Research at the Caltech Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy, directed by John Dabiri, suggests that arrays of closely spaced vertical-axis wind turbines produce significantly more power than conventional wind farms with propeller-style turbines. (Credit: John Dabiri, Caltech)

Conventional wisdom suggests that because we’re approaching the theoretical limit on individual wind turbine efficiency, wind energy is now a mature technology. But California Institute of Technology researchers revisited some of the fundamental assumptions that guided the wind industry for the past 30 years, and now believe that a new approach to wind farm design — one that places wind turbines close together instead of far apart — may provide significant efficiency gains.

This challenges the school of thought that the only remaining advances to come are in developing larger turbines, putting them offshore, and lobbying for government policies favorable to the further penetration of wind power in energy markets.

“What has been overlooked to date is that, not withstanding the tremendous advances in wind turbine technology, wind ‘farms’ are still rather inefficient when taken as a whole,” explains John Dabiri, professor of Engineering and Applied Science, and director of the Center for Bioinspired Engineering at Caltech. “Because conventional, propeller-style wind turbines must be spaced far apart to avoid interfering with one another aerodynamically, much of the wind energy that enters a wind farm is never tapped. In effect, modern wind farms are the equivalent of ‘sloppy eaters.’ To compensate, they’re built taller and larger to access better winds.”

But this increase in height and size leads to frequently cited issues such as increased cost and difficulty of engineering and maintaining the larger structures, other visual, acoustic, and radar signatures problems, as well as more bat and bird impacts.

Dabiri is focusing on a more efficient form of wind ‘farm’ design, relegating individual wind turbine efficiency to the back seat. He describes this new design in the American Institute of Physics’ Journal of Renewable & Sustainable Energy.

“The available wind energy at 30 feet is much less abundant than that found at the heights of modern wind turbines, but if near-ground wind can be harnessed more efficiently there’s no need to access the higher altitude winds,” he says. “The global wind power available at 30 feet exceeds global electricity usage several times over. The challenge? Capturing that power.”

The Caltech design targets that power by relying on vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) in arrangements that place the turbines much closer together than is possible with horizontal-axis propeller-style turbines.

VAWTs provide several immediate benefits, according to Dabiri, including effective operation in turbulent winds like those occurring near the ground, a simple design (no gearbox or yaw drive) that can lower costs of operation and maintenance, and a lower profile that reduces environmental impacts.

Two of the primary reasons VAWTs aren’t more prominently used today are because they tend to be less efficient individually, and the previous generation of VAWTs suffered from structural failures related to fatigue.

“With respect to efficiency issues, our approach doesn’t rely on high individual turbine efficiency as much as close turbine spacing. As far as failures, advances in materials and in predicting aerodynamic loads have led to new designs that are better equipped to withstand fatigue loads,” says Dabiri.

Field data collected by the researchers last summer suggests that they’re on the right track, but this is by no means ‘mission accomplished.’ The next steps involve scaling up their field demonstration and improving upon off-the-shelf wind turbine designs used for the pilot study.

Ultimately, the goal of this research is to reduce the cost of wind energy. “Our results are a compelling call for further research on alternatives to the wind energy status quo,” Dabiri notes. “Since the basic unit of power generation in this approach is smaller, the scaling of the physical forces involved predicts that turbines in our wind farms can be built using less expensive materials, manufacturing processes, and maintenance than is possible with current wind turbines.”

A parallel effort is underway by the researchers to demonstrate a proof-of-concept of this aspect as well.

American Institute of Physics (2011, July 20). Bold new approach to wind ‘farm’ design may provide efficiency gains. ScienceDaily http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/07/110713131644.htm

The Original Post is Located Here: A New Approach to Wind ‘Farm’ Design

The #1 Question:

How much does it cost? Is all the equipment of a windmill expensive?
With patience, one could pick up all materials needed and build one for less than $200.00. Some of the materials can even be found for free.

