E x a m i n i n g P h y s i c a l a n d M e t a p h y s i c a l P e r f o r m a n c e
481
EXAMINING PHYSICAL AND METAPHYSICAL PERFORMANCE
OF THE WIND TURBINE APPLIED TO URBAN HOUSING IN
SCOTLAND
Balachander Raidu
1
, Kajal Dhamne
1
, Anushree Rohatgi
1
and Masa Noguchi
1
1
Mackintosh School of Architecture, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, United Kingdom,
Abstract
Buildings today consume approximately 40% of the world’s primary energy and 24% of
greenhouse gas emissions. The choice of construction materials and technologies plays
a crucial role in design decision making and it affects the delivered energy consumption
of buildings. In the UK, housing accounts for 501TWh of the total energy use in 2009;
furthermore, it is responsible for a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. The
government aims to achieve net zero carbon housing supplies by 2016. To meet the
target, housing energy consumption needs to be reduced. In South Ayrshire, Scotland,
the design development of a zero energy affordable housing project, so-called ‘ZEMCH
109,’ is currently carried out. To take the advantage of Scottish windy climate, the house
is intended to be equipped with a wind turbine. The application of a wind turbine to urban
housing is relatively rare and seemingly challenging in Scotland. The power generation
capacity under potential urban turbulence and the acoustic, aesthetical and
psychological impacts on the neighbours need to be addressed for the optimal
integration. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying the factors that affect the power
generation, noise levels, perceived property values and aesthetics through the field
study of housing in South Ayrshire. Metaphysical data is collected by means of personal
interviews with the home owners and questionnaires responded by the neighbours.
Keywords:
Wind turbines, small wind systems, social impacts, performance, market
analysis
Introduction
Demand for sustainable ways of energy production has been on a raise. More than 18%
of population in UK was experiencing fuel poverty in 2009 compared to 6% in 2003
(Hannah Aldridge et al. 2011). Producing energy at an urban scale in individual houses
is something which gained popularity in the recent past. Production of energy in
individual houses reduces the dependence on national grid, thus cutting down on the
power bills, carbon foot print of the house and any additional power can be sold to the
grid through feed in tariff.
Wind turbines generate energy in the form of electricity using kinetic energy of the wind
speed. For a wind turbine to generate peak energy, the wind speed should be reliable
along with consistency in its direction. This is the reason for installing wind turbines in
large open lands at higher positions where there is less turbulence caused by
obstructions like plantations and terrain. The turbulence in the wind in an urban context
is of a major concern when considering the installation of a wind turbine. Due to the
inconsistencies in the wind speed and turbulence caused by the buildings and trees
around in urban context, the technology used in large scale wind farms would be less
efficient. Even the speed at which the blades rotate at a particular wind speed in the
open farm lands will be higher than those in an urban context. Though there is a
decrease in the wind speeds in urban context, this can be recouped by the low
