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October 26, 2007 1:06 PM PDT

'Small wind' turbines blow onto rooftops

Posted by Martin LaMonica

Although still in the shadow of its giant counterparts, small-scale wind turbines are slowly starting to reshape the wind industry.

AeroVironment last week said 18 of its Architectural Wind turbines are now installed at a new Kettle Foods Potato Chip factory in Beloit, Wisconsin.

One model of Aerovironment's Architectural Wind small turbines.

(Credit: AeroVironment)
The turbines are still in development, but the company has installed a number around the country. They were also used by students from Texas A&M University at the Solar Decathlon solar-home competition.

AeroVironment is targeting commercial customers rather than people's homes. But other companies have developed turbines suited for houses.

Southwest Windpower's Air Breeze is aimed at the residential market and can generate 38 kilowatt hours per month.

Another company, Mariah Power, has designed a vertical axis turbine that can be used in either homes or commercial buildings. Its Windspire turbines are about 30 feet high and can be placed on their side or standing up. Each turbine, which produces about 1 kilowatt of electricity, costs about $5,000 installed, according to CEO Michael Hess. The company already has 1,500 units on order.

Texas A&M's concept for how small wind can work at home.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET News.com)

Although wind power is clean and cost-competitive, with fossil fuel power generation for utilities and a cost potentially less than those for solar photovoltaics, it is far from cracking the residential and commercial market.

Wind power suffers from not-in-my-backyard sentiment. And indeed, in spaces like American suburbia, wind turbines can disturb neighbors with noise or shadows.

Still, small wind, or a microwind, turbines could make sense for placement on rooftops of large buildings or integration into a building's design.

I'd like to create a photo gallery of small-wind products. Please write to me at martin.lamonica@cnet.com with any products you've seen. Also, feel free to share your experiences with them.

CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos contributed to this report.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 6 comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wonder what effect these would have on birds
by vgfisher October 29, 2007 11:35 AM PDT
Seems like the positioning of these is just right to chop up birds attempting to land on the edge of the roof. Birds seem to have a habit of sitting right about where these rotors are mounted.
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Stick them in a chimney
by ewalsh69 October 29, 2007 11:40 AM PDT
Why not stick a row of these inside a chimney of a power plant or industrial plant (after turbines have been hardened to the corrosive or other harsh elements found in the fumes of the chimney) and let them create electricity from waste fumes, and while your at it run the exhaust over some Stirling Engines which are hooked to a highly geared generator to create electricity (if you don't know what a Stirling engine is look it up they are cool). Read a good article on energy conservation. Its not about using less or finding an alternative for what we have BUT to use what we have as close to 100% utilization as we can. Just because the exhaust fumes from a natural gas power plant or coal for that matter is considered waste doesn't mean you can't harvest it to gain 2-10% more energy out of each cubic foot of Natural Gas (or lb of coal) the plant burns. You just need to be creative and be willing to do it. Good example is selling electricity plants waste steam to residence for heat like they do in NYC and in some other US and European cities. And in summer time when residence don't need the steam re utilize it to large apartment buildings hot water heaters to heat the water or at least to prime it to a higher level if it can't bring to full temp and use traditional means to raise water temp rest of the way. Or run waste steam over the Stirling Engines I mention above to create electricity. Another way is to make law that all NEW buildings including single family private residence be required to make 10 - 20% of there own estimated electricity usage. And the larger the building set the % even higher. With these rules you will see architect's design creative structures with these "green" appliances (solar, wind, thermal etc) and prices will come done. Think this would be to big of a goal and we couldn't do it. Well think of leaded gasoline (that is if your old enough to even know of such a thing). They said we couldn't build gas engines with out lead in gas, and if we did engine life would be drastically shortened, well we did and if anything engine life is longer. They are doing it now with 2 stroke engines on pleasure boats and I am sure on 2 stroke engines for lawn mowers. They are making them more efficient OR make 4 stroke small enough to replace 2 stroke motors. There is always away, its all up to people to make the initial effort. Once thats done its like a rock rolling down hill.
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Icons of Intelligence and Independence
by Johnny Springfield October 29, 2007 6:24 PM PDT
When Americans start thinking like intelligent beings who understand the personal power potential large and small wind turbines represent, instead of acting like whiny, gullible wimps who are stupid enough to pretend to be unfazed if not proud to be buying gas made from $100-a-barrel oil, the sooner these sleek, little wonders of technology will become icons of intelligence. They can contribute to taking each of us as individuals off the rising-rates of the electric grid and out of the Middle East as a nation. We are a schizoid nation. We're able to be both brilliant and incredibly stupid. Based on the reporting that noise and shadows are what bugs people most, I would say we're in a decidedly stupid phase at the moment. One would think that Americans, who historically have prided themselves on being independent, resourceful pioneers whose progress as a society is built on hard work, ingenuity and commercial and industrial creativity would use those same attributes to tackle maybe the biggest challenge before us now. But we seem to have drifted into a Sargasso Sea of indifference and confusion about what's important. American Idol, college and pro sports, the cult of the celebrity and being good consumeroids (while being bad savers or energy conservers) are front and center in their minds. What a tragedy of Greek proportions.
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Rooftops.
by spothannah October 31, 2007 5:10 AM PDT
As long as we're looking at placing these on rooftops: What is the Albedo of the rooftop? Your car? The roads? In general, any surface that is exposed to sunlight?
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Different turbines? how bout "bird friendly"...
by buda3d2007 November 2, 2007 6:03 AM PDT
In Australia they have now invented wind turbines with enclosed blades, for more info and pictures, take a look at the following article http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/new_australian.php
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