Wind turbine Generation-Every thing about Renewable source of Wind power Generation

[daring dude]

New Bladeless Wind Turbine Claimed to be Twice as Efficient as Conventional Designs

© Saphon

When it comes to the future of wind power, one company thinks it looks a lot different than you would expect, and cheaper and more efficient to boot. Saphon, out of Tunisia, is interested in finding partners to mass-produce and market their unique wind energy device, based on their own Zero Blade technology.

"The Zero-Blade Technology is largely inspired from the sailboat and is likely to increase the efficiency of the current wind power conversion devices. The blades are replaced by a sail shaped body while both hub and gearbox are removed."

According to the company, their zero-blade technology devices are capable of overcoming the Betz' limit, which states that no turbine can capture more than 59.3 percent of the kinetic energy of the wind. An average wind turbine captures only 30 to 40%, while the Saphon turbine is said to be 2.3 times more efficient. Additionally, the cost is expected to be 45% less than a conventional turbine, mostly due to the fact that there are no blades, no hub, and no gearbox on the units.

PHOTO: Impressive Beast! World's Longest Wind Turbine Rotor Blade Measures 246 Feet!

The Saphon Zero Blade technology is different in other ways as well, most significantly being storage of energy. Most of the kinetic energy can be stored (via a hydraulic accumulator) or converted to electricity with a hydraulic motor and generator.

"We've developed several prototypes. We are at our second generation prototype. We did the testing and this second one is twice as efficient as a three blade turbine and in terms of manufacturing is at least 50 percent cheaper." - Hassine Labaied

The company is now looking for manufacturing partners to bring the turbine to market, and once that happens, they expect to be shipping out units anywhere from 18 to 24 months afterward.

New Bladeless Wind Turbine Claimed to be Twice as Efficient as Conventional Designs : TreeHugger

Build this open source DIY wind turbine for $30

Video screen capture SolarFlower
Getting started with home wind energy projects can set you back a pretty penny if you buy a finished product, but if you're a little bit handy and don't mind scrounging for materials and getting creative in the garage or backyard, you can try your hand at building one of these DIY wind turbines for about $30 in materials. After all, it is#iheartrenewables week!

We've previously covered Daniel Connell's open source concentrated solar collector plans, but now he's back with another great DIY renewable energy project, a vertical axis wind turbine based on the Lenz2 lift+drag design. Connell's design calls for using aluminum lithographic offset printing plates to catch the wind, which he says can be obtained cheaply (or possibly even free) from an offset printing company, and a variety of hardware and a bicycle wheel.

"The turbine uses the ~40% mechanically efficient Lenz2 lift+drag design. It is made entirely from scrap materials except for the bolts and pop rivets, and should cost about $15-$30 for the three vane version, which can be made by one person in six hours without much effort." - SolarFlower


Other than basic tools, including a hand drill, you'll need to buy or borrow a pop riveter and some assorted hardware (bolts, nuts, and washers) to construct this device. According to Connell's notes, this DIY wind turbine, which can be built in either a three vane or six vane version, has successfully survived sustained winds of 80 km/h (three vane) and up to 105 km/h for the six vane version.

Here's a little clip of the vertical axis wind turbine being challenged by strong winds:


In order to harvest the energy from this wind turbine, it's necessary to add an alternator to the rotor, as well as a method of storing the electricity, but it could also be used simply for the mechanical rotation, such as to pump water or spin a flywheel for other applications.

While there are a number of variables that can affect the output of this DIY wind turbine, including the efficiency of the alternator used (and obviously the speed of the wind where it's located), according to Connell, using a "50% efficient car alternator (the simplest and cheapest option) should produce 158 watts of electricity in a 50 km/h wind, and 649 watts at 80 km/h" with this design.

[Update: In an email conversation with Connell, he stated that "a six vane version with an efficient alternator should produce at least 135 watts of electricity in a 30 km/h wind, and 1.05 kilowatts at 60 km/h."]

This homebrewed wind turbine isn't necessarily going to be powering your home (although a series of these could potentially be used to generate enough electricity to charge a battery bank for modest home use), it might be a great hands-on school project or homeschool activity about wind energy.

