Urban Wind Turbine: A Rare Species Spotted

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://earth2tech.com/2007/09/20/urban-wind-turbine-a-rare-species-spotted/

Urban Wind Turbine: A Rare Species Spotted

Written by Alexis Madrigal
...
Ask a die-hard altpower fan if they’ve ever seen a functional wind turbine in the urban jungle, and chances are, the answer is no. Today we bring you some exclusive footage of this rare species. This Skystream 3.7, built by Altira-backed Southwest Wind Power, sits atop a remodeled corner house in San Francisco’s Mission District. The blades sit on a skinny 45-foot pole dropped in by crane. Here is the turbine in action on Wednesday’s windy afternoon.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxJZBbrUPZA

[Bjornsdotter]

1. Wow!

I would love to have one.

Cheers

[MasonJar]

2. Great news! Thanks for the info.

[skids]

3. I'm still waiting for a cheap VAWT...

I rent right now so I can't go about roof mounting anything or playing with the house wiring, but were there a cheap low cut-in VAWT I'd probably pick one up and use it in the back yard where we get these vicious squalls all winter, just hook it right into a space heater and bleed off some heat until such a point as I actually manage to buy a house and then can hoist it up on the roof and set it up for real. (It wouldn't be a very good buy just for heating use, but I'd have possession of it for later and might as well get something out of it.)

I wouldn't lawn-mount a HAWT because the blades are pretty dangerous up close, and it wouldn't deal well with the rapidly changing wind direction down on the lawn.

microwind is finally starting to get cheap enough, though. Some major manufacturer would probably be breaking under the $1/peak-watt point by next year I'd say were it not for the crashing dollar.

[diane in sf]

4. Thank you. Looks like it might be a bit of a pigeon blender, unlike the giant

wind machines that go around much more slowly.