Wind resource in the urban environment

Renewable energy technologies, such as windturbines, have to be considered for new buildingover 1000m2 under the Energy Performance ofBuildings Directive (2002). Accurate assessment ofthe wind resource is a key component in the successof a wind installation. Designers, planners andarchitects also need wind data from urban areas tosupport low-energy building design, naturalventilation, air quality, pollution control, insuranceand wind engineering. Over the last six years instrumentation has been installed at the DublinInstitute of Technology (DIT) in two separate locationsto monitor the wind. The data has shown that thewind resource will vary quite considerably on a givensite and this is due to local variations in topography,and other factors associated with wind andturbulence in the built environment. Difficultieswere encountered in measuring the wind andturbulence on site. IEC 61400-12-1: 2005 states that“... analytical tools (anemometers presently available)offer little help in identifying the impact of thesevariables, and experimental methods encounterequally-serious difficulties.” The practical experienceof measuring wind in the urban environmentinformed the development of a prototypeanemometer that may be capable of digitallymapping accurate real-time three-dimensional dataon wind speed, wind direction and, uniquely in thefield of wind instrumentation, wind turbulence.