Paper Title
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine – A Sustainable Solution to Power Traffic Lights
Abstract
The urgent need to slow down climate change and minimize reliance on fossil fuels is what is driving the
increased attention to sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. This study investigates an innovative way of generating
renewable energy using traffic turbines, which transform the kinetic energy produced by moving cars into electrical energy.
The turbines can gather wind from any direction and additionally have easily maintainable ground-level components making
it suitable for viable energy generation. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) are especially suited for this use. The feasibility
of installing traffic turbines was evaluated in a crowded urban Mumbai city, which records vehicular movement of around
400 vehicles in mere 10 minutes. The consumption of energy with traffic lights ON for 24hours v/s the energy produced by
the traffic turbines was computed and the results obtained prove that VAWT’s are excellent solution for de-carbonization and
a step towards energy conservation and sustainability.
Keywords - Renewable Energy, VAWT, Traffic Turbines, Sustainability, Energy Conservation