Build this open source DIY wind turbine for $30 : TreeHugger


A Personal Wind Turbine For $500: The Air-X

The Air-X is a small wind turbine designed to be used by home owners. It has recently been updated to reduce the noise of the blades, and they've added some microprocessor-based technology to improve battery charging. The manufacturers say this turbine can charge "any size battery bank from 25 to 25,000 amp hours or higher". The internal charge controller periodically stops charging, reads the battery voltage, and decides on the spot whether to continue charging or stop completely. The result is longer battery life and no overcharging. It's available from Discount Solar andSundance Solar.

Windspire: 1 kW Wind Turbine for Your Backyard

With its sleek, bladeless design and capacity to produce nearly 2000 kilowatt hours per year, the Windspire might just inspire some YIMBYism -- that's Yes, In My BackYard -- about wind power. At 30 feet tall and 2 feet wide, the propeller-less design is bird-safe, relatively quiet -- it produces about 25 decibels of noise at five feet, roughly equivalent to the average noise of a residential neighborhood at night -- and doesn't take much breeze to get it spinning; it fires up at 8 mph, and is rated to survive 100 mph gusts. It comes with a wireless modem that connects to your computer, so you can sit back and watch the energy in action at any time.

At about $4,000, it ain't exactly cheap -- at 10 cents a kilowatt, it'll take about 20 years to get any return on your investment -- but it sure is cool and sure beats getting your energy from coal-fired power plants, which pretty much suck. Learn more about Windspire -- performance & installation specs, maintenance required (not much), test data, etc. -- over at Mariah Power's website. ::Windspire via ::Materialicious

A Personal Wind Turbine For $500: The Air-X : TreeHugger

Silent rooftop wind turbines could generate half of a household's energy needs

© Michael VanNederveen Photography via The Archimedes
Small wind turbines scaled to the right size for residential and urban areas have so far lived in the shadows of their larger wind-farm-sized counterparts. The power output has been too low for a reasonable return on investment through energy savings and the noise they produce is louder than most homeowners can deal with.

A Dutch renewable energy start-up called The Archimedes is working to solve both of those problems in a new class of small-scale wind turbine -- one that is almost silent and is far more efficient at converting wind into energy. The company states that the Liam F1 turbine could generate 1,500 kWh of energy per year at wind speeds of 5m/s, enough to cover half of an average household's energy use.

When used in combination with rooftop solar panels, a house could run off grid. "When there is wind you use the energy produced by the wind turbine; when the sun is shining you use the solar cells to produce the energy," The Archimedes CEO Richard Ruijtenbeek said.

The Liam's blades are shaped like a Nautilus shell. The design allows it to point into the wind to capture the most amount of energy, while also producing very little sound. The inventor of the turbine Marinus Mieremet says that the power output is 80 percent of the theoretical maximum energy that could be harnessed from the wind.

“Generally speaking, there is a difference in pressure in front and behind of the rotor blades of a windmill. However, this is not the case with the Liam F1. The difference in pressure is created by the spatial figure in the spiral blade. This results in a much better performance. Even when the wind is blowing at an angle of 60 degrees into the rotor, it will start to spin. We do not require expensive software: because of its conical shape, the wind turbine yaws itself automatically into the optimal wind direction. Just like a wind vane. And because the wind turbine encounters minimal resistance, he is virtually silent," said Mieremet.

The company is also working on even smaller wind turbine designs that could fit on LED lampposts to power them, on boats or in smaller bodies of water.

You can watch a video about the history of the Liam turbine from invention to field tests below.


Silent rooftop wind turbines could generate half of a household's energy needs : TreeHugger

 

[daring dude]

30-Blade Eco Whisper Wind Turbine is "Virtually Silent"

YouTube/Video screen capture

Want wind power, but think that those tri-bladed behemoths are just too loud? Well then, Australia Renewable Energy Solutions has just the thing for you: The Eco Whisper wind turbine. This sharp-looking little contraption may only have a 20 kW generating capacity, but the company claims that the turbine is "virtually silent". It's also, allegedly, more efficient. Here's an intro to how it works:


The blades are 20 ft in diameter, and the entire thing stands 70 ft tall.

