This nature-inspired wind turbine is shaped like a tree

[Bayard]

NewWind has designed a generator with 63 micro wind turbines that look like leaves on a tree. The company wants to encourage sustainable living in urban environments with its quiet, aesthetically pleasing prod

Wind power is one of the fastest growing forms of alternative energy in the world. More and more, wind power mills are seen in the countryside, in large wind farms and for the most part, away from city life. But a new form of wind power is now designed to work in an urban environment.

http://mashable.com

These almost look like sculptures.

[2naSalit]

1. I like the idea of point source generation

These new innovations are great to see! I can hardly wait until we can get rid of entities like PG&E.

[LakeArenal]

2. Lovely.

As I gaze out my window I see at least 90 generators across the mountains in Costa Rica. I think they look incredible just ordinary turbines. The tree look wools be sensational. P

[pansypoo53219]

3. could make the 'leaves' a rainbow of colors.

[enough]

4. Very neat, but I don't agree with the idea that big wind turbines

are unsightly. I think they’re beautiful, elegant and inspiring.

Of course this has more uses in smaller areas.

Thanks for posting this.

[Baked Potato]

5. I think they're beautiful too

Especially the largest ones with the blades over 150 feet long.

[caraher]

6. Gimmicky trash

One can debate the aesthetics; I won't argue with anyone who thinks the thing looks cool. (I'd rather see a real tree personally). But the bottom line is that these devices won't produce power commensurate with the energy (or money) invested in their creation, compared with conventional wind.

5. It’s way more expensive than just about every other form of power generation.

At $37,000 per Wind Tree, the total capacity is rated at 3.1 kilowatts. That’s a cost of $11,935 per kW (Presuming that’s the total installed price, and not just the price of the Wind Tree. Also presuming that kilowatts figure is in AC power, not DC.). Large scale wind turbines cost about $1,700 per kW, installed – or about 85% cheaper than the Wind Tree. Or you could buy about three times as much solar power for the same price as the Wind Tree. And these are just the capital costs, not to mention energy output efficiencies.

7. It won’t power most of your home.

The average home consumes about 12,000 kilowatt hours per year. The Wind Tree, which is similar to other vertical axis wind turbines in urban areas, has a total capacity of 3.1 kilowatts and may be able to achieve capacity factors of 6-13% (based on this research). Under the most optimistic estimates, each Wind Tree would only generate 3,530 kilowatt hours per year – you’d need at least four Wind Trees to power your home. (By the way, at 3,530 kilowatt hours per year and $0.10 per kilowatt hour, it’d take 105 years to repay the initial $37,000 investment).

Some numbers might be mildly more favorable since the blogger's post I quoted from 4 years ago, but the basic physics will not have changed.

[Finishline42]

14. Thanks for the info

Thought this would be the case.

#1 fact about windmills - when you double the diameter of the blades the output is cubed. It's why they will keep developing larger windmills.

[TygrBright]

7. I've always favored vertical axis design, but I'd want to know how birds respond... n/t

[tclambert]

8. I've heard the bearings take a beating.

Uneven stress because the whole thing wants to tip.

Any application with wind will suffer wear. Engineers need to keep that in mind when they design the machines, and incorporate it into maintenance plans. In the early days of windmills, some people thought they would need zero maintenance.

[TygrBright]

9. Nothing with moving parts needs "zero maintenance." We're in a gravity well. n/t

[tclambert]

10. Yeah, I think the marketing department may have made unrealistic claims.

[Karadeniz]

11. Some people are so vlever...I wonder what country it comes from.

[world wide wally]

12. Yeah, but just a clever disguise for cancer causing ...uhmm...shit

[colorado_ufo]

13. I seem to remember a similar idea proposed by a very young person

several years ago. I did not hear any further the development of it, though.

[NickB79]

15. On Facebook it's known as the buttplug tree

LOL!