How difficult is it to build?
Today? Not very difficult at all with all the homemade wind generator resources out there. Find a set of plans that are easy, step by step instructions. Make sure there are plenty of diagrams and pictures. And make sure you can understand it. Terminology in layman’s terms obviously is the best. With all the proper pieces, your wind generator can be built in less than a day.

How much wind is needed?
Very light winds between 5-15 mph. There is a cut in range, when the blades are beginning to produce power and a survival range, the max wind speed it can handle before the blades "fly off the handle"

How much space do I need?
Wind generators that are homemade take up a small footprint. Using an old homeowners radio tower or TV antenna, many times these items are unnoticeable being now immune to our eyes as part of the landscape. If you are storing electricity in batteries, you will need the space of a small trunk to more if your windmill is larger.

How do I save money?
Obviously, the less power you have to buy from your local power company, the more you will save.

Can I make money by going to a wind generator?
Yes, if you live in a location that offers to buy your excess power. This is called net metering. Check with your local power company to see if they offer incentives such as net metering, credits or rebate programs.

Is it safe?
Energy in any form is inherently dangerous. Just as with any industry, there are hazards for those who work with wind energy, dealing with high winds, heights, and moving machinery such as the spinning of the wind turbine rotor. The damage caused by wind energy is evidenced everywhere. When wind kills, it is well known. Building your own wind generator is safe as long as you put safety 1st.

The Original Post is Located Here: Frequently Asked Questions When Considering Using Wind Power for Your Home

The downside of wind power is enough to keep most people from using a wind turbine to further their goal of energy self-sufficiency, or even just helping the environment while doing something good for the Earth. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of a home wind system that will help you make an informed choice about what is the best system for you.

Wind power is an endless source of solar energy heating Earth’s atmosphere. This forms the jet streams circling our world. In most area it is intermittent. The wind doesn’t always blow when and where it is needed, so research is needed for your particular site to see how feasible it is.

The costs to energy companies, in kilowatt-per-hour to operate wind turbines is approximately $.06 while more traditional sources of fossil fuel can be up to $.75. It is a cleaner source of energy especially when compared to coal extraction or oil production. As you create your own power instead of relying on the power grid, your impact on the environment lessens immensely.

The danger of wind turbines to birds migrating along flyways has been proven, but there are different types of turbines that are more eco-friendly than others.

The vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) have helical shaped blades that move slower than the usual style of wind turbine and the birds are able to sense them. Studies also show that the VAWT are quieter running and begin producing power at a lower wind threshold. They can also produce power at higher wind speeds and operate in urban areas, where the wind direction is omni-directional i.e., coming from multi directions due to deflection by surrounding buildings.

Do you need wind power? Wind power is one more source of energy added to solar, thermal heating and an energy audit of your home to show you where energy is being wasted. To learn more about wind power, the Internet is a good resource for information that will show you DIY alternatives and how to get started harnessing the free energy flowing around you.

The Original Post is Located Here: Do You Need Wind Power?

Over the past years, most people never considered wind power as a serious source of generating energy and electricity, that too, for domestic purposes. In fact, wind was perceived as just another natural phenomenon with very limited usage in life. People generally reveled when the weather was pleasant, and tried to protect themselves when storms or blizzards attacked an area.

However, the situation grew more serious over time, as the oil crisis hit the world. The prices of oil rose rapidly, and the need for an alternative, less expensive source of energy was felt acutely. Such an energy source would indeed be required pretty soon. Now, wind power fitted the bill perfectly. In addition, the supply of wind power was plentiful as well. Thus, many experts tried to combine automobile alternators to radiator cooling fans. This was expected to produce 12 volts of DC current, and was quickly stored away on automotive storage 12 volt batteries. However stretching whatever little power that was produced to 120 volts of AC current, proved to be an unpractical task for most people. And thus, these trials on wind energy harnessing came to an end.

