Generating electricity by harnessing the power of the wind in the most stylish possible way, here’s another rooftop wind turbine that offers a cost effective energy source for domestic, community and industrial use.

Designed by Cascade Engineering to be environmentally  sustainable, the Swift Wind Turbine uses a variety of patented technologies that makes it both safe and silent, and has a very sleek aspect. As for how effective it is, in just four years it becomes carbon and energy positive.

Aesthetically pleasing, the wind turbine is suited for both urban and suburban settings, and features a system that makes it easy to install and operate for every user. Here are more specs about it:

• Blade/Ring Diameter: 7 feet
• Minimum clearance from roofline: 2 feet
• Rated power output: 1.5kW @ 14 m/s
• Annual Power Supplied: up to 2000 kWh
• Electric power: 240VAC, 60Hz output voltage
• Noise: less than 35 decibels for all wind speeds
• Quiet mast mounting technology eliminates unwanted vibration to building/home

[SWT via DesignBoom]

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Tapping into to wind energy as a clean source of power is an option that is quickly growing popularity thanks to inventive designers who are creating new and more acceptable designs for wind turbines.

This has seen a sudden and healthy growth in the number of wind turbines used across the globe, but what about maintaining them and checking for defects from time to time? That is a task far more difficult considering that not many would be willing to throw themselves at the opportunity of climbing up these sharp blades. But, developers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation are creating a volunteer who will gladly do it for you.

RIWEA is an automated rope climbing robot that will merrily crawl up both on shore and off shore wind turbines to check for any defects. The inspection system has an onboard infra-red radiator that emits waves and a high resolution thermal camera that will capture the images and check for defects. A similar ultra sound emitter and detector are also integrated as an additional system for finding flaws in metals with greater accuracy.

Considering that 60% of all wind turbines in US today need overhauling and the fact that none of us are willing to climb any steep rods, RIWEA is a convenience that we could urgently use! [via The BioEnergy Site]

There’s an investigation going on in Lincolnshire, UK. Locals are saying that an UFO might be the cause for damage to a wind turbine. A strange light appeared from nowhere causing damage to the giant whirlygig.

Hmm … well, I don’t believe in UFOs, and I suppose there are people who don’t believe that wind turbines are a viable source for energy. i wonder what they are going to do with this. An act of God? Something else?

Apparently, the culprits made off with the third prop. Or perhaps it landed in France somewhere.

“It’s a bird, it’s a plane! No, it’s a prop off a wind turbine!”

“Huh!?”

Wind turbine usage is having enough trouble gaining traction. GP is sure they don’t need interference from Unpredictable Foreign Obstacles. Don’t you say?

The small Japanese town of Kuzumaki (coo-zoo-mah-key), not to be confused with uzumaki (whirlpool) has just 8,000 residents that are showing the rest of the world how things might be done … that is, kicking the fossil fuel habit.

How green are they?

1. Electricity is generated from cow dung.
2. Dozens of wind turbines decorate nearby Mt. Kamisodegawa (kah-mee-so-de ‘like in dead’-gah-wah)
3. 25% of schools get power from 420 solar panels
4. biomass facilities
5. wood chips converted to gas

(more…)

The Windspire vertical wind turbine by Mariah Power is a noiseless way of powering your own home for cheap in a sustainable way. Using wind power to spin, this 29.5-foot-tall vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) it outputs 1.2 kW, will cost you some $5,000 and is able to provide 25-30% of the power needed in a typical house. Looking quite attractive it also packs a Wi-Fi transmitter so that you can monitor it online using your own computer. Count the 30% government rebate to the whole thing and you’ll end up with quite a deal.

Meanwhile Mariah Power is working on a larger 3 kW Windspire that – they say – will supply most of your house needs. – via Dvice

The north-east of England is soon to become the centre of an enormous wind farm industry that is being proposed to be set up because of its close proximity to the sea. Today with 3GW (a supply enough for 2m homes) of the 75GW of electricity consumed, Britain has come up to the fifth position, leaving behind Denmark in the European green league.

