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New Wind Turbine Design Good for Rural, Urban Environment watch!

youtube.com — Wind power is one of the fastest growing forms of alternative energy in the world. More and more, wind power mills are seen in the countryside, in large wind farms and for the most part, away from city life. But a new form of wind power is now designed to work in an urban environment. VOA producer Zulima Palacio has the story. Mill Arcega nar...

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 30, 2008

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  • JenniferInMO, on 11/29/2008, -1/+83It looks like it costs about $5k and produces about 30% of the power for a typical home (I don't know what "typical means"). The version which is twice as wide will provide 100% of the power. For a home with a couple of acres this would be great. It wouldn't work for a neighborhood with restrictions though. Interesting!
  • inactive, on 11/30/2008, -3/+71It WILL work in neighborhoods with restrictions.......all one needs to do is CHALLENGE such restrictions.

    Restrictions in neighborhoods are ancient and need to be reviewed.....if restrictions prevent alternative energy solutions, then fight it!

    One Home Owner Association in my area was OWNED by the courts and now allows, by court order, wind energy as long as the property has room and property line offsets are met.
  • Phylter, on 11/29/2008, -0/+68Nothing like self sufficiency where you can...
  • thenekkidtruth, on 11/30/2008, -2/+58Can you imagine your meter running backwards? 30% of electrical power in Germany comes from either wind or solar, and thousands of individual citizens help power the grid and get paid for doing it. The only thing keeping this from happening here is coordinated and syndicated corporate prohibition against initiatives like this, along with the congresspersons they have in their back pocket.
    And we thought they were the free-marketeers . . . guess not . . .
  • Anomaly100, on 11/29/2008, -2/+29I'd love to know if something like this would work in the city. I'm in Manhattan, so, I don't know how it would work. Rooftops?
  • metapop, on 11/30/2008, -2/+23i don't care what you think. i want it.
  • daithiocoinnigh, on 11/30/2008, -1/+22what the ***** is wrong with growing tomatoes?
  • Revovisionary, on 11/30/2008, -1/+19I love technology! If stuff like this continues then we just may find ourselves someday explain to our grand kids what it was like to be dependent on oil.
  • SodaPoppin, on 11/30/2008, -0/+18I only hope this turbine will be more bat friendly =/

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14593-wind-t ...
  • dafragsta, on 11/30/2008, -5/+22... plug you penis into a generator, thrust repeatedly and power your entire home.

    Sorry. I often take advantage of unsecured ellipsis'. ;)
  • winmywii, on 11/30/2008, -2/+18Are you ***** kidding me. You are worried about how ugly this would be when you could be generating all the power you need on your own property? My neighbor hood has power lines running everywhere, maybe if we all installed these we wouldn't need those ugly lines.
  • ikarus2k, on 11/30/2008, -0/+15this isn't new. There are already turbines like this, some of the more beautiful ones are at: http://www.helixwind.com
  • SolarPandaBot, on 11/30/2008, -0/+15The potential for small wind is exciting but vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) for residential power generation need to be viewed with some skepticism. This open letter on the American Wind Energy Association addresses some common claims by VAWT manufacturers. (http://awea.org/smallwind/sagrillo/wind_technology ...

    Curiously, Mariah Power wind turbines aren't listed as eligible technology to get rebates from NY and CA, even though a couple of other VAWT manufacturers like PacWind are, though this may just be because they're newer and haven't gotten all their paperwork in.
    NY: http://www.powernaturally.org/Programs/Wind/qualif ...
    CA: http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/cgi-bin/eligib ...

    I'm not saying that VAWTs don't work; it's just that you should use a good deal of caution before you make that investment.
  • Apocolypse007, on 11/30/2008, -3/+18instead of a google error message?
  • rubberbrush, on 11/30/2008, -0/+13Hasn't the whole "windmills kill birds" thing been dis-proven?
    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/04/common_mis ...
    It seems to have sticking power...
  • slubby, on 11/30/2008, -1/+13What great technology!
  • FelixDrylock, on 11/30/2008, -0/+11most electric energy comes from coal, not nuclear
  • ellievator, on 11/30/2008, -4/+15Re: tonmil

    You're crazy if you don't think this is beautiful. A city covered in these? Gorgeous.
  • turbulicity, on 11/30/2008, -1/+12Nope, you always lose more to the drag than you gain with electricity generations. Sorry folks, thermodynamics says no
  • amy31415, on 11/30/2008, -0/+10Right on brothah!
  • L4mb, on 11/30/2008, -0/+10To grand kids. "Well our cars were powered by a few thousand explosions a minute happening in a metal brick about a meter from out bodies."
  • radarplane, on 11/30/2008, -0/+10$1000?? What in the world? Are you trying to air condition the world? Do you leave your hair dryers running all the time? Are you bending the space-time continuum?
    My electric was 32.96
    My gas was 36.94
    I've only got 1000 sf, though.
  • senfo, on 11/30/2008, -0/+9Armageddon.
  • greenfalcon69, on 11/30/2008, -0/+9I remember doing a training cuorse on energy generation nearly 10 years ago and the advantages of this type of windmill were well explained. I have not understood why such an emphasis has been place on the giant propellers! Maybe I should look up the patents?
    Farmers were making water pumps similar to this 10 years ago and used old 44 gallon drums cut in half to make the "blade".
  • flashingcurser, on 11/30/2008, -1/+10It's more like 7%, sorry. They are almost half way to the 20% encouraged by the EU in 2020.