Business houses however, remained extremely active during this period. By the latter parts of 2007, wind power driven devices, like mini generators and turbines arrived in the markets, in large quantities too. Provided that enough quantities of wind power were available, these devices, coupled with utility grids, could substantially bring down the costs incurred on electricity by people. Experts decided to experiment a bit more with these equipments, in keeping with their mental make-ups. The wind turbines were used to try to generate electricity for one’s home requirements. The potential benefits of such an experiment were huge.

It was not that all these attempts met with immediate success. Many people found the continuous roaring sound emitted by the wind turbines to be eminently disagreeable. Hence, they complained of mechanical nuisance to the local authorities, against their neighbors, demanding the turbines to be stopped. In such cases, the authorities were in fact bound to put a stop on the working of any win d turbine. The wind power generated by the turbines lacked in reliability as well. Often, the power could not even spin the turbine blades. The impact of these failed experiments was profound. People were saddled with debt, and attempted to resell their electrical equipments, including the turbines, related accessories, and the inverters that were meant to generate 12 volt usable AC current from the obtained DC power. However, not many were interested in buying these products then.

However, it was not all a story of failure and gloom. Several valuable lessons could be gleaned from these failed attempts to harness wind power. Some of these lessons were:

a) Never use wind turbines in congested city areas. The high rises and sky scrapers hamper the smooth flow of wind at these places.

b) Do not try to tap wind energy by using turbines in the urban regions. The noises affect the ecological balance of the area.

c) For best results, combine a solar electricity generator with the home wind power turbines. The former can work smoothly during daytime. As night arrives, the blades of the wind turbine can start to rotate

d) Erect home wind turbines at areas of high elevation and/or at remote places. The former would get smooth, unhampered flow of wind at such places.

e) Opt for home wind turbines if you cannot access utility power, and

f) Note the similarities between a small home wind turbine and a large scale energy firms. The structure, and hence, the complexities of the two are thus the same too, albeit in different degrees. The different components of the home turbines and larger wind energy firms, including the batteries (for smooth flow of power), the torque controller, the inverter (for conversion of DC output to 120 volt AC current) were all the same too.

Thus, you can learn from these lessons and set up your wind power system – all you need to do is refer to an instruction manual. The manual would help you know how to install the system, the ideal place to do so, as well as how to acquire different parts at an affordable price. Free availability of the batteries is also discussed in the manual. The wires of the wind power system, and the safety features related therein should also be given due importance in such a manual. So go ahead and read such a manual and get ready to benefit from wind power. This information would considerably ease the process of installation of the system and using it to your advantage.

The Original Post is Located Here: Home Wind Power: How You Can SAVE Money Using It

Airborne turbines like these depicted in this illustration could generate electricity from strong high-altitude winds. Credit: Ben Shepard, courtesy Sky WindPower

“There is a huge amount of energy available in high-altitude winds,” said researcher Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology in Stanford, Calif. “These winds blow much more strongly and steadily than near-surface winds, but you need to go get up miles to get a big advantage. Ideally, you would like to be up near the jet streams, around 30,000 feet.”

All told, if wind turbines miles above the planet were tethered to 10 percent of the world’s land, there is enough energy in these jet stream winds to meet world demand 100 times over, researchers said.

Jet streams are meandering belts of fast winds at altitudes between 20,000 and 50,000 feet. They shift seasonally, but are otherwise persistent features in the atmosphere. Jet stream winds are generally steadier and 10 times faster than wind near the ground, making them a potentially vast and dependable source of energy.

But how to capture the wind so high?

Kites and tethers
A number of technological schemes have been proposed to harvest energy from these high-altitude winds, including tethered, kite-like wind turbines lofted miles high. Up to 40 megawatts of electricity could be generated by current designs and transmitted to the ground via tether.

Using 28 years of weather data, the researchers developed the first-ever global survey of high-altitude wind energy.