AOL Energy has more:

The company said the turbine is "virtually silent," thanks to its unique design, in which the 30 blades are angled outward from the hub, and surrounded at their ends by a ring. This ring, the company says, "prevents air 'spilling' off the tip of the blades," the source of much of the noise that traditional turbines produce. The company also lists greater efficiency and lower start-up speeds as advantages compared to competitors.Sounds cool, and I'm all for experimenting with new turbine designs. But if the aim is to try to pacify wind power naysayers who complain about noise with a quiet turbine, this pitch will likely fall on deaf ears (pun!).


That's because the much-hyped "Wind Turbine Syndrome" -- allegedly caused by the sounds and 'sub-audible vibrations' emitted by the turbines -- has already been proven to be a steaming load of bunk. And many of the people who complain about wind turbines being too noisy seem to be, primarily, grumps with too much time on their hands -- especially considering that when they're compensated by wind power companies for having the turbines nearby their homes, their complaints magically disappear. These folks aren't really bothered by the noise level of the turbines -- they have issues with the changing world they represent, and often, an axe to grind. A genuinely silent turbine probably won't quell their objections.

That said, the 'silent' turbine may be a strong selling point for businesses and homeowners already interested in small scale wind power -- silent, efficient clean energy generation is appealing indeed.

30-Blade Eco Whisper Wind Turbine is "Virtually Silent" : TreeHugger

How to make a small backyard wind power generator

There is still more than a month left in the Instructables Green Design Contest and there are already over 100 entries. We're loving the creativity and crafty spirit that is going into each project, the goal of which is to keep the environment in mind when designing and crafting something new. That's why this project for making a small wind power generator stood out to us.

The project is by user out-of-the-box, and walks you through how to make a small upright wind turbine to sit in your yard and gather a bit of power from the breeze.

Here's a demo video of the newest version of the project, which also includes solar panels:

Take part in the contest:

Think “green” and submit an eco-friendly Instructable that uses sustainable materials or is energy efficient by design... Come up with any project with these factors in mind, and you could win over $1,000 in prizes including a Voltaic Systems OffGrid Solar Backpack, ReadySet Renewable Energy Kit with Solar Panel and LED light, Nokero Solar Light Bulbs and a $500 REI gift certificate.

How to make a small backyard wind power generator : TreeHugger

How To: Build Your Own 1000 Watt Wind Turbine

The latest project over at DIY site Instructables (the same place we found Microwave Mitten Warmers) is a 1000 watt wind turbine. Complete with pictures of the construction, from the magnet disks to coils and other necessary parts to a home-made wind turbine, it looks like a work in progress, so we're interested to see how it turns out. For anyone interested in the technical details, it's a permanent magnet alternator, generating three-phase AC, rectified to DC, and fed to a charge controller; if you can't decode the last sentence, beware that this project is for mechanically-inclined DIYers only. It's still fun to look at and track its progress, though, and is worth a look. ::Instructables via :igg

How To: Build Your Own 1000 Watt Wind Turbine : TreeHugger

Wind Turbine from Scrap for under £20: Student Hopes to Power the World's Poor

Cheap Do-it-yourself Wind Turbine
Have you been putting off your dream of building a gadget that will change the world? Max Robson's father knows how you feel. Ashley Robson seeded the desire to design a cheap, sustainable energy source. Now his son has made the dream reality.

Max Robson's prototype wind turbine cost him only £20 (US$37) to build, using rubbish he collected from skips (or dumpsters, as they are called in the former colonies). The do-it-yourself turbine reportedly includes a bike frame and bearings, a Vespa magneto and a Ford Fiesta battery. Max claims unskilled workers in developing countries could build the turbines for less than it cost him, although one must ask how many Vespa magnetos and auto batteries are lying around in the skips where cheap wind turbine technology could be really useful.Award Winning Wind Turbine Design
Max's turbine generates 11.3 watts. It is not much power. But, of course, £20 is not much money. It is enough power to get a first class honours degree in product design and modern materials from the Department of Mechanical and Design Engineering and to win the won the Professor G M Bedford Memorial Prize. Too bad we haven't yet designed a technology to harvest the power of good intentions.

Max's Next Steps
Max studied under John Bishop, who was a classmate of Max's Dad a couple decades before, also at the University of Portmouth. Now Max has been accepted into the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship 'Flying Start' scheme. Hopefully his big heart and can-do attitude will make a difference in the world.

