After implementation of efficiencies and conservation measures, the least destructive way to meet future energy needs may be local power generation from solar and wind sources. In The Netherlands, IBIS Power has an interesting concept for clean renewable electricity. Medium-rise and high-rise buildings could generate their own power while maintaining a two-way connection to the central power grid or utilizing battery storage for constant energy supply.

This might allow energy consumers to be the owners of their own energy generating facilities and would be particularly useful in urban British Columbia where 80 percent of the population occupies less than three percent of the province’s area.

IBIS Power says their unique wind and solar system generates six to ten times more energy than typical rooftop solar panel installations and is ready to be connected to a battery if net-metering connections to the grid are not available or preferred. According to IBIS Power, the system:

harnesses the Venturi effect to add 40-60% more windflow, creating power even in a slight breeze. Cutting-edge solar panels are arranged bi-facially to generate energy above and below while being cooled by the air. The smart combo of wind & solar in PowerNEST captures more energy, in more weather conditions, than other on-site systems.

Reducing the electricity bill is just the beginning; this is energy independence driven by the power of nature.

IBIS Power founder Alexander Suma began developing the PowerNEST concept while studying for his PhD in Florida. It was developed and readied for market after his return to Europe. According to Suma, the system is a:

breakthrough solution to overcome all shortcomings of existing renewable energy technologies. It is a rooftop-mounted, elegant structure with an internal turbine thereby making smart use of aerodynamics. To that end, it is more efficient than any free-standing small windmill as well as more efficient per square meter than solar panels at 20 metres or higher. 

Interview with Dr Alexander Suma

Another system for local power generation is that in Manchester England where 2,000 small wind turbines will be mounted on poles and structures to create clean low-cost energy.

Business publication The Economist says it is no longer far-fetched to think that the world is entering an era of clean, unlimited and cheap power. They were not talking about large-scale hydropower projects or about fossil fuel generating stations with carbon capture. However, always concerned about utility investors, The Economist says:

Green energy has a dirty secret. The more it is deployed, the more it lowers the price of power from any source.