A Wind Turbine for the Rest of Us
April 25th, 2007, 13 Comments »
Via MetaEfficient, I read about Windspire, a narrow, 30-foot tall windmill targeted at home use. From an article on EcoWorld:
Mariah Power’s “Windspire” has the potential to be installed in places where a horizontal rotor might not be practical. Because the rotor turns around on a single tower that depends on one concrete pier anchored below ground, there is a smaller footprint for this unit. The unit is designed to facilitate easy installation, and is rated to survive in winds up to 100 mph. The minimum wind speed necessary for the unit to begin generating power is only 8 mph.
You can also watch a video (WMV) of the Windspire in action in particularly high winds.
I shouldn’t pick on Mariah Power, but their website copy and design is shamefully poor, and doesn’t reflect what’s apparently a pretty cool product. They make the classic mistake in the copy–they write about the company and products instead of writing about their customers and how they (can, will and do) use the windspire. I couldn’t find answers, in layman’s terms, to my two very basic questions: how much power will it generate (and therefore how much money will it save me) and, practically speaking, what wind speed do I require to make it worth my while.
They need to hire us, stat. Besides, we’ve already worked with another wind energy company.