Has anyone noticed the turbine blades have fallen off?

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No, the blades are still up there.

If the blades are turned at right angle away from you, they aren't very noticable.

Can someone please explain why the blades are so thin? I would have thought that to catch the wind you would need broad surfaces, like a sail for a sailing boat. How does a windmill manage to catch enough wind to make electricity efficiently if the rotor blades are so small and slim?

It's all a matter of good science and careful engineering. Big fat blades can actually be much less effective because they present a large friction surface that the air has to travel over.

Those thin blades are very carefully shaped to efficiently squeeze the maximum amount of energy from the moving air. It doesn't intuitively look correct, but it works well. It's also why the wings of an airliner and the blades of a helicopter rotor seem so small relative to the weight they have to support.

Oh, and big fat blades would also make much more noise as they sweep past the tower base, a sort of loud 'whop-whop' sound that is quite disturbing. It takes a lot of energy to make that noise, which means that much less going to make electricity.

Ain't science wonderful ?!

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Lead me not into temptation;
I can find it myself, thank you.

Yes, velly intelestink, so it would be a pity to let the topic drop without some more questions.

How do the people who design these windmill blades work this out? Is it by trial and error, putting up lots of weird shapes and eliminating one each week? Or do they do it by mathematics first, keying in data and doing a magic dy/dx calculation so that the optimum design specifications magically pop up on the computer screen?

Both. People have been designing propellors and wings for over 100 years (and windmills for centuries). Computer modelling these days does most of the work. Then they test promising designs with scale models in wind tunnels. But our own turbine isn't experimental at all, it's an off-the-shelf item.

Yes, they just bought a DIY kit.

Yes, Yogesh, that's exactly what they did.
HEC had no expertise in wind energy, so they bought a DIY kit. No kidding.

The manufacturer ships all the individual parts and assembly instructions; then HEC's engineers have to put the thing together and connect it to the Cable Road besides it. Something new for HEC's engineers to learn, install and play with. I assume they love the opportunity.

It's an American-built model, I believe, the key components like the turbine built by Nordex in Connecticut?

Correct, Down the Deli?

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Maybe we could take HKE's example and try a few individual windmill self-help projects. This would be in the interests of promoting renewable energy and also to increase the value of our humble dormitories and stone houses.

Hey, I like it! How much rent?

Looking at my latest electricity bill, just the free power in this romantic little shack might almost cover the rent!

If it has a windpower-driven grain mill as well - like most of these ancient windmills - then we could even make our own flour for cooking & baking?

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Then you'd better grow some wheat in your backyard first, before it's planted with non-native trees.

Turbine is German built and designed. They seem to have cornered the market in wind energy globally. Stock tip: Nordex.

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Thanks ... I was wondering if they were German or Danish. The Danes have built some pretty impressive installations along their coast, sitting in shallow water on the tide flats. They are the world leader at the moment, getting almost 20% of their electricity from wind power, using more than 5,500 turbines, er, Quixotines.

Here's something to think about ... the social effects of wind power: http://www.akf.dk/eng/wind0.htm

Personally I'm for wind power, but a huge row of turbines along the hilltops of Lamma would be too disruptive, I think.

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Lead me not into temptation;
I can find it myself, thank you.

The thought just occurred to me ... if you put a row of Quixotines along the ridges of Lantau and wired them up backwards, could you blow the air pollution back up the Pearl River??

_________________
Lead me not into temptation;
I can find it myself, thank you.