Came across this interesting article on Tiny Plastic Wind Turbines that can be placed on rooftops and balconies in crowded cities. Cost very little. These turbines generate electricity which gets stored in cells and can be used to power appliances.
Are such products being installed some place?
What are the costs involved? Installation, maintenance?
Chk out this link :
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/hong_kong_inven.php
I suppose it’s not a question of wind energy "can’t" be used but "when"?
Inertia – resistance to change in the status quo. Not all are blessed with foresight and the desire to do better.
You may want to explore, fabricate your own prototype. The only limit will be fear of failure, if you have it. Thomas Alva Edison failed 99% of the time but the resultant success, that is; 1% of his experiments, has altered the very way we live.
As an old Nike ad goes: Just Do It!
You may surprise yourself.
Try the following search phrase: wind turbines, home applications.
I just did and there are numerous results, very promising.
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#1 by Sidrey Doringcorth at February 26th, 2010
because it could harm your appliances. imagine your using an appliance using a wind energy, but then the wind stops, what will happen to ur appliance?
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#2 by XOUT at February 26th, 2010
It does really look cool, but I could forsee all sorts of expensive up-front costs for such devices. How do you translate the power stored in a battery into AC voltage for your home? I am not an electrician, but I think you would have to securely mount the turbine, run wires into your home, purchase and maintain storage batteries, and would need converters to convert the DC voltage into AC for use in the home, unless you planned on just running a few devices like lights or radios from the thing…and would that be worth it?
Ultimately, though, we are all going to have to use this technology or other renewable energy.
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#3 by anieska at February 26th, 2010
I suppose it’s not a question of wind energy "can’t" be used but "when"?
Inertia – resistance to change in the status quo. Not all are blessed with foresight and the desire to do better.
You may want to explore, fabricate your own prototype. The only limit will be fear of failure, if you have it. Thomas Alva Edison failed 99% of the time but the resultant success, that is; 1% of his experiments, has altered the very way we live.
As an old Nike ad goes: Just Do It!
You may surprise yourself.
Try the following search phrase: wind turbines, home applications.
I just did and there are numerous results, very promising.
References :
#4 by bandawagon25 at February 26th, 2010
Some countries are switching to alternative power sources. e.g Singapore is planning for wind farms in the sea, China is planning for hydroelectric power etc etc
The reason why wind energy cant be used for generating power for home use is that wind turbines are need to be placed at a certain minimum height to receive sufficient wind energy to generate power. however, most homes are too low. high rise buildings on the other hand consumes more than the turbines can produce. Moreover, the cost of installing these turbines and the setting of cables are rather costly and thus its not feasible setting up wind turbines on rooftops.
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hope this helps =)
#5 by campbelp2002 at February 26th, 2010
This sounds like just another cheap and shoddy consumer product like the ones you see marketed on TV and "not available in any store". If it really worked well, you would see them everywhere, not hidden on a blog.
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#6 by dad at February 26th, 2010
I think there great . Good idea . Wouldn’t mined getting some myself being that I’m off the grid and have a 2 story home with a flat roof
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#7 by mandira_nk at February 26th, 2010
Wind energy – it is the one of the alternative energy source that would be a common sight shortly if not on each roof top but certainly as wind farms or in colonies as clusters.
thnks
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#8 by groingo at February 26th, 2010
Slick idea but I didn’t see any info on how much power they produced, can’t be much.
Also, for the cost, they will likely not last very long especially if they get wet and especially if they are using a bushing rather than a ball bearing shaft.
Interesting idea though.
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#9 by Nickel Johann at February 26th, 2010
I do not think it is a good idea.
There is in economy something called "economy of scale". The cost of a wind turbine does not increase as fast as its capacity ( true up to 5MW).
As a result, the biggest the wind turbine, the lowest the price per kWh.
This also applies to wind farm: the largest the wind farm, the lowest the cost per kWh produced (including maintenance and grid connection).
A wind farm is also placed generally in a well-studied most favorable site.
Going away from this market rationals is not a good idea as you can do less "green electricity" for the same money. And this is something I definitely do not support.
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I share the goals of the people fighting for the environment but as I like to have real results, I have to remind them of constraints of this world.
If we do not proceed in an economical rational way, people are really going to blame us for "wasted money".
#10 by Krysia K at February 26th, 2010
yes you can use it for your home. I don’t know were you are but in Canada you can buy kits for wind mills. unfortunately it costs around 35 000$ for a small house to go completely off the grid. and yes they do store energy that your not using in their generator.
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#11 by Kyle W at February 26th, 2010
well it could, you would have to have some huge windmills and have alot of wind, i mean it is possible, and efficient if you have wind and enough money to begin the energy method. i mean if you ask me solar energy seems to be the most efficient but maybe the two combined could work wonders
at least most of your appliances ya know?
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my brain
#12 by Dan Bueno at February 26th, 2010
At this point they are probably not economically feasible but there’s no reason they can’t be. When the wind blows, it can turn an alternator, just like the engine in your car does, charging batteries. Then you can draw power from the batters as needed.
At this point, a refrigerator needs a lot of energy to run but you can run lights and a TV and stereo from 12 volts just like people in RV’s use a 12v system.
With an inverter, 110vac can be produced from 12v, too.
Great question
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#13 by jairo g at February 26th, 2010
Of course it can be used for home use, in fact it is used in that way in lots of places with strong winds. There are some considerations though
1) Places on cities have less wind because houses and buildings are an obstacle for the wind and then its speed drops.
2) Home wind systems consist on a wind turbine, batteries, inverter, battery charge controler, and a rectifier… they are mostly maintenance free, but batteries should be changed when that wont charge enough (normally using deep cicly industrial batteries they will last 10+ years
3) Costs are about 10k for a 1kW system, but they will drop on time…. I promise lol……
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#14 by The Voice of Reason at February 26th, 2010
It can. About 20% of my average monthly electricity use comes from wind power.
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