“We found the highest wind power densities over Japan and eastern China, the eastern coast of the United States, southern Australia, and north eastern Africa,” said researcher Cristina Archer, an atmospheric scientist at California State University in Chico.

These specific areas generate roughly 10 kilowatts per square meter or more. “This is unthinkable near the ground, where even the best locations have usually less than one kilowatt per square meter,” Archer added.

The analysis also looked at some of the world’s largest cities: Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul and Mexico City. New York proved a prime location, as did the East Asian cities.

“For cities that are affected by polar jet streams such as Tokyo, Seoul and New York, the high-altitude resource is phenomenal,” Archer said. “New York, which has the highest average high-altitude wind power density of any U.S. city, has an average wind power density of up to 16 kilowatts per square meter.”

Tokyo and Seoul also have high wind power density, as they are both affected by the East Asian jet stream. Since Mexico City and Sao Paulo are located at tropical latitudes, they are rarely affected by the polar jet streams and only occasionally by the weaker sub-tropical jets. As a result they see lower wind power densities than the other three cities.

Issues remain
Another issue is whether implementing such devices on a wide scale could alter general air circulation patterns and thus impact local and global climate. Their simulations hint that if carried to unlikely extremes, blanketing the entire planet with such devices would cool the Earth’s surface, reduce precipitation and boost sea ice levels. However, if deployed at levels comparable to total global electricity demand, there seemed to be no detectable effect on the climate even after 70 years.

Also, fluctuating wind strength still presents a challenge when it comes to exploiting this energy source on a large scale, just as it does on the ground.

“While there is enough power in these high altitude winds to power all of modern civilization, at any specific location there are still times when the winds do not blow,” Caldeira said. Even over the best areas, the wind can be expected to fail about 5 percent of the time.

“This means that you either need back-up power, massive amounts of energy storage, or a continental or even global scale electricity grid to assure power availability,” he added. “So, while high-altitude wind may ultimately prove to be a major energy source, it requires substantial infrastructure.”

Archer told LiveScience she did not think high-altitude wind power would solve the entire planet’s energy needs by itself — “you don’t want something that’s not 100 percent reliable. But I am positive that it could play an important role.”

Archer and Caldeira detailed their findings online May 26 in the journal Energies.

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience

The Original Post is Located Here: Miles-High Kites Could Generate Electricity

Green Energy Technologies LLC, a privately held company founded in 2006, announces the launch of WindCube(R), a 60kW rooftop wind turbine designed for on-site power generation by commercial and industrial power users in urban and suburban locations. The turbine, which captures and amplifies the wind, fills a previously unmet need for wind turbines that can be placed into service in a very small footprint and take advantage of the nation’s net metering laws.

“Now building owners anywhere can consider being a part of the renewable energy picture,” said Mark L. Cironi, president and founder of Green Energy Technologies, and with John W. Fedor, the technology’s inventor. “With WindCube, it’s not necessary to have the wind of Kansas or Nebraska to become a generator of wind power. In states with excellent renewable energy incentives, moderate wind and high electric rates, the payback can be as little as three years.”

The turbine is available as a single (60kW) or dual (120kW) system and in rooftop or tower-mounted design. The product is modular to satisfy a customer’s electrical requirements, and produces the same amount of energy in a 22x22x12-foot framework as a traditional turbine with blades 50 feet in diameter. It is ideal for a wide range of users, from industrial companies and commercial office buildings to big-box retailers, college campuses and electric users in remote locations.

Innovative Technology Amplifies Moderate Wind
The WindCube features a groundbreaking patent-pending design that relies on the wind tunnel effect known in physics as the Bernoulli Principle. While the rest of the wind industry generates energy through the use of free-stream wind, the WindCube captures and amplifies the wind, which produces more kilowatt-hours (kWh). As the wind comes into the WindCube shroud, it becomes concentrated, creating increased velocity and in turn, more power. Because of the amplification effect, the WindCube is able to capture wind energy as low as 5 mph.

