ABSTRACT
Sustainable energy production has emerged as an important part of future research and development. Capturing the kinetic energy of the wind through various turbine designs is proving to be an emission-free, and economically competitive, option. The use of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) has not experienced a recent surge in capacity, as have their horizontal axis counterparts. However, VAWTs offer several operating advantages that could be harnessed for a variety of specialized applications. The use of small wind turbines and distributed wind power generation in urban centers is considered in this entry. Three configurations are described, including Savonius, Darrieus, and H-rotor VAWTs, plus the combination of designs to produce hybrid VAWTs. Energy efficiencies are supplemented with exergy efficiencies to predict and categorize the systems’ performance, which can provide a useful utility to VAWT development by comparing the various systems with a common metric. The systems and methodologies described in this entry will give the reader an appreciation of the possible uses, advantages, and limitations of VAWTs.