Wind Turbine from Scrap for under £20: Student Hopes to Power the World's Poor : TreeHugger

New record: SolarCity rooftop systems produced 4GWh in a single day last week

Promo image Solarcity
In April of 2014, SolarCity announced a new milestone: 3GWh of clean electricity generated by its solar systems in aggregate over a single day. But even that impressive number was just the beginning for 2014, since more solar power is generated during the summer, which is convenient because that's when the grid is most strained to provide electricity for people to run air conditioners. SolarCity went on to hit 3.5GWh days last summer, but even that has already been eclipsed and it's not even officially spring; last week, they hit a 4GWh day, a nice new round-number milestone.

As you can see in the graph below, solar electricity generation peaks every summer and then falls back down during the winter. We're barely in the upswing this year, so it wouldn't be surprising if 2015 saw days where 4.5 or even 5GWh of clean powered were generated by SolarCity. And this is just one company. There are many other rooftop solar installers, as well as utilities building solar farms.

SolarCity Blog/Screen capture

"The best part? Our customers didn’t have to burn anything, use a drop of water, or emit an ounce of carbon dioxide to produce this power. This is what the future looks like."

Indeed, the future will be clean!

Above is an older, analog power meter running backwards thanks to net-metering because a rooftop solar system is producing more power than the house is using. Don't you think that would feel good to see that at your house?

And don't think that solar power is just for the rich. It's actually a middle-class phenomenon, and getting more affordable all the time.

© CAP
New record: SolarCity rooftop systems produced 4GWh in a single day last week : TreeHugger

 

[Georgeclark]

Wind Spire is one the best designs out there, if anyone wants them to use for Home Use. I myself use one for my Office but its only kind of test version developed by a small company in Delhi. It powers 25% of my office (Only one)

 

[black-hawk_101]

I think Pakistan is good place and has many investors too.

 

[daring dude]

Mag-Wind Vertical Axis Turbine for your Home


Lloyd Alter (@lloydalter)
Energy / Renewable Energy

UPDATE: It turns out that this product was a fraud, and the proponent of it has been indicted for securities and wire fraud. You can read more about this at Paul Gipe's website Wind Works.

We get excited about new technologies; sometimes we jump the gun, so it is great to find a product that is new, different and actually available. It's a "Magnetically-Levitated Axial Flux Alternator with Programmable Variable Coil Resistance, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine' , and it has just come on the market. Designed by Thomas Priest-Brown and Jim Rowan in Canada and manufactured in Texas, it"solves 11 different problems that previously limited the development of vertical-axis wind turbines for generation of electricity ." The center hub floats on a magnet, and the coils that generate the power are at the outer ring, with magnets at the tips of the blades flying over them at high speed. It is designed for home installation in urban settings; It is only 4 feet high, so neighbours are unlikely to complain about its appearance. We asked about issues with ice and snow, and were assured that there was no problem. We also asked about noise (often a complaint) and was told that it was inaudible.

Unlike normal turbines, it doesn't mind a little turbulence, works well in developed areas, and gets an extra kick from something called "the roof effect" -evidently "A roof with a 10-foot vertical rise and a 30% angle will provide nearly a 200% increase in the amount of wind energy that is available to be turned into electricity. Compared to the same turbine just sitting on a pole, the roof effect increases the power yielded by operation of the wind turbine dramatically."

Specifications are impressive:

* Productivity: 1100 kWh/month in a 13 mph average wind
* Name Plate: 5 kW rated output in 28 mph wind at sea level with 80% relative humidity.
* Cut-In Speed: Less than 5 mph.
* Top Speed: Greater than 100 Mph.
* Economics: Fully burdened cost over 10 years is 3.5 cents per kW.
* ROI: If current bill is $300 per month or more, then ROI 3 years or less.
* Maintenance & Operation Costs: Minimal
* Deployment: Rooftop Urban or Rural Setting.
* Total Estimated Production Run 2006: 3,500 Units
* Production Units Ready Spring 2006

The first two prototypes have been working all year; Deliveries start in February from::Magwind Local Canadian distributor is ::Niagara Windpower

Mag-Wind Vertical Axis Turbine for your Home : TreeHugger

 

[daring dude]