The WindCube generates electricity by running its motor backwards using an impeller (the opposite of a propeller), eliminating the need for a gearbox. This lowers the cost of ownership because the gear box is the source of most of the maintenance problems and failures on conventional wind turbines.

The Original Post is Located Here: Green Energy Technologies Launches WindCube(R) at Windpower 2009

Straight-Wing Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Generator System

As soaring oil prices and greenhouse gas emissions fuel the search for cheaper and cleaner sources of energy, a Japanese aerospace manufacturer may have found the right stuff for a solution. It’s a windmill you can call your very own. Yokohama-based aerospace manufacturer, Nippi Corporation, has developed a revolutionary 20 kW wind turbine power generation system that’s turning heads everywhere.

Well known in Japan as a manufacturer of precision aerospace components, Nippi’s launch of this proprietary wind power system marks the company’s first foray into the field of commercial wind power applications. The same cutting-edge ingenuity that goes into its aircraft parts can be seen at work behind the new windmill known as a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). If you’ve never seen a VAWT, imagine one of those fashionable plastic pop bottle wind spinners sported by many a tree throughout suburbia, only a lot bigger and with 20 kW of power, a whole lot better. This is definitely not your garden variety whirligig. Its small, sleek, aerodynamic design makes it the perfect fit for the city landscape with the potential for installations on building rooftops as well as in harbors, parks and maybe even your backyard. You don’t have to worry about the neighbors complaining either. The system’s airfoils rotate at such a low speed, it’s as quiet as can be. Like other VAWTs, the system doesn’t depend on which way the wind is blowing and has a generator and gearbox that sits close to the ground to make repairs and maintenance easy.

Nippi’s wind power system has been up and running at a site located next to Japan’s Nikaho Highland Wind Farm in Aichi Prefecture where Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) will put it to the test before installing it at its Antarctic research station. The NIPR deal is all part of Japan’s goal under the Kyoto Protocol to tap renewable energy sources and bring its greenhouse gas emissions down 6% below 1990 levels. As part of that equation Japan had hoped to produce 3,000 MW of wind power annually by 2010 but with only 1,880 MW of annual output under its belt as of 2008 it is woefully shy of the mark. According to statistics from the Global Wind Energy Council, Japan doesn’t even make it to the top ten list of world wind power producers. Among the major obstacles to wind power in this resource-strapped island nation, including typhoons, grid integration, and red tape, is a dearth of local turbine suppliers. Nippi should give the country a leg up in overcoming that last hurdle as the aerospace company aims to take wind power in Japan to new heights.

Written by J.T. Cassidy

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The Original Post is Located Here: A New Revolution in Wind Power

But that pattern of incremental improvements may be a thing of the past if Leviathan Energy has anything to say about it. Leviathan Energy has completed initial testing on their Wind Energizer unit and is reporting gains in wind turbine output in the ballpark of 30% — and as much as 150% at lower wind speeds.

The principle theory at work is that by placing passive objects around a wind farm it will change the circulation around a large wind turbine. The advancement is not in the turbine itself, but rather in the area around it, as such, units can be adapted to any wind turbine from any manufacturer.

“This is a disruptive technology,” Leviathan Energy CEO Dr. Daniel Farb told me via telephone from Israel last week. “We are changing the environment of the wind turbine; this is a very different approach.”

Farb is a bit of a modern day renaissance man. Trained as a medical doctor—an opthalmologist—he also has a business degree, and perhaps most importantly, a real determination to make innovations in renewable energy. “Sometimes people are able to develop ideas that other people that may have missed by taking a fresh perspective on something,” said Farb, whose team at Leviathan Energy also makes a vertical axis wind turbine and small hydroelectric turbines.

The Wind Energizer is a donut-shaped structure made from steel and plastic, but the exact dimensions of it depend on site-specific data, like the tower height, length of the blades, prevailing wind direction and intensity, etc. As determined in the customized modeling process, Farb said that the structure may not even make an entire circle (as is depicted in the images).

