Abstract
This article shall investigate the feasibility of utilizing wind energy for commercial buildings with special reference to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Bahrain World Trade Center which was built in 2008, is located in the city of Manama. The fifty-story complex contains identical twin towers that rise over 240 meters in height. The towers are connected by three bridges which hold three turbines each 29 meters long. The three turbines were originally design to provide electric energy required for lighting. The Bahrain World Trade Center was selected as a case study to investigate the feasibility of utilizing wind energy technologies in skyscrapers with special reference to the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is hoped that the findings and conclusion of the study shall be of some value for future utilization of wind energy in the GCC countries and the world at large.
Highlights
Buildings in the Gulf Countries; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate, Kuwait, Oman and the Kingdom of Bahrain are consuming the largest proportion of the generated fossil energy production
60% of the generated electric energy in Bahrain is consumed in buildings, and the remaining percentage is consumed by all other sectors, i.e. industry, transportation, communication, agriculture etc
The vast majority of this energy is produced from non-renewable fossil fuel sources, i.e. oil and gas
Summary
Buildings in the Gulf Countries; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate, Kuwait, Oman and the Kingdom of Bahrain are consuming the largest proportion of the generated fossil energy production. This was confirmed by wind tunnel tests, which showed that the building create an S shaped flow, insuring that any wind coming within 45o angle to either side of the central axis will create a wind stream that remains perpendicular to the turbines This significantly increases their potential to generate electricity[5]. The positioning of the three wind turbines and the unique aerodynamic design of the two towers, the prevailing wind, which is generally from the North and North-west, is funneled into the bath of the turbines producing clean energy. According to Atkins engineers, the idea of the turbines was to supply power to the building, but to serve as a landmark in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and be a show case to the entire world as the first commercial building where wind turbines directly integrate into the structure producing non-polluting renewable energy. The technical features of the configuration of the wind turbine are as follows 2:-
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