GC: n
CT: Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. This animation shows how energy in the wind turns two or three propeller-like blades around a rotor. The rotor is connected to the main shaft, which spins a generator to create electricity. Wind turbines are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. At 100 feet (30 meters) or more above ground, they can take advantage of faster and less turbulent wind. Wind turbines can be used to produce electricity for a single home or building, or they can be connected to an electricity grid (shown here) for more widespread electricity distribution.
S: USDE – http://energy.gov/eere/wind/how-does-wind-turbine-work (last access: 12th December 2014)
N: 1. Old English torr “tower, watchtower,” from Latin turris “a tower, citadel, high structure” (also source of Old French tor, 11c.; Spanish, Italian torre “tower”), possibly from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language. Meaning “lofty pile or mass” is recorded from mid-14c. Also borrowed separately 13c. as tour, from Old French tur; the modern spelling (1520s) represents a merger of the two forms.
2. The tower is perhaps one of the most important parts of a wind turbine. It can also be well over half the cost of a system overall. Guidelines suggest that a tower should be 30′ above anything within a 300′ radius in order to keep the turbine up in clean, non-turbulant wind. Air is very fluid (like water) – any obstruction to the wind creates turbulance (like the wake behind a boat). You cannot see it or detect it, but it has a significant effect on a wind turbine and accounts for considerable power loss. The best investment in a wind turbine is very often the tower.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=tower&searchmode=none (last access: 12th December 2014). 2. http://www.otherpower.com/otherpower_wind_towers.html (last access: 12th December 2014).
SYN: wind turbine tower, wind tower.
S: TERMIUMPLUS
