Hi everyone, sorry for disappearing for so long, I was in China for half of the holidays, and I couldn’t access wordpress when I got the chance to use the com. So, thanks very much, szeyuan and chia for doing so much on the Singapore issue. I’ve got a few more scraps of info here… not very arranged, I’m sorry to say.
Okay, so since Chia and szeyuan have found alot, i shall just add some not-so-complete pieces of info.
There’s this video by Nantional Geographic about the Singapore flyer, http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/news/space-technology-news/singapore-flyer-apvin.html. It mentions that “the island city’s wind gusts were a challenge for designers”. Hmm, somehow it seems that at the height of the singapore flyer, there are high gusts of wind, althougth it is mentioned in the video that these could come out of nowhere. So it seems that at high altitude singapore has high winds, but these do not seem to be consistent enough to be harnessed effectively.
According to http://www.actapress.com/PaperInfo.aspx?PaperID=25020&reason=500, The School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Singapore Polytechnic has installed a solar-wind hybrid power station in Singapore mainly for educational and research purposes. This 21 kW capacity power station generates electricity from solar and wind at 230V and 50Hz frequency. A complete state-of-art data acquisition system is installed at the station to monitor various parameters. The parameters include ambient temperature, solar radiation, humidity, charging current, battery bank voltage (maximum and minimum battery voltage), voltage of individual cells, kWh consumed by the load and Inverter output voltage and current. In this paper, a detailed description of the power station and analysis of the readings obtained for various parameters are illustrated. This is the abstract of the report “Configuration of a Solar-Wind Hybrid Power System in Singapore”. The rest of the report is unavailable online. It seems to show that wind energy is being tested in singapore, even if only for research purposes.
This is also apparent from http://www2.ntu.edu.sg/ENewsreader/Campus+News+and+Events/astar+news.htm, where centres by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research will focus on developing alternative energy technologies such as solar, wind and fuel cells. This also shows how Singapore is looking into the use of wind energy.
Regarding Singapore’s sutability for harnessing of wind power, Mr Lim Swee Say, current minister for the environment commented that “Unlike other countries, we are unable to tap on renewable sources of energy…to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. We do not have the natural endowments to tap hydropower or geothermal energy. Even solar and wind energy present little scope due to our cloudy skies and slow wind speeds.” in his speech at The Handover of CCP4 to Senoko Power and Award of ISO 14001 at Senoko Power Station in 2004, as taken from http://app.env.gov.sg/view.asp?id=CDS1396.
So, it seems that Singapore indeed does not have the currently required resources to harness wind energy as a large-scale replacement for fossil fuels. How about other types, or small scaled wind-energy harnessing?
1. As seen from http://limjunying.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/nano-vent-skin-of-micro-wind-turbines/, quoting from www.nanoventskin.blogspot.com, a building covered in nano vent skin invovles capturing light energy and using micro wind tubines to harness wind energy, which will also absorb carbon dioxide. Just by looking at this directly, it may be suitable for Singapore as it makes use of sunlight, which is abundant in sunny singapor. Also from the picture below, we can see that the building is constructed among many trees, which shows it may not need large areas to work, which might be a useful feature in Singapore’s case.
2. Instead of adopting windmills or wind farms that harness wind energy directly, it may be more practical in Singapor’s case to adopt a method which works another way, and adapts wind energy as well. As put by www.urbanwindenergy.co.uk, harnessing wind does not necessarily mean putting up a wind turbine. Harnessing wind energy is all about finding a replacement for fossil fuels. In households, much energy is used in creating a comfortable indoor environment or climate, due to singapore’s hot and humid climate. Energy is used for fans and aircons, which are on for practically the whole day.
According to the Architectural Science Review published in 2007, as taken from http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6987610/Applying-natural-ventilation-for-thermal.html, by applying natural ventilation effectively, comfortable indoor environments can be created without the use of aircons, but with an effective ventilation system. This may help in reducing the use of fans and aircons in residential and office buildings. Effectively, energy can be saved this way. Although the website has removed all graphics from the online version of the report, this concept brought up is an interesting one. Instead of only appyling ‘cures’ to a ‘problem’, we can also work on ‘preventative measures’ that will help in the long run. This concept also allows for more explorations into how wind energy can be harnessed or used in ways that do not need large areas of land. Wind may not need to be used to generate electricity, but can be directed so that it will discourage the use of electricity.
Okay, that’s all for now. I’ll compile in another post soon. 
Posted by Jenny, 26 June
0 Responses to “Northeast winds”