Wind, Volume 5, Issue 3 (September 2025) – 6 articles

Natural cooling and ventilation have been fundamental principles in vernacular architecture for millennia, shaping sustainable building practices across diverse climatic regions. This paper examines the historical evolution, technological advancements, environmental benefits, and prospects of passive cooling strategies, with a particular focus on wind catchers. Originating in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Caucasia, and Iranian architectural traditions, these structures have adapted over centuries to maximize air circulation, thermal regulation, and humidity control, ensuring comfortable indoor environments without reliance on mechanical ventilation. This study analyzes traditional wind catcher designs, highlighting their geometric configurations, airflow optimization, and integration with architectural elements such as courtyards and solar chimneys. Through a comparative assessment, this paper contrasts passive cooling systems with modern HVAC technologies, emphasizing their energy neutrality, low-carbon footprint, and long-term sustainability benefits. A SWOT analysis evaluates their strengths, limitations, opportunities for technological integration, and challenges posed by urbanization and regulatory constraints. This study adopts a comparative analytical method, integrating a literature-based approach with qualitative assessments and a SWOT analysis framework to evaluate passive cooling strategies against modern HVAC systems. Methodologically, the research combines historical review, typological classification, and sustainability-driven performance comparisons to derive actionable insights for climate-responsive design. The research is grounded in a comparative assessment of traditional and modern cooling strategies, supported by typological analysis and evaluative frameworks. Looking toward the future, the research explores hybrid adaptations incorporating solar energy, AI-driven airflow control, and retrofitting strategies for smart cities, reinforcing the enduring relevance of vernacular cooling techniques in contemporary architecture. By bridging historical knowledge with innovative solutions, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions on climate-responsive urban planning and sustainable architectural development. Full article

Recordings of wind velocity and associated wind turbine (WT) power possess noise, owing to inaccurate sensor measurements, atmosphere conditions, working stops, and flaws. The measurements still contain noise even after purification, so the fit curve of the wind turbine power might be different from the datasheet. The model of wind turbine power (MWTP) is significant, owing to its utilization for predicting and managing the wind energy. There are two types of MWTP, namely the parametric and the non-parametric types. Parameter identification of the parametric MWTP can be treated as a high nonlinear optimization problem. The fitness function is to minimize the root average squared errors (RASEs) between the calculated and measured wind powers while subject to a set of parameter constraints. The non-parametric MWTP is identified through training through machine learning. In this article, machine learning, namely the support vector regression (SVR), is innovatively applied for the identification of the non-parametric MWTP. Additionally, the dynamic force and the eigen parameters of WTs at different wind velocities are studied theoretically. The theoretical model for analyzing the natural frequencies of WT is validated using two techniques, namely the finite element method and the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. The simulations are executed using MATLAB. The SVR is assessed via the comparison of its results with those of three parametric MWTP, viz. the 5-, 6-parameter logistic functions, and the modified hyperbolic tangent. It can be affirmed that the SVR execution is excellent and can produce the non-parametric MWTP with a RASE less than other algorithms by 0.4% to 93.8%, with a small computation cost. Full article

Residential areas are characterized by closely packed buildings which disturb wind flow resulting in low wind speeds (below 2 m/s) with a high turbulence intensity (above 20%). In order to interface between off-the-shelf wind turbines and low-quality wind, the Increased velocity (INVELOX) wind delivery system is an attractive wind augmentation option for such regions. The INVELOX setup can harness more energy than conventional bare wind turbines under the same incident wind conditions. However, these systems also have drawbacks and challenges that they face in their operation, which amplify the need to review, understand, and expose gaps and flaws in pursuit of increased power production in low wind quality environments. This paper seeks to review and simplify the advances done by various scholars towards improving the INVELOX delivery system. It provides the mathematical foundation on which these advances are rooted and gives an understanding of how the improvements better the geometric properties of INVELOX. The article concludes by proposing future research directions. Full article

This paper reviews the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in the design optimization of wind power systems, mainly including (1) wind farm layout optimization; (2) wind turbine design optimization; and (3) wind farm electrical system design optimization. Firstly, this paper introduces the general considerations in the optimal design of wind power systems and the AI methods commonly used for the optimal design of wind power systems. Then the applications of AI in the optimal design of wind farms are reviewed in detail. Finally, further research directions of using AI methods in the optimal design of wind power systems are recommended. Full article

Accurate wind resource assessment is essential for offshore wind energy development, particularly in nearshore sites where atmospheric stability and internal boundary layers significantly influence the horizontal wind distribution. In this study, we investigated wind estimation methods using a high-resolution, 100 m grid Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and coastal onshore wind measurement data. Five estimation methods were evaluated, including a control WRF simulation without on-site measurement data (CTRL), observation nudging (NDG), two offline methods—temporal correction (TC) and the directional extrapolation method (DE)—and direct application of onshore measurement data (DA). Wind speed and direction data from four nearshore sites in Japan were used for validation. The results indicated that TC provided the most accurate wind speed estimate results with minimal bias and relatively high reproducibility of temporal variations. NDG exhibited a smaller standard deviation of bias and a slightly higher correlation with the measured time series than CTRL. DE could not reproduce temporal variations in the horizontal wind speed differences between points. These findings suggest that TC is the most effective method for assessing nearshore wind resources and is thus recommended for practical use. Full article

The deployment of utility-scale hybrid wind–solar PV power plants is gaining global attention due to their enhanced performance in power systems with high renewable energy penetration. To assess their potential, accurate estimations must be derived from the available data, addressing key challenges such as (1) the spatial and temporal resolution requirements, particularly for renewable resource characterization; (2) energy balances aligned with various business models; (3) regulatory constraints (environmental, technical, etc.); and (4) the cost dependencies of the different components and system characteristics. When conducting such analyses at the regional or national scale, a trade-off must be achieved to balance accuracy with computational efficiency. This study reviews existing experiences in hybrid plant deployment, with a focus on Spain, identifying the lack of national-scale product cost models for HPPs as the main gap and establishing a replicable methodology for hybrid plant mapping. A simplified example is shown using this methodology for a country-level analysis. Full article