Urban Wind Power Assessment

This project was a preliminary investigation of the wind resource in urban areas. Five buildings in two zones within the city of San Francisco were chosen to assess near surface winds on buildings by wind‐tunnel testing in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel at the University of California, Davis. Three buildings located near 10th Street and Market Street—Fox Plaza, the CSAA Building and the Bank of America Building—were tested for two settings. The first setting was actual and included existing buildings and approved developments in the area. The second setting was cumulative, which included proposed development projects and provided what the city might look like in the near future. Two buildings near Folsom Street and Main Street were wind‐tunnel tested for the existing setting only. It was shown that the wind for all of the buildings tested near 10th Street and Market Street averaged “good,” (more than 400 watts per square meter) or “great,” (more than 700 watts per square meter) average wind power density values for the existing and cumulative settings. The two buildings near Folsom Street and Main Street had average values of approximately 234 watts per square meter each.