Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Micro-Wind Turbines for Home Use

April 2, 2007

Micro-Wind Turbines for Home Use

Hong Kong Inventors Unveil New Micro-Wind Turbines Suitable for City Dwellers

“Let’s say if you have good conditions, five, six meters [of wind] per second, if you are a family with one kid you need most probably three, four square meters of that then you can most probably cover at least 60, 70 percent of your [energy] needs.” The technology can also help power bigger buildings. Administrators at Hong Kong’s Sea School, a secondary school offering basic seaman training, will install the new micro wind-turbines on its roof in April.

Gambarota says his biggest dream is to see his invention being used in developing countries. He says energy generated by micro wind turbines can be used to pump water, for example, saving women and girls from having to walk for miles to rivers and lakes to fetch it.

Information from Motorwave. Very cool idea though still early (they are meant only to provide electricity for immediate use at this time - no way to sell excess power to the grid or battery backup yet).

“It’s simple enough people can repair it themselves,” he says. While conventional turbines need wind speeds of 10-meters-per-second to operate, his turbine can generate power with wind levels as low as two-meters-per-second. The selling price of the units — which so far have been contracted to be installed at a World Wildlife Federation office and a Hong Kong seaside school — starts at $150.

As mentioned in the article for remote use, repair is a big issue. Having simple, easy to maintain technology solutions is something I have been interested in since traveling with my father as he worked on appropriate technology solutions. Those solutions can make a huge difference in people’s lives (which can be more important than the economic gains). Though I believe solutions that provide significant economic gains are best since they will sustain the expansion of adoption of the technology.

by curiouscat Tags: Economics, Energy, Engineering, Products, Technology
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6 Responses to “Micro-Wind Turbines for Home Use”

CuriousCat: Solar Power Innovation Says:
April 7th, 2007 at 9:16 am
“Solar cell technology developed by the University’s Nanomaterials Research Centre will enable New Zealanders to generate electricity from sunlight at a 10th of the cost of current silicon-based photo-electric solar cells…”
helmac Says:
April 18th, 2007 at 10:53 am
This looks like an ideal system for urban areas providing it is as easy to maintain as claimed.
Mark Ford Says:
May 10th, 2007 at 11:13 am
From the information posted, I’m concidering procuring one system and begin a qualification/testing cycle on it. We are currently spec’ing several Renewable Energy products for customer product under development. If anyone has more experience with this product, or similar, please advise.
Our Columbia Home: Tech I Want Says:
June 20th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Swift Rooftop Wind Energy System…

Your neighborhood association won’t like it at all, but on the farm, or more rural properties, this would be a nice little fella to have around….
Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Home Engineering: Windmill for Electricity Says:
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:03 pm
“I built my first windmill when I was 15. Over the next few years I kept refining the design. I made many modifications to the plans i found in the book. For example, I increased the blades from three to four to provide more power output…”
CuriousCat: Popular Mechanics 2007 Breakthrough Award: the Windbelt Says:
October 14th, 2007 at 9:11 am
“At each end of the membrane are magnets that oscillate between metal coils as the band flutters, effectively creating an electric charge. According to the 28-year-old Frayne, prototypes of the Windbelt have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines…”