greater than those of recent seasons.
Posted by Melissa D'Amico on July 11, 2008 | Comments (6)
