Climate change is a problem that our politicians don't seem to be trying particularly hard to solve. 
 Long term solutions are required which are incompatible with a narrow focus on re-election.
 Long term solutions are required which are incompatible with a narrow focus on re-election.
This used to frustrate me until I realised that as an engineer, I have the power to change the world.
And unlike some politicians, I choose to use my powers for good.
So, in my PHD I'm helping to make winged energy cheaper than fossil fuels. 
That way using it will be an economic choice instead of a political one. 
Wind power is actually already the cheapest type of energy in places where wind speeds are high.
That's the red areas on the map. But the good sites are filling up fast.
So if we want more wind energy, we need to develop more low wind speed sites. The yellow areas.
But, lower wind speeds means less energy.
So to make up for this, low wind speed turbines have longer blades to reach more wind.
But making the blades longer creates design challenges
which means they use more material, and so they cost more.
I'm aiming to reduce the cost by redesigning low wind speed blades to use less material.
To do this, I've created computer models of high and low wind speed blades
and simulated the loads they face to compare how the structures respond.
For a high wind speed blade the main challenge is to make it stiff enough
 that it doesn't hit the tower in strong winds. That's important for a low wind speed blade too.
But, they face an additional challenge.
Because the blades are so long, they bend a lot under their own weight
which is a problem because turbines are constantly rotating and after enough cycles of bending,
the blades can break.
Just like if you bend a paper clip repeatedly back and forth.
Now the normal way to make a wind turbine blade is in two parts.
There's an external shell which makes the aerodynamic shape
needed to turn the wind turbine and generate electricity.
And inside there is a box spar which works a bit like the trusses that hold a roof up.
In both cases, it's the inside part that makes it strong and stiff enough.
Now this design works well to stop blades hitting the tower in strong winds,
but I found they don't do a particularly good job of stopping low wind speed blades
bending too much under their own weight.
So, I came up with a new design
 that takes some of the strength away from the box spar and into the aerodynamic shell.
Now instead of being like a roof, it's more like an egg where it's the outside surface that makes it stiff.
This design is still good in strong winds,
but now it bends much less under its own weight
which means it can use less material and so it's cheaper.
Because of engineering solutions like this one,
fossil fuels are gradually being priced out of the market and best of all,
because this progress doesn't rely on politics, 
I'm confident we'll actually get there. 
