Residential Wind Turbine
I’ve seen wind turbines on boats, but now we’ll be able to add them to our houses. A scaled down wind turbine allows easy installation and affordability. It won’t supply all your electricity needs, but it can make a dent, and costs less than solar power.
We’ve got the “in-a-box” versions of nuclear power, data centers and biofuels. Why not wind power? Courtesy of Muskegon, Michigan-based company EarthTronics, sometime next year customers will be able to buy wind-in-a-box, in the form of a $2,000 wind turbine called WindTronics (via Muskegon Chronicle and Thoughts On Global Warming).
EarthTronics tells the paper that its wind turbine will have a 36-inch diameter, will be able to generate power at 3 mph wind speeds, and can supply 200-watts or power. The turbine is also intended to supply 10 to 20 percent of a home’s electricity. The company is working with the Grand Valley State University, the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center, and technology development company E-Net.
According to the Muskegon Chronicle EarthTronic could start producing the turbine by the first quarter of 2009. One note, it’s still not plug-in-play, the turbine will have to be installed by an electrician, the company says. So the full cost of the turbine would have to account for the installation fees.
(Via Earth2Tech.)