    Linky:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/business/worldbu ...

    I know, I know digg me down. We wouldn't want facts to get in the way of our European Utopian high.
  • RicktheBrick, on 12/01/2008, -0/+8I pay less than a $1,000 a year for my electricity. So if I pay $5,000 for a wind turbine and it saves me $300 a year it will take nearly 17 years to pay back my $5,000. That is if there is no other expenses such as the whole thing being destroyed in a high wind storm. Reduce the cost to a $1,000 and I might think about it.
  • thenekkidtruth, on 11/30/2008, -0/+7It's fine. I got my statistics from two of my students from Germany whom I had in a recent class - not necessarily considered a gold-standard source for a factoid like this. I remember doing some quick research at the time which seemed to support these students' contention, but I can't repeat that reasearch now.
    It's all good . . . i never "digg down" the truth. Possibly, as lostlyrics points out, it is close to 30% if you also add in solar collectors.
    One thing's for sure - sadly, the rest of the world is pulling away from us fast in terms of energy innovation. Even China - they're the #1 inventors of cutting-edge solar panels in the world today, and *we* taught them how to make them. Now that might be good enough for Neocons and Republicans, but I'm sure you'll understand that it isn't good enough for me.
  • inactive, on 11/30/2008, -0/+7They actually look really cool out front, just like someone would have a waterfall or other ornament.

    Having 30% of your power is a B-I-G freaking deal for emergencies. Basically if you shut off your heating and cooling you can live like nothing changed. You can watch tv, use your computer, take showers, cook, and your food won't go bad in your fridge either. Worst case, you may have to turn off your computer in order to watch TV but being able to get emergency news and even work from home if it is long term is very nice.
  • orangetiki, on 11/30/2008, -0/+7Actually your best bet would be on lower buildings or dare I say on the side. You live in Manhattan so you know what kind of cross winds skyscrapers and large buildings can make. It can work as long as it is placed in a great spot. Since this can take any directional wind there will be no need to adjust.
  • Anomaly100, on 11/30/2008, -2/+9I'm with you. I see nothing ugly in this. Actually, my electricity bill gets VERY ugly.
  • metapop, on 11/30/2008, -1/+8awesome... so amazing.
    more info:
    http://www.windowswindandsolar.com/spire
  • falser, on 11/30/2008, -0/+7In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics.
  • nosecohn, on 11/30/2008, -0/+7"Collectively, the cars put out so much poisonous gas that in certain cities, the government issued health alerts on some days. Kids weren't even supposed to go outside!"
  • jasdf, on 11/30/2008, -0/+6If something like this could be guaranteed to last for 50 years (with routine maintenance) it could prove to be cost effective. Our electric bill was over $1000 last month, so I'm thinking we would need a dozen or so.
  • orlandu63, on 11/30/2008, -0/+6Aw ;(
  • Berkana, on 11/30/2008, -0/+6In urban settings, the wind is often turbulent and does not remain blowing from a single direction; for turbulent wind, this kind of turbine is better suited:

    Helical savonius turbine vs. conventional turbine in turbulent wind:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLa_NY5U1nk

    Helix wind turbines:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9flSPAdOLk

    These were designed to be mounted on rooftops. Youtube has lots of other videos of rooftop turbines of the Savonius variety.
  • amy31415, on 11/30/2008, -1/+7Me too. Lots of bats around here and they're important to the ecosystem.

    As a last resort, couldn't a shroud of mosquito netting be put around them if bats are susceptible?
  • Taiyoryu, on 11/30/2008, -0/+6The park installation looks like a kinetic sculpture. It's certainly less bulky and more aesthetic than the traditional behemoth towers you typically see.
  • polish97, on 11/30/2008, -0/+6That's wind blowing on the microphone, not the turbine,
  • radarplane, on 11/30/2008, -0/+6It can also double as a ride for your step children.
  • inactive, on 11/30/2008, -0/+5In Florida, at least, the electric monopoly "FPL" does pay consumers who generate solar or wind power, but not many folks actually do it...It's very hard to find a totally free market for electricity, even under (bailout-ridden, but I digress...) "capitalism."
  • ellievator, on 11/30/2008, -0/+5Fantastic, now I can spoil both the beautiful view and tranquil peace in my back yard with a total environmental collapse! Do you hear the sweet sound of burning coal and petroleum addiction? (sounds like a paper money counting machine... that even doesn't belong to you). :)
  • Rysac1, on 11/30/2008, -2/+7***** NIMBYs
  • lostlyrics, on 11/30/2008, -1/+6http://digg.com/environment/Inventor_Worlds_most_e ... a project also which of we'd like to hear more ... ;)

    http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2008/09/2 ... the scottish spice under way supporting us-homebrew :D
    as scotland provides an experimental offshore park where
    developers find an infra structure to test all their 'alternatives'
    http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/pelamis-of ... some of them going in realization now :)

    wind plus ocean power delivery could
    easily provide sustaining base load.
    (tidal energy pool, coasts worldwide:
    sums to about 23,000 tera-watt-hours)



  • CrushThemTorg, on 11/30/2008, -0/+4Home aluminum mill?
  • Kappa00, on 12/01/2008, -0/+4It is possible to slowly discharge a capacitor.
  • mysn239, on 11/30/2008, -0/+4Solar Panels
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