Tokyo, Japan (CNN)"Typhoons are normally nothing but a disaster," says Atsushi Shimizu.
But that"s not the case for this Japanese engineer, who believes these violent forces of nature could solve Japan"s green energy problem.
Shimizu has invented the world"s first typhoon turbine. A robust, egg beater-shaped wind turbine, designed not only to withstand the incredible force of a tropical cyclone, but also to harness it.
A mature typhoon produces a level of kinetic energy "equivalent to about half the world-wide electrical generating capacity," according to the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory.
The energy from one typhoon, says Shimizu, could power Japan for 50 years.
Then they incorporated the Magnus effect -- the sideways force that causes a spinning object todeviate from a straight path, like the spin on a penalty kick in soccer.
The Magnus effect offers an unprecedented level of control over the turbine"s blades. By tightening the center rod, engineers can adjust the speed of the blades to ensure they don"t spin out of control in a storm.
When the Challenergy team last simulated their inventionin July 2015, it achieved 30% efficiency. Propeller-based wind turbines typically achieve 40% efficiency, but can"t operate in a typhoon.
In July, the first prototype was installed in Okinawa. Now all the Challenergy team needs to test their creation"s efficiency in real life is a typhoon.
"I want to install our wind-power generator at the new National Stadium," Shimizu says, of the facility being built for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. "Or on the Tokyo Tower, because the Eiffel Tower installed a wind-power generator last year at the time of the COP21 (climate summit)."
For Shimizu, it"s a service he owes his country.
"Our generation reaped the benefit of nuclear power -- we never experience a power black out because of it," Shimizu says.
"Now we are responsible for changing the future."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/asia/typhoon-catchers-japan-challenergy/index.html
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