Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4.1
Introduction
This chapter is based on studies of the surviving documents
from the research carried out by Professor Poul la Cour over the
period 1891 to 1900, especially the report “The Research Mill I
and II”.
1
About 8 000 documents remain in the archive at the Poul
la Cour Museum in Askov, Denmark. The Poul la Cour Museum
researches and distributes the history of the technology of
electricity-producing windmills—nowadays called wind turbines.
After H. C. Oersted discovered the interaction between
electric current and magnetism in 1820, Michael Faraday took
over and developed the laws of electromagnetic induction in 1831.
Then the field was open for inventions of both telegraphy and
electric generators. In the area of using and distributing electricity
Thomas Edison developed the electric bulb and established the
first electric power stations from 1881. This technology reached
Denmark in 1891. The first Danish electric power generating
stations were installed in the three cities of Køge, Copenhagen and
Odense in 1891. The fuel used was coal or oil, which are energy
resources not occurring in Denmark. La Cour wondered if it would
be possible to use the almost ever-present wind over Denmark to
drive turbines for making electricity instead of having to buy fuel
from abroad.
4.2
The First Danish Electricity-Producing
Windmill
Everybody told him that it could not be done. The wind does
not blow all the time, so it was necessary to find a way to store
the energy for use during periods with no wind. The technology
of lead/acid batteries was known, but was too expensive. La Cour
then had the idea of storing the power of the wind using
electrolysis to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen so that
the two gases could be used later for heating and lighting. Also it
was known, from a firm in Italy, that these gases could be used in
autogen welding, which could be useful for small industries in
rural areas. With the help of his older brother, who was the
president of the Royal Danish Farm Household Society, the
1
Forsøgsmøllen I og II
, Copenhagen, 1900
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