Eco Factor: Highly efficient wind turbine design for high-density, low-wind areas.
Conventional three-blade wind turbines might be able to churn out an enormous amount of green power when installed on an offshore location. However, the power generated by a three-blade turbine is proportional to the length of the blades that the turbine is equipped with. More power means more size, which makes these turbines unfit for residential installation. Optiwind has developed a new turbine that can generate enough electricity to power bigger structures.
The Optiwind Compact Wind Accelerating Turbine consists of a series of small, five-bladed fans which act as a funnel in the wind and accelerate it. This funnel-shaped turbines help generate more electricity even at low wind speeds, which is common in urban cities. Having a diameter of just six meters, the turbines can be used in areas that don’t have much space to spare. The turbine comes in two versions – a 150KW model for buildings that use $35,000 of electricity each year and a 300KW model that is for buildings using up to $75,000 of electricity annually.
Via: Inhabitat
May 7th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I think you may want to know that Optiwind tried to get one of these windmills (Its first one) built in Goshen, CT.
They put the residents through six months of agony before the Planning and Zoning Board declined to give them a construction permit. Voting 5 to 0 to deny their application.
The reason given for the denile was that the design was judged to adversly impact the value of property values and, because none of these has ever been built, it was felt there was no way to assess its impact on the environment.
Overall the residents thought that this design was inappropriate to their neighborhood, and thought it was extremely ugly and would spoil the viewscape.
Thought you should be aware of this before you get involved with these guys.
May 8th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Whoa….
Unattractive is a real “understatement” for this thing.
Someone got just a little bit carried away here….Drugs?
Looks like the world’s biggest speaker system… With “lots” of base!
Wouldn’t want it anywhere near my house, let alone my kids school.
Good luck with this!
June 7th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I’m from Goshen too “John” and a majority of people actually signed petitions in favor of this application. Check your facts.
What “John” doesn’t tell you is that this was meant to go in the middle of a 115 acre sewage plant. And not just any sewage plant, but with one that already has a near 200′ tall cell tower on the property.
The truth in Goshen was that this was the worst kind of NIMBYism and the most cowardly behaviour I’ve ever seen by a P&Z board. A few wealthy, bored NIMBYs spent $50k on lawyers to fight this and resist any form of change to their insular little world. ‘Let others build this’ they said. Cowards I say.
July 18th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
you guys sound like a bunch of small town amateur babies. I bet these guys will finally meet a real investor who will know how to make them successful. Come on, admit it, that’s what you’re all afraid of…. You’re just so jealous.
March 28th, 2010 at 6:30 am
I think they look awful, like a barrel with bicycle wheels stuck on. Anyway, as long as they are efficient that’s more important I guess. You cant beat the sight of a traditional windmill type turbine though in my opinion.