Harnessing the Wind

People participating in last month’s Renewable Energy Islands International Forum sponsored by UNESCO were invited to imagine a colorful forest of small-scale wind turbines that would create enough renewable energy to power thousands of homes. Dubbed The Whirlers, the project is the brainchild of Eduardo Benamor Duarte and Caterina Tiazzoldi, RISD faculty members in Interior Architecture. Their inventive idea would make use of 10,000 Darrieus turbines – each about 10 to 15 feet tall ­– creating an enhanced, human-friendly landscape.

Tiazzoldi traveled to the Canary Islands (off the coast of Spain) to present The Whirlers at UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve, where an international group of engineers, politicians and landscape preservation experts gathered to explore renewable energy sources that would mitigate climate change.

“It’s a fun project,” says Duarte. “The idea is to construct a new environment that wouldn’t detract from the human experience – to make a clear cultural connection with the production of energy.”