isobel Grave (asker) Aug 12, 2023:

Thanks for this, Phil, and sorry for the delay in responding. I did not receive notification of your response. From your answer it is clear that wind turbine is the most obvious meaning. My issue is that the fictitious world of the story seems to be without power (pedal power only in transport at least) and no reference to any other power source except a tiny solar battery on a character's "casco noturno" to function like a torch. I understand that wind turbines are not pleasant to be near, and that is why I assumed the pala a vento could not be a turbine, but had to be some sort of gadget that acted like a hand-held fan, but on a much bigger scale. When you say the author may not be across the science, do you mean that she doesn't realise that the turbine does not create a breeze? That's disconcerting (though another question I posted on the same work got a similar commente from someone.) Anyway, thanks again, and I will go on thinking, Isobel

philgoddard Aug 7, 2023:

'Pala' implies 'blade' to me, and Google Images shows lots of pictures of wind turbines for "pala a vento".

Are you sure they're for cooling and not for generating power, electrical or otherwise? If they are for cooling, they'd need to be powered themselves, but you say this is a non-mechanised world, so presumably people have to produce their own electricity.

Wind turbines don't create wind, they turn it into electricity. Fans turn electricity into wind.

Is it possible that your writer has a shaky grasp of science?