Arboreal

My Collins Dictionary defines ‘Arboreal’ as ‘relating to, or resembling a tree’ so I was rather pleased when this topic arose as I have always been a bit fascinated by potential methods of producing energy from tree like devices. The subject has been around for some time as you will see from the poem below but earlier this year I was taken by a new approach.

New World Wind has brought out a wind energy device to work in urban environments with small-scale turbines designed to look like trees. The company’s ‘Aeroleaf’ technology features metal trees tipped with microturbines that resemble leaves. Though they don’t look exactly like real trees, their nature-inspired design helps reduce visual pollution in the city, according to the company’s owner, Luc Eric Krief.

New World Wind Tree

Each ‘tree’ stands between about 16 and 33 feet tall and is easy to ‘plant.’ Once the turbine is in place, a bracket and three bolts complete its construction. The structure’s small size helps avoid bird collisions, and it operates in silence. Plus, each tree functions like public art, with leaves coming in orange, blue, or green, and trunks in brown, grey, or white.

These turbines remain separate from the power grid and have the potential to deliver power directly to buildings, public furniture, car parks, offices, and electric vehicle charging stations, according to New World Wind’s website. Krief noted, “This is what we call self-consumption.” Each leaf is capable of producing up to 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy annually. Euronews estimated that a 36-leaf tree could generate enough electricity to power a four-person household.

Plus, the design offers another unique advantage, Krief told the publication.

“Solar panels can work between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. … with our technology, we can provide energy seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” he said. “And if we create more energy than we can consume during the night or day, we can store it inside the battery.”

Each tree has four batteries and can store power for up to an hour in normal conditions. A hybrid version of the tree, which features solar ‘petals,’ uses solar and wind together.

So far, the company has installed 130 of these trees worldwide, including in the U.S., South Korea, and the UK. While its clients are mostly commercial, a handful of residential trees have been ‘planted’ in the U.S. and UK. A hybrid version of the tree, featuring solar petals beneath the turbines, taps into both wind and solar power for enhanced stability.

As yet the technology would be out of reach for people like me as a 36-leaf tree costs around £45,000. However, it wasn’t so many years ago that solar panels were considered too expensive for ordinary consumers.

The wind tree is just one of many new innovations in turbine technology across the globe.

For example, a Spanish startup called Vortex Bladeless came up with an invention nicknamed the ‘skybrator,’ a cylindrical wind energy harvester that works by oscillating rather than using a rotating blade. Among its advantages are that it’s easier to manufacture and assemble than traditional turbines and is safer for wildlife, according to the company.

And Katrick, a Scottish company, has developed a compact honeycomb-shaped wind turbine. The invention is suited for urban environments because it can be placed on top of buildings and other structures.

Katrick Honeycomb Wind Turbine

This poem was written about real trees.

that New Idea

came to me
while I was texting you
from a bench at Kent’s Bank

but you know how it is
new phone
predictive textile

I wanted to tell you
I’d recognized a Copper Beech

and the next thing is
a Morecambe Bay breeze
had the branches bending
and straightening
bending and straightening

textiles bending and
sine waves breaking on
shores of smooth grey bark

wind panels bending
turning a rotor
in some type of textile
that’s tied to the branch
(that bit’s a bit hazy)
and micro-amps tapped
we could call it sapped

somewhere down the trunk
by the bloke in a panama
who’s been staring at me
for the last few minutes
from his front garden

First published in ‘To Have to Follow’ (IDP) Julie Maclean and Terry Quinn

Kent's Bank Bench

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.