Renewable energy: Wind power tests the waters

“…According to [2], Korea, Spain, Norway, Portugal as well as the US are emerging countries in the deployment of offshore wind resources, as also documented by several research works carried out in the last years. Established practice in those countries is consistent with the trend, where several pending projects are still awaiting for their approval and only few demonstration prototypes have been actually installed, as it happens for instance in the US [3], where the production of wind energy is primarily onshore while the harvesting of offshore energy is mainly related to oil and gas extraction.…”

“…Specifically, the structural efficiency of the form taken by the leaf vasculature distinguishes gigantic waterlilies from their smaller relatives, which have leaves with a more disk-like form. The simple design rules we used to accurately model the load-bearing properties of V. cruziana may unlock cost-effective engineering solutions for the design of floating platforms for renewable energy production, such as offshore wind turbines ( 37 ) and facilities for the conversion of CO 2 extracted from seawater into synthetic fuel ( 38 ) or the development of offshore societies [“seasteads” ( 39 )]. Looking beyond floating platforms, we propose that the translation of complex biological forms into simple architectural rules can inspire the design and development of shape-efficient structures for load-bearing applications.…”

“…Recent decades have witnessed the explosive growth of global wind power capacity from 24 GW in 2001 to 840 GW in 2021 (over 7% of the world’s electricity demand) because of its renewability, nonpollution, bargain price, ecological compatibility, and worldwide distribution, etc. ( 1 – 11 ). Currently, wind energy conversion uses wind turbines to transform airflow into mechanical rotation of specially designed blades, which finally actuates a generator for supplying electricity ( 2 , 4 , 12 , 13 ).…”

“…According to [2], Korea, Spain, Norway, Portugal as well as the US are emerging countries in the deployment of offshore wind resources, as also documented by several research works carried out in the last years. Established practice in those countries is consistent with the trend, where several pending projects are still awaiting for their approval and only few demonstration prototypes have been actually installed, as it happens for instance in the US [3], where the production of wind energy is primarily onshore while the harvesting of offshore energy is mainly related to oil and gas extraction.…”

“…Specifically, the structural efficiency of the form taken by the leaf vasculature distinguishes gigantic waterlilies from their smaller relatives, which have leaves with a more disk-like form. The simple design rules we used to accurately model the load-bearing properties of V. cruziana may unlock cost-effective engineering solutions for the design of floating platforms for renewable energy production, such as offshore wind turbines ( 37 ) and facilities for the conversion of CO 2 extracted from seawater into synthetic fuel ( 38 ) or the development of offshore societies [“seasteads” ( 39 )]. Looking beyond floating platforms, we propose that the translation of complex biological forms into simple architectural rules can inspire the design and development of shape-efficient structures for load-bearing applications.…”

“…Recent decades have witnessed the explosive growth of global wind power capacity from 24 GW in 2001 to 840 GW in 2021 (over 7% of the world’s electricity demand) because of its renewability, nonpollution, bargain price, ecological compatibility, and worldwide distribution, etc. ( 1 – 11 ). Currently, wind energy conversion uses wind turbines to transform airflow into mechanical rotation of specially designed blades, which finally actuates a generator for supplying electricity ( 2 , 4 , 12 , 13 ).…”

“…According to [2], Korea, Spain, Norway, Portugal as well as the US are emerging countries in the deployment of offshore wind resources, as also documented by several research works carried out in the last years. Established practice in those countries is consistent with the trend, where several pending projects are still awaiting for their approval and only few demonstration prototypes have been actually installed, as it happens for instance in the US [3], where the production of wind energy is primarily onshore while the harvesting of offshore energy is mainly related to oil and gas extraction.…”

“…Specifically, the structural efficiency of the form taken by the leaf vasculature distinguishes gigantic waterlilies from their smaller relatives, which have leaves with a more disk-like form. The simple design rules we used to accurately model the load-bearing properties of V. cruziana may unlock cost-effective engineering solutions for the design of floating platforms for renewable energy production, such as offshore wind turbines ( 37 ) and facilities for the conversion of CO 2 extracted from seawater into synthetic fuel ( 38 ) or the development of offshore societies [“seasteads” ( 39 )]. Looking beyond floating platforms, we propose that the translation of complex biological forms into simple architectural rules can inspire the design and development of shape-efficient structures for load-bearing applications.…”

“…Recent decades have witnessed the explosive growth of global wind power capacity from 24 GW in 2001 to 840 GW in 2021 (over 7% of the world’s electricity demand) because of its renewability, nonpollution, bargain price, ecological compatibility, and worldwide distribution, etc. ( 1 – 11 ). Currently, wind energy conversion uses wind turbines to transform airflow into mechanical rotation of specially designed blades, which finally actuates a generator for supplying electricity ( 2 , 4 , 12 , 13 ).…”