emilito's Profile

Display Name:	emilito
Member Since:	9/2/08

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Buildings, especially residential ones don't particularly like wind turbine towers mounted directly on them. The oscillations can be crazy, even on a vertical-axis unit like this. Better to have it on its own tower with plenty of unobstructed area to capture wind. In urban situations, I think photovoltaics and solar thermal hot water and space heating tend to make the most sense. Has anyone tried permitting these things in a city? Not easy. Not impossible either, but there are a bunch of factors to deal with b/c of their height, visibility, noise potential, not to mention what would the neighbors think. I'll admit though, this is one of the most beautiful VAWTs I've ever seen. Personal Windmill Turbine: Democratic Ecology \| Apartment Therapy Chicago Flag this comment	1/29/10 11:54 AM
This requires a bit more than math. While this is a wind appliance that is designed to offset conventional power consumption, the economics are not the only relevant piece of the puzzle. But if you want to stick to numbers, rapunzel assumed a 4-year life of the equipment. I don't think that's really realistic...people that are going to be buying these aren't likely to want a new one in that short a time. I'd say more like 8-10, but even 15-20 years is possible. Regardless, incentives weren't factored in. It's entirely possible to get one of these at up to 60% or more below rapunzel's estimated installed cost, bringing your simple payback to 3-5 years, or less in some cases. That's with the US federal tax credit (30%), local and state credits and/or rebates (typically 20-30%), and, if you went with a lease there may be an additional 2-5% or so due to accelerated depreciation or other factors. What really matters though is the specifics of the site. Wind is highly variable, so anyone looking to buy one of these things should have at least a year's worth of wind speeds at the proposed tower height. I have no idea of the cut-in speeds of these things, but they look light and have lots of swept area so one might assume 6-8mph so they can operate with lower annual wind speeds. A Windspire is rated at 1.2 kW output with similar low-speed operation, and they're about $4500 installed so it's not that much less than the $4,888 USD cost (not including installation) of a comparable Pramac unit. Overall, they're gorgeous and I'm interested in trying one out. Anyone got a link with some specs? Phillipe Starck Designs Wind Turbines for Homeowners \| Apartment Therapy Re-Nest Flag this comment	1/29/10 11:47 AM
MelissaLeigh, lots of women don slinky summer dresses and high heeled pumps to ride their bikes, maybe not in the USA but they do it. Check out the dozens, maybe hundreds of photos at Copenhagen Cycle Chic. Also, I think this is the same company that's been based in Florida for years, long before cycling became cool again. Apartment Therapy New York \| The Dutch Bicycle Company: Sexy Dutch Roadsters Email from 8.26.08 Flag this comment	9/2/08 11:43 AM