Hot Home Wind Turbines You Can Actually Buy, Plus One You Wish You Could


Mat McDermott (@matmcdermott)
Energy / Renewable Energy

photo: Home Energy

Though solar panels definitely hog the renewable energy stage when it comes to home installations, a number of new, innovative wind turbines have entered the market in the past couple of months. Not all of these are intended to be mounted on your roof, some you'll need a bit of a yard (and a dearth of neighbors) to install and they vary in price from affordable to "when am I going to actually pay this off?", but they all go to show that there's more than one way to harness the wind to generate electricity. Check 'em out:



The Windspire


Though not the highest priced backyard wind turbine out there, the $5000 Windspirefrom Mariah Power has been around for a bit (we first reported on it back in September of 2007) but nonetheless it just one an award from Popular Science for being among the Best of What's New '08

At a rated capacity of 1.2 kilowatts, Mariah Power says that you can probably generate 25-30% of an average home's power with the Windspire. At 30 feet tall and 2 feet wide, the Windspire probably isn't suitable for every location—though its noise levels (20 db at 40 feet) won't disturb anyone—and based on current electric rates it'll take a while to pay this one off.

That said, it is a cool design, and perhaps now that Mariah Power will have a new factory up and running in Michigan and production ramps up a bit, they'll be able to drop that price a bit.



The Energy Ball

photo: Home Energy The Energy Ball from Swedish firm Home Energy (whose website is still only in Swedish) is one of the most distinctive looking—and by that I definitely mean cool looking—home wind turbines out there.


There are two models available: The V100 (43" in diameter, 0.5 kW capacity) has a list price of about SKr 30,400 ($3690); and the V200 (78" in diameter, 2.5 kW capacity) which runs about SKr 57,000 ($6900). Both those prices are without mounting materials. Home Energy estimates that the V200 could supply 50% of an average home's energy needs, while its smaller sibling is best seen as a supplement to other energy sources. What's more, Home Energy claims that the Energy Ball is "completely silent".

A brief apology/update: How I missed the fact that Home Energy has a website in English (cursing myself for muddling through the Swedish one...), is beyond me. Nonetheless that's the case: . More on the Energy Ball in English.



Air Breeze

photo: Southwest Windpower


The Air Breeze from Southwest Windpower really fills a different niche than either of the preceding wind turbines. With a rated capacity of only 200 watts, the Air Breeze is intended to be used in off-grid locations such as rural cabins, or in marine applicationsrather than powering up (or even offsetting a good part of) an average home. But if you don't need a lot of power, and maybe already have some solar panels on your private little off-grid hideaway, then perhaps the 46" wide, rather slick-looking, Air Breeze is perfect for you.

It's also not that expensive (for a wind turbine...); the Air Breeze will set you back $600-700.



Swift Rooftop Energy System

photo: Cascade Engineering


Announced back in October, the Swift Rooftop Energy System is another turbine which claims to be dead quiet (though I'm not sure less than 35 decibels is really 'dead quiet'). Made in Michigan by Cascade Engineering, the Swift is rated at 1.5 kW and has a blade diameter of 7 feet. Like many of these, it's pretty slick looking too.

That's all good news; the less good news is that the estimate cost to install one of these is in the $10,000-12,000 range—which means that given current energy prices Swift's maker's prediction that you can pay this off in three years is, well, optimistic.



Phillipe Starck's Wind Turbine

photo: Inhabitat Phillipe Starck's wind turbine is the odd one out in the group, but not because of its design—as striking as it is, the other wind turbines in this list are no slouches in the design department—but because since its announcement back in the summer it's just sort been hanging out there in the ether. Since its debut we've learned little more, but since both in terms of price point (low) and design concept (high) it's worth bringing back up.


This is what we do know about its tech specs (such as they are): It's expected to generate between 20-60% of an average home's electric needs, is made of clear polycarbonate, and (should it actually be available to purchase) expected to sell for €400 ($500).

Given that normally a bit more in the way of technical data is made available at the announcement of a new renewable energy product, especially one whose design is bound to attract naysayers, I have to wonder whether this one will ever see the light of day. But should it actually get produced, I'd be surprised if a good number of people don't fork out the cash, just to be able to say, "yes, that thing is actually a wind turbine."