“We’re shaping the flow so that the highest velocities hit the blades. By increasing velocity at exactly the right point we’ve been able to make serious advances in the cost-effectiveness of renewable energy,” Dr. Farb explained.

In the initial phase of testing, Leviathan measured an average of 20-40% more output with the turbines using the Wind Energizer, as compared to the control units. At lower wind speeds (0-6 meters per second) the turbines with the Wind Energizer had gains as high as 150%.

Leviathan’s early testing has been conducted on a relatively small scale, using commercially-available small turbines with 3-meter blades. Farb told me that Leviathan is currently exploring opportunities for third-party testing and certification on a commercial scale wind farm.

Leviathan estimates that the period of return on investment for the wind energizer to be about four to five years and that wind farm operators would likely see decreased maintenance costs and longer life span because the Wind Energizer balances the velocity load and shearing forces on the turbine.

“If this were implemented worldwide there is no quicker way to grow our renewable energy capacity,” Dr. Farb said.

And if the Wind Energizer performs as well on a large scale as it did on a smaller scale, he may be right.

If you want to learn more about the Wind Energizer, or any of Leviathan Energy’s other products, they will be at the American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER 2009 conference and expo in Chicago next week.

Written by Timothy B. Hurst

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The Original Post is Located Here: Wind Turbine Output Boosted 30% by Breakthrough Design

Tubercle Blade Design

For those naysayers who doubt that Cape Wind can produce the equivalent of 75 percent of the Cape’s electricity, I have to agree that that figure is not exact. Actually, Cape Wind could provide the equivalent of 93 percent of the Cape’s electricity. That figure is not Jim Gordon’s–he is much too modest for that. It is mine. The latest research and facts bear that out.

The idea for a different turbine blade took root on Cape Cod years ago. Dr. Frank Fish, a biology professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, was looking at the bumps on the leading edge of the flippers on a humpback whale sculpture here on the Cape and wondered why they were there. Recognizing that there was a reason and that nature is rarely wrong, the question simmered for years, and then he decided to run some tests.

The result is a collaboration between Dr. Fish, and Dr. Paul Jacobs and Thomas McDonald, both of Technology Development Associates (TDA) of Rhode Island, to design a radical wind turbine blade that has proven, in actual performance tests, to increase electrical power generation by up to 25 percent over existing blade designs.

Historically, all blade designs have been streamlined, presumably to minimize drag and maximize efficiency. It was curious, therefore, why nature had endowed humpback whale flippers with leading edge bumps, or tubercles, with which to glide smoothly through the water. These bumps seemed counter-intuitive.

Preliminary laboratory tests comparing conventional blades with bumpy leading edge, or tubercle technology, blades showed promising results. The tubercle technology blades demonstrated a reduction in drag, higher efficiency, less noise and less blade vibration. This design showed the potential to significantly improve both the performance and economic viability, in dollars per kilowatt-hour, of wind-generated electrical power.

The next step was an in situ test, which was conducted by the Wind Energy Institute of Canada on full-size tubercle technology blades fabricated by the aptly named Whalepower Corporation of Toronto. The tests were conducted on an actual tubercle technology wind turbine, running alongside conventional wind turbines, on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on Prince Edward Island.

The results were obtained from a year of testing, with winds ranging from dead calm to gale warning. The mean wind speeds of 5 to 7 meters/second pretty much span the mean wind speeds for Cape Wind’s Nantucket Sound wind farm.

Newly released results show that the radical leading edge turbine blade alone increases electrical energy output by a staggering amount of 22 to 24 percent. Those naysayers of Cape Wind’s claim of generating 75 percent of the electricity for Cape Cod were right. Using tubercle technology blades, it could now be closer to 93 percent.

