Catching a breeze to power the world

Charlotte Slingsby, a graduate design engineer, has invented Moya, a lightweight, flexible curtain that turns a soft breeze into wind energy, even in inaccessible locations.

Charlotte Slingsby: It is a lightweight, flexible sheeting material that can independently harvest low grade wind energy in a variety of locations. It can be applied like a fabric to many different surfaces.

How did you come up with the idea?

As fossil fuels rapidly diminish, the need for alternative, clean energy solutions is essential to a sustainable future. Contemporary clean energy solutions, such as solar panels and wind turbine farms, demand the clearing of land, presenting a further challenge to our environment and undermining their sustainability. Furthermore, wind turbine generated energy requires durable, advanced and costly infrastructure as well as high speed, laminate winds while solar panels require a large, unobstructed surface area with consistent sun exposure. Undoubtedly, energy farming will continue to play a valuable role in providing power in the future. However, I decided to explore cost effective energy generation on the surfaces of existing infrastructure. Read More…