A “new” source of renewable energy: the coldness of the wind

Abstract Until now the wind considered as an energy source has mainly been used for its propulsive power (sailing boats, wind mills) and its drying power (cereals, linen, etc.). The cooling power of a wind, which has a temperature T lower than the temperature T0 of a reference medium (sea, river, waste fluid) has seldom been used. Analysing weather data for different sites, we show that the enthalpy and exergy fluxes available from these thermal dipoles, can largely exceed the pure kinetic energy of the strongest wind. As practical examples of systems able to use this “free wind energy”, we describe a thermo-mechanical machine for electricity production (inspired from OTEC: ocean thermal energy conversion) and an original multistage absorption heat pump for space heating.