DoNoBad

Wind turbines for your home and rooftops

Nov 10, 2008 Information of the Day, Startups

Aeropoint

Wind energy has not been without its share of detractors. Its opponents say that they are unreliable, they look ugly and are noisy and they kill birds and bats. Yet there are huge windfarms being planned all across the world — onshore as well as offshore.

Interesting things are happening on the micro wind power projects — involving turbines that could be mounted on roofs of building, rather than on the countryside. In this sphere, companies are coming up with designs that are aesthetic or quieter or easier to install and so on. According to the American Wind Energy Association the small scale wind industry, which is defined as 100 kilowatt capacity or below, has been experiencing major growth in the past decade and hopes to grow at 18 to 20 percent through 2010. Here are a few hot designs:

Marquiss Wind Power has a uniquely design for small-scale rooftop wind turbines. Their Aeropoint product is based on the “ducted wind turbine” concept, is just under 20 feet tall and boasts a square-shaped frame. It can be mounted on rooftops of buildings and and is intended for businesses that want to add a bit of clean energy to the mix.

Mariah Power

Mariah Power makes a 30-foot tall, $4,000 turbines. Their propeller-free design, the 1,800 kilowatt hours per year “Windspire” turbine will help push forward the small-scale wind movement.Mariah says its customers only need roughly 11-mile-per-hour average wind speeds, and half an acre of land. And the company says the $4,000 price tag is about half to a third less than other renewable power options.

Another company, Helix Wind makes double-helix shaped vertical-axis design for small scale installations. And if double helix is not to your taste, there is

Double Helix

Quiet Revolution, a London-based small wind turbine maker, whose ‘qr5,’ is a 6 kW triple-helix wind turbine five meters high and three meters wide and meant to be installed on rooftops. The turbine uses three S-shaped blades, which the company says can capture lower wind speeds and wind that changes directions frequently. That means it can deliver 20 to 40 percent more energy than a traditional turbine, the company says. The turbine has also been designed to be quiet and only has one moving part, so it can be maintained with less frequent checkups.

Quiet Revolutions

The turbine itself ain’t cheap at £25,000 plus other charges adding to another £15,000. The qr5 isn’t really meant for a home owner; most of its customers are energy developers, governments and schools.

Added to the mix is plastic parts maker Cascade Engineering, which has a small rooftop wind turbine called the SWIFT with claims that it is significantly quieter than traditional small wind turbines — less than 35 decibels, compared with 40 to 50 decibels its competitors. This baby requires a professional installer and costs $10,000 to $12,000. For that dough, customers get a wind turbine that produces 1.5 kW, or up to 2000 kWh per year, and has a blade diameter of 7 feet.

Another upstart, Aerovironment produces building-mounted turbines,  By mounting the turbine structure to

Swift

the tops of buildings, the company claims that the benefits are twofold.  First, the cost in resources of building a pole to support the turbine is eliminated.  Secondly, the turbines can be elevated much higher, exposing them to stronger winds.

The nearly silent turbines snap onto the parapet of urban structures, forming a design that Aerovironment calls ‘Architectural Wind’.  The rows of turbines not only catch cross currents, but also the frequent currents that develop up the side of buildings.  The result is a 30 percent increase in energy production and even better, a great savings in hassle, in that the turbines are quick to snap in.

While the system is extremely well designed and efficient, many will be drawn to its style.  The system’s curvy design looks more like a modern art sculpture than a cutting edge alternative energy design.  This in turn adds to the urban appeal.  Part of the structure even serves another utilitarian use – the large metal plate over the turbine acts as a bird shield, in an effort to minimize avian casualties.

A module weighs 200 lbs, allowing relatively easy installation, but also ensuring that it won’t blow away.

Aerovironment

They measure 4 feet tall by 4 feet wide.  Installations start at 6 kW of power production and can be scaled up to produce much more.

There are older firms like Southwest Wind Power, one which has been selling its small-scale wind turbines like the Skystream 3.7 for two decades, and says it’s already sold more than 100,000 of its more traditional-looking turbines.

Overall, the scene looks pretty exciting! Reminds me of that scene from the Bollywood movie “Swades”, where Sharukh Khan installs a small water turbine to bring power to a village. someday we could be making a major part of our electricity needs ourselves — on our own rooftops, adorned with wind turbines and solar panels.

Tags: renewable energy, wind energy, wind power, Wind turbines