How I built an electricity producing wind turbine. Several years ago I bought some remote property in Arizona.
I am an astronomer and wanted a place to practice my hobby far away from the sky-wrecking light pollution found near cities of any real size. I found a great piece of property. The problem is, it's so remote that there is no electric service available. That's not really a problem. No electricity equals no light pollution. One thing I noticed right away about my property is that most of the time, the wind is blowing. Let me state up front that I probably won't be able to help you out much if you decide to build your own wind turbine. Since no one seems to be reading the FAQ, I will answer the No. 1 question I get many, many times a day right here up front.
Update: Here is a video of the wind turbine in operation. Update: Here is a video of me assembling and setting up the wind turbine on my remote off-grid property. I started the process of designing my wind turbine by Googling for information on home-built wind turbines. Magenn Power Inc. Saul Griffith's kites tap wind energy. Google Checks Out The PC of Renewable Energy. Blowhards - Business. Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclear. NOTE: Some major wind projects like the proposed TWE Carbon Valley project in Wyoming are already pricing in significantly lower than coal power -- $80 per MWh for wind versus $90 per MWh for coal -- and that is without government subsidies using today's wind turbine technology.
The International Clean Energy Analysis (ICEA) gateway estimates that the U.S. possesses 2.2 million km2 of high wind potential (Class 3-7 winds) — about 850,000 square miles of land that could yield high levels of wind energy. This makes the U.S. something of a Saudi Arabia for wind energy, ranked third in the world for total wind energy potential. The United States uses about 26.6 billion MWh's, so at the above rate we could satisfy a full one-third of our total annual energy needs. Now what if a breakthrough came along that potentially tripled the energy output of those turbines? You see where I'm going. Well, such a breakthrough has been made, and it's called the "wind lens. " Editor's note: Want more info? Wind energy & wind industry business & policy. Windstalks. Atelier dna Designed for Site #3 in Abu Dhabi, adjacent to Masdar City Site.
Concept and Design: Darío Núñez Ameni and Thomas Siegl, with Atelier dna Narrative and Poetics: Gabrielle Jesiolowski Structure and Engineering: Radhi Majmudar PE, with ISSE Innovative Structural and Specialty Engineering Ecology and Renewable Energy Strategy: Ian Lipsky, with eDesign Dynamics Design Submission for the 2010 Land Art Generator Initiative Design CompetitionSecond Place Mention from the Jury Artist’s descriptive text: MASDAR/WINDSTALK Our project starts out as a desire, a whisper, like grasping at straws, clenching water.
Our project takes clues from the way the wind caresses a field of wheat, or reeds in a marsh; our hair on a gusty afternoon. Our project consists of 1203 stalks, 55 meters high, anchored on the ground with concrete bases that range between 10 to 20 meters in diameter. You can walk on the bases of the poles, you can traverse the whole site by walking from base to base.