The rise of interest in renewable energy created by soaring fossil-fuel costs and global-warming fears has created a matching interest in associated support and demonstration instrumentation. This Design Idea hops on that bandwagon with the ability to directly and conveniently measure an important renewable-energy source: wind power. Handy for quick and easy preliminary evaluation of potential wind-turbine sites, it includesrna wind-speed transducer, comprising an optically sensed vane anemometer, and a temperature sensor, comprising a diode-connected transistor. These components interface with a hybrid digital/analog-computation circuit. In combination, they provide a real-time, linear, temperature-compensated readout of wind-power density.
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