Hot Home Wind Turbines You Can Actually Buy, Plus One You Wish You Could : TreeHugger

 

[daring dude]

The Energy Ball: Another Innovative Option in Home Wind Turbines


Mat McDermott (@matmcdermott)

images: Home Energy

Though their definitely seems to be some doubt as to the ultimate effectiveness of small-scale wind turbines, particularly in urban environments, that hasn't stopped new development of home-based and roof-mounted wind turbines. While Phillipe Starck's wind turbine is little more than eye candy at this point, the Windspire is one option which you can purchase. Here's another innovate option that you actually buy.

The Silent Spherical Wind Turbine
Designed by Swedish company Home Energy (website only in Swedish), the Energy Ball breaks from most wind turbine design by using a spherical structure. Home Energy says that by using such a design significantly higher aerodynamic efficiency can be achieved, as compared to traditional designs. What's more the Energy Ball is claimed to be "completely silent".Two Models Available
Two models are available, the 0.5 kW Energy Ball V100 with a diameter of 110cm (43"), and the 2.5 kW Energy Ball V200 with a diameter of 198cm (78"). Home Energy claims that the V200 can provide up to 50% of a typical home's electrical needs, while the V100 should be seen as a supplement to other energy sources. Both can produce power starting at wind speeds of 3 meters/second, and max out in wind speeds of 40 m/s.

The V100 has a list price of just under SKr 30,000 ($4,600); the V200 sells for about SKr 53,000 ($8,100). Both prices are just for the turbine, inverter and cabling. Mounting materials are additional. Installation on either stand-alone post or on the roof requires two people and is expected to take about 4-6 hours.

New Eggbeater VAWT Design Claims 35% More Power than Competitors


Derek Markham (@derekmarkham)

© Harvistor
A new iteration of the Darrieus "eggbeater" vertical axis wind turbine is claimed to produce 35% more annual kilowatt hours than any other wind turbine at the same price point and swept area. The new version of the turbine is also said to be able to produce that much more power at a mounting point 25% lower than their competitors, making it possible to keep the generation of electricity closer to the point of use.

The DARWIND5 turbine, a five blade wind generator said to be effective in turbulent (semi-laminar flow) wind sites, comes from Harvistor, a Canadian company making advances in the small wind market. According to the company, they are the "world's first designer and licenser" of low-mount small wind turbines, and this new version of their generator could be another solution answer for small wind power needs in areas where other turbines fail short:

"The DARWIND5's new advanced airfoil, blade shape, and Smart Pitch Angle Regulation "SPAR" system combine to deliver quiet, responsive power generation in low mount turbulent wind sites where no other competitor dares to go. 35% MORE KILOWATT Hours than the same priced, same sized leading competitor at a 25% lower mount height." - Harvistor

According to Gizmag, the performance of the DARWIND5 was boosted through the use of new airfoil shapes, "which allow the rotor system to completely avoid power-robbing dynamic stall, a reaction that occurs when airfoils rapidly change the angle of attack."

The turbine, which can be tilted for cleaning or repair, is 1.9 meters tall, with a 1.2 meter working diameter, and can operate in wind speeds from 4 m/s to 24 m/s. Prices on the company's site range from CDN $4,295.00 for the 500 W version, to $6.995.00 for the 1.5kW turbine, and Harvistor claims that buyers can see a return on their investment in 5 to 7 years.

Philippe Starck's Stylish Wind Turbine For Your Yard

In keeping with Philippe Starck's philosophy of creating practical objects with a sense of aesthetics and functionality, the designer has created a couple chic wind turbines, named Revolutionair. The hip French designer first unveiled his sketches in 2008, working with Italian generator company Pramac to make them a reality. This sleek look offers another image of the classic three-blade turbine we've come to love - and some hate. If Starck's designer windmills were whirling around mountaintops, would North Carolina ban wind farms because they're "ugly"?

Whisk-shaped windmill for the garden. Photo courtesy of Pramac

I've never found windmills unsightly; not the quaint Dutch kind or today's towering elegant minimalist versions. When I first saw rows and rows of them on a hillside in the 1990s in the California desert, twirling at different speeds, I felt awestruck. While I understand the objection to disrupting views of nature's green landscapes with machinery, my emotional connection with the beauty of wind-powered farmsproviding clean energy perhaps is as powerful as those who may find them a blight. Not to mention their other questionable objections to windmills.

