Wind Turbines in an Urban Environment

Small-scale urban wind production offers new opportunities for institutions to produce more renewable energy, reduce the demand for fossil fuels, and reduce energy lost in transmission from distant energy production sites. Small-scale wind is also interesting as it provides different variables than those facing large scale wind projects, such as boundary layer mixing. Duquesne University’s campus, situated on a south-facing bluff above the Monongahela River, is an excellent site to determine the feasibility in a small-scale urban environment as well as answer further questions for other institutions including:

• Effective strategies for determining sites for wind gauging and turbine siting;
• Effective wind types for energy production (ex. long slow wind vs. short powerful gusts);
• Ideal time of year and of day for wind energy production; and
• Ideal turbines based on wind resources.