By the next decade 40GW of electric power will come from off-shore wind farms with a clear 50% of it coming from the British shores. Apart from this, the booming wind farm industry would attract over £50 billion in investments, provide 50,000 jobs and by the year 2010 earn UK 50% of the shares in the European market.

The British Wind Energy Authority (BWEA) is quite confident that it will be able to reach its target by 2020 but the only obstacle in their path to success is the delay on the part of the Government in sanctioning their plans. Isn’t that what Governments are for? – via Telegraph.co.uk

Image courtesy of CovLtwt

The Ethiopian Electricity Corporation realized that they were falling short on energy resources and needed to add some extra sources to meet the demand. But instead of following the conventional method of installing huge power plants, they decided to build a wind farm instead.

Built in north Ethiopia this 120 megawatt Ashegoba wind farm would generate 15% of the nation’s power sources, and the largest of them all, in Africa.

Until recently Ethiopia had depended on its hydroelectric power generated by dams, but severe droughts have totally halted the country’s power resources to a standstill. However with this new project which shows to be a promising one this dire crisis will be resolved.

The project will cost 220 million euros and will take two and a half years to complete. Africa’s resolution to enter the green revolution will secure a brighter future for generations to come.

Press release

This story reminds me of the Chinese dude who was able to make a solar water heater for his mother-in-law out of beer bottles. A fellow in London spent all of his $37 to make a wind turbine. He used:

1. a bike frame and bearings,
2. a Vespa magneto
3. a Ford Fiesta battery

all found in a dumpster or in the skips if you are a Londoner.

The DIY wind turbine is not extremely powerful, just 11.3 watts, but at the same time the money spent are little. The creator, Max, wants developing countries to know they can build turbines, too, because he thinks they can build it for even lower.

I have a better idea. Since we in the developed countries have more junk, why don’t we use junk to make turbines and give the good stuff to the less developed countries? How about that for an idea? Secondly, can you imagine lots of car batteries in dumpsters, in a developing country? I don’t!

Why is it that the two-thirds of the world always has to make do while those of us in the, um, richer countries get to create more and more scrap? Something is wrong with this picture, no?

Vestas Wind Systems, the largest wind turbines manufacturer is going to test the world’s longest turbine blade of all times.

They’re going to do it soon, on the Island of Wight in the UK where they will build a research and development center that will play along with an existing Vestas plant which produced turbine blades since 2000.

Though they revealed plans (pdf link), the company failed to mention how long the blades are going to be. Things are clear though. It’s going to be longer than 44 meters which is what Vesta V-90 measures.

The new facility will start producing wind turbine blades starting with 2010.

via CleanTechnica

Image courtesy of kedziers

Broadstar Wind Systems has designed what is supposed to the be next generation wind turbine. Based on principles first established by the French aeronautical engineer Georges Jean Marie Darrieus who invented a wind turbine capable of operating from any direction and under adverse weather conditions, the AeroCam is capable of generating power virtually anywhere.

Though it looks a lot like a water wheel because of the horizontal axis with multiple blades, rest assured that it’s really capable of delivering energy.

Probably the most interesting feature of the AeroCam wind turbine is the fact that it has the ability to automatically and interactively adjust the pitch or angle of attack of the blades that will rotate it. Much like a bird which is changing the shape of its wing when it flies.

“It all adds up to a solution that delivers more power and more choice of location, with a lower total cost of acquisition and ownership and a faster payback period. The AeroCam has the potential to equip almost every local community, business and government building with its own renewable energy power station and it can supplement existing turbines,” said Stephen Else, president of the company.

The price is $250,000 for a 250kW AeroCam wind turbine which is $1 per watt if we do the math. It’s the lowest in the industry.

Now you understand why oil business men are switching to wind?

via Energy Daily