With a vision that's a step ahead of most industrial design, Starck's rectangular and whisk-shaped wind turbines are intended for residences and businesses, claiming to generate 20 to 60 percent of a home's energy needs. They fit in the garden or on the roof, with a power output of 400W for the quadrangular 400W WT model measuring 90 centimeters (three feet) without its stand, and the 1.45 meter helicoidal-shaped 1KW WT one yielding one kilowatt of power. Revolutionair's vertical-axis turbines are quiet, run independent of wind direction but take advantage of turbulence, according to Pramac.

The prototype was mentioned along with several other home turbine designs in Treehugger, as the one you wish you could buy, wondering whether the design would ever actually be produced, especially with the modest price of an estimated $500. Well, now you can, though the cost jumped significantly to a hefty $3,500. With an average home racking up $1,000 in annual energy costs, a Revolutionair windmill could pay itself back within a few years. However, built in Italy, it's got a big footprint to ship.

Images courtesy of Visual Pharm

Designers should define their role as "agents of good," Starck has said among his other environmentally-friendly comments. "There are already thousands of really really good chairs." Well, besides designing chic interiors, hotels and a couple of his own iconic chairs, including the Ghost Chair and famous Bubble Club Chair, Starck's products include everything from toothbrushes to the award-winning spider-like juicer by Alessi. But in his show, Democratic Ecology, with Pramac, he showed off these personal wind turbines, saying, "Ecology is not just an urgency of the economy and protection of our world, but also of creativity." He proves that the utilitarian doesn't have to look ugly, in fact he sees these windmills as "invisible."

 

[daring dude]

This tiny portable wind turbine fits in your bag and charges your gadgets

© Skajaquoda
In our current gadget-centric culture, one limiting factor for mobile devices is the capacity of the batteries that power them, and while we haven't seen any massive improvements in battery technology (yet) which would allow us to go for days between charges, mobile solar chargers and battery backup systems seem to be the only solutions (well, other than to actually stop using them so much).

Wind turbines are a viable clean energy solution, but most of the innovations in wind energy tend to be on the large scale, and since those devices aren't exactly portable, they don't lend themselves to mobile device charging. But one forthcoming invention may allow us to harness the power of the wind with a micro turbine, in order to charge our smartphones and tablets and other USB devices.

Although the efficacy of small wind turbines, especially vertical axis wind turbines(VAWT), is often debated, and the designs dismissed as not being worth their cost or manufacturing resources, but that hasn't stopped people from trying to improve them or apply them to niche uses. And this latest entry to the VAWT field is indeed a niche use, in that it takes aim at the personal and portable market, and aims to remove one of the pain points of mobile device users.

The Trinity wind turbine (referred to as a "Portable Wind Turbine Power Station" due to its onboard battery) is designed to be portable enough to carry with you, yet powerful enough to provide clean electricity, and may be the harbinger of personal wind power devices.

© Skajaquoda
Designed and built by Skajaquoda, a research group based in Minnesota, the Trinity features three aluminum legs that slide into the body of the turbine for storage and portability, and then expand to become a tripod for deploying the turbine. The device has three wind blades (a Savonius design) that can be folded into the body of the device for transport, and open up when deployed, which spin a 15W generator and charge a 15,000 mAh battery when the wind is blowing.


The Trinity, which is made from plastic and aluminum and weighs about 4 lb., measures 23" high when operating, and folds down into a 12" long cylinder for transport. According to its inventors, Einar Agustsson and Agust Agustsson, a fully working prototype of this micro wind turbine has been built, but in order to put it into production, they've turned to Kickstarter to raise the $50,000 to finish the final prototype and start the manufacturing process.

Backers at the $249 level will receive the first of the Trinity devices, and backers at the $399 level will get a limited edition version, available in their choice of one of five colors. The company estimates that the first of these micro wind turbines will be shipped to backers in January of 2015, with full scale production beginning in February of 2015.

 

[PurpleButcher]

Can anyone guide me the following
> Are domestic wind turbines available in Pakistan esp. near Islamabad ?
> What is the approx cost of 2kW turbine?
> What is the minimum wind speed needed for such small scale turbines?