New system in Omaha apartment building uses warm air to generate electricity

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KENT SIEVERS/THE WORLD-HERALD
GRNE Solutions has installed a 136-foot-tall column in the atrium of the Wire apartment building at 19th and Dodge Streets to generate electricity.


http://www.omaha.com/money/new-system-in-omaha-apartment-building-uses-warm-air-to/article_a601edd5-1025-5eef-a645-56a48c35f726.html

POSTED: MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015 12:30 AM
By Cole Epley / World-Herald staff writer

Developers of a renewable energy pilot project in downtown Omaha plan to exploit a simple property of physics that they think will result in a complementary energy source for high-rise buildings.

Known as the stack effect, it’s the same principle that warrants revolving doors at the ground level of tall buildings. Warm air rises over cooler, denser air and, in a building, the resulting updraft can make it difficult to open swing-style doors at ground level.

Jess Baker, co-founder of GRNE Solutions, has seen it in action plenty of times during his construction career.

“We’ve learned mechanical systems must overcome the natural drafts in elevator shafts, so the question became how do we utilize these (drafts) to harness a local energy source in a building,” Baker said.

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KENT SIEVERS/THE WORLD-HERALD

As air moves through the Energy Column, electrical currents generated by the turbine are fed into a converter. From there, electricity is either fed back into the building or is stored in a nearby bank of batteries.