This increase comes without taller towers, without bigger turbines, in fact without any change whatsoever in existing moving parts. It can be achieved merely by using the radical new blades or retrofitting existing blades with a tubercle leading edge.

With the Cape Wind farm permitting process now in the final stages, it is possible that we will have the pleasure of being among the first to see these radical tubercle blade designs running right off our shores.

And as unconventional as they may seem, they will effectively serve to remind us what we all learned in kindergarten: that nature is seldom wrong.

By Solon Economou, a frequent Op Ed Page contributor to The Providence Journal and a former Cape Cod Times columnist. Solon is a retired professional engineer and military officer, former physics teacher and training developer. He’s been writing professionally for over 20 years. Solon’s opinions are strictly his own, so if you don’t agree with them, don’t blame anybody else.
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The Original Post is Located Here: Cape Cod whales spur radical wind turbine blade design

Swift Wind Turbine

The Swift Wind Turbine was developed by Renewable Devices in Scotland, and is the first quiet rooftop turbine that generates electricity by harnessing the power of the wind as a cost effective energy source for home, commercial, and industrial applications. The Swift generates an of average of 1,680 watts of immediate power, and can produce up to 20% of a home’s electricity with only 19 kph (12 mph) wind speeds. The Swift was designed to be environmentally sustainable in that it produces more energy in its lifetime of use than is used in the material and processes to manufacture it.

The Swift is without doubt, the quietest rooftop mount wind turbines manufactured to date. Traditional wind turbines generate some noise as the wind travels the length of the blade and also transmits unwanted vibration to the building or structure where it is mounted. The Swift, however, has been designed with an outer ring, which acts as a diffuser; so that as the wind travels down the blades, it is dispersed along the outer ring, eliminating the noise and vibration, keeping the turbine quiet. While there is some noise of course, it is less than 35 decibels (dB) at all wind speeds. To put that in context, a whisper is between 15-25dB, while normal home or background noises are measured at 40-60dB, and normal speech is measured at 65-70dB.

The Swift will be manufactured by the Michigan based Company Cascade Engineerings and is expected to generate about 2,000 kWh annual power in a good wind location. This figure should translate into about 20% of an average home power usage. If multiple units are used, then an even larger percentage of household energy can be produced. Since these units are roof mounted, commercial and industrial buildings can accommodate numerous rows of Swift wind turbines as an alternate energy source. Installation of a Swift wind turbine not only reduces the amount of electricity used from conventional means, but also reduces carbon emissions and lowers the electric bill.

Swift Wind Turbine

The Swift is also relatively small, with a ring/blade diameter of only 7-feet. Installation requires a clearance of only 2-feet from the roofline, keeping the unit with a low profile footprint. The small size, together with the quietness of energy production, enables the turbine to be used effectively in both urban and suburban settings. Another factor, which may encourage the use of a Swift wind turbine for community or business use in the U.S., is a 30% federal tax credit – the credit is 30 percent off the total project cost including installation expenses, whether it is for one turbine or ten.

The Swift is grid connected, with utilization of the electricity generated by the turbine before supplementation from the traditional electric supply. The electric power produced is 240VAC, with 60Hz output voltage, while the rated power output is 1.5W @ 14 m/s. The annual power supplied by one Swift is up to 2,000 kWh with at least 19kph (12 mph) wind supply. The manufacturer does provide a “wind estimator” on their website where potential users can determine if the wind turbine will work effectively in their location. Use of an anemometer or securing a detailed wind energy study will give more specific data for the proposed site.

The Swift has an estimated installed cost of about $10,000 – $12,000 each in the US, but there is an option to purchase the kit and “do it yourself” for around $8,500. The manufacturer states, “depending on the installed price, cost of electricity, average wind speed, and rebates available, the Swift Wind Turbine can pay for itself in as little as 3 years.” However, for most users a substantially longer time period will be required to recover the full cost.

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The Original Post is Located Here: Swift Wind Turbine