＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
Since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, renewable energy has been gaining attention amid growing public opposition to nuclear power.
1. What is Renewable Energy?
Renewable energy is energy derived from the sun, geophysical, and biological sources, and is replenished by nature at a rate faster than it can be utilized.
While solar power and wind power are already familiar, other sources of power generation include geothermal, biomass, wave power, tidal power, flowing water, and tidal power.
2. The Practical Potential of Typhoon Power Generation
When we think of “wind power,” we often see pictures of wind turbines with large propellers. As a child, I used to joke, “What an incredible source of energy if we could harness the power of typhoons.”
Everyone thinks this, but I always thought, “It’s probably impossible to put it into practical use.”
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism estimates that “the energy from one large typhoon is equivalent to Japan’s total electricity generation over 50 years.”
However, there is a company that is seriously trying to put this to practical use.
3. Challenergy Inc. Crowdfunds Typhoon Power Generation
Challenergy Inc. is focusing on the Philippines, which, like Japan, is prone to typhoons, and is trying to sell “typhoon generators.”
The company is currently in the process of installing a test unit in Nanjo City, Okinawa Prefecture, and testing changes in power generation and durability. In 2016, they conducted a crowdfunding campaign to raise 15 million yen to implement the test unit installation project.
The company is a research and development-focused manufacturing startup founded in 2014. Its president is a former engineer at a major electronics manufacturer.
The “Shitamachi Wind Power Project” is the world’s first demonstration experiment of typhoon power generation, conducted together with small factories in the downtown area.
The company aims to successfully complete the experiment and provide safe and secure electricity to remote islands and other areas of Japan, as well as to electrify unelectrified areas in emerging countries such as the Philippines, which are hit by typhoons every year.
4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Typhoon Generators
The Typhoon Generator is a next-generation wind power generator that operates on the principle of the Magnus force, which is generated when a cylinder is rotated in an air current.
The “Magnus force” (also known as the “Magnus effect”) is the phenomenon in which a force (lift) perpendicular to the direction of travel acts on a rotating object.
Here are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of wind turbine compared to propeller-type wind turbines.
(1) Advantages
① Because it is cylindrical, it can withstand changing wind strength and direction.
② Since it does not have a large propeller, there is no need to worry about it breaking.
(2) Disadvantages
① Although it does not have a propeller, since it is a cylindrical structure mounted on a huge steel tower, there is a risk of the tower collapsing.
② In strong winds exceeding 25 m/s, it must be stopped due to the risk of runaway or damage.
③ In the case of a large typhoon exceeding 25 m/s, the energy cannot be utilized and only the risk of collapse remains.