Building-integrated wind turbines have special qualities that distinguish
them from the entire wind turbines industry, which include the need to be much
quieter, while maximising energy generation considering the limited swept area of the
turbines. This has inspired a great deal of innovations that need to be investigated and
revisited for further improvements across architecturally optimised buildings
incorporating wind energy generation or building-integrated wind turbines. The aim is
to draw some lessons or perhaps to mimic their principles within suitable architectural
forms. One of the lessons learnt from a diffuser design that can be translated into
building design to augment wind turbines is the area ratio, i.e. ratio of outlet to inlet
areas, and length–diameter ratio, i.e. ratio of length to diameter. The larger these ratios,
the larger the expected power output of the augmented wind turbines will be.
Keywords: Building-integrated wind turbines, Diffusers, Duct augmented wind
turbines, Silent wind turbines, Vibration control.