For Top Wind Power, Wipe Off Those Bugs

If you want wind-power generators to operate effectively when the wind is blowing hard, you have to clean bugs off the blades, according to European researchers. Bugs splattered on the leading edge of the blades have few effects when wind speeds are low, a team headed by Gustave Corten of the Energy Center of the Netherlands reported in the July 5 Nature. But at higher wind velocities, the bugs change the shape of the blades just enough to cause stalling. The finding explains why power output from wind turbines often drops dramatically in high winds.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II