Effect of roof shape, wind direction, building height and urban configuration on the energy yield and positioning of roof mounted wind turbines

The increasing interest among architects and planners in designing environmentally friendly buildings has led to a desire to explore and integrate renewable sources of energy. Roof mounted wind turbines is a technology that presents a high potential for integration within the built environment. However, there is a state of uncertainty regarding the feasibility of these wind turbines. This paper argues that part of this uncertainty is attributed to uninformed decisions about positioning and locating urban wind turbines. This is underpinned by lack of consideration to the accelerating effect of different roof shapes, buildings' heights and surrounding urban configurations. This paper aims to present the results of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations for the purpose of identifying the effect of different roof shapes on the energy yield and positioning of roof mounted wind turbines covering different buildings' heights within different urban configurations under different wind directions. Results from this investigation suggest that an increase in energy yield could be achieved which can reach 56.1% more electricity in the case of a vaulted roof if an informed wind assessment above buildings' roofs is carried out. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.