Mankind initially learnt to construct buildings with wood. Fast-forward to modern day and we have learnt to use materials such as steel and aluminum in construction. Conventionally, the wind turbine industry has been making use of steel to build its tall towers. But this trend may take a backseat in the near future.
A German engineering firm, TimberTower, intends to change the wind turbine industry with its wood-centric approach. The design proposed by the firm makes use of timber to create turbine masts and wood panels for the whole structure. The wood panels, in turn, are laminated with a plastic material to shield it from weather.
What makes TimberTower so optimistic about its approach is that using wood can tremendously reduce construction costs. The company claims that if their approach is adopted in constructing a 100-meter tower, that would save a whopping 300 tons of steel. That’s a lot of savings there.
Moreover, it believes that by making use of wooden masts and panels, turbine towers up to 200 meters can be easily built, something which is currently infeasible when using steel for construction.
Another key advantage of using wood, TimberTower says, is that the tower’s components can be shipped, unassembled, to the construction site. And that paces up the process so much that a wooden turbine tower can be built in just 2 days. On the other hand, steel towers do not afford such mobility of components.
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