Wind power for the home

My brothers told me about this new wind turbine from Windtronics that can be used for individual homes:

The Honeywell Wind Turbine from WindTronics measures just 6 feet (182 cm) in diameter and weighs 170 lbs (77kg) providing 18 % of an average household’s (DOE) energy needs.

The Honeywell Wind Turbine patented design maximizes efficiency drawing energy from the fast moving blade tips rather than a complex slow center hub. The Blade Tip Power System cuts-in with wind speeds as low as 2 MPH (3km/h), significantly more efficient than any turbine in its class and size.

Given the winds in Nuvali, this certainly is interesting!

It costs $6,495 (ouch!), plus installation which goes anywhere from $1,500 to 4,500 (double ouch ouch!), but I (want to) believe that savings on electricity charges can off-set this in the long run.

Product life is 20 years. More from the FAQ:

What wind do I have?

80% of our actual wind resources in North America are well below 10mph, 90% of the time. Almost all traditional wind turbines require 8mph winds to cut in and start turning. Unfortunately, to date small wind turbines have failed to impress in terms of energy creation, sound quality and the installation expense.

When we state “we turned wind turbines inside out”…. we had to do just that….

By removing the mechanics and gears from the center core, the Honeywell Wind Turbine, patented Blade Tip Power System (BTPS) starts turning at 1mph, begins generating energy at 2mph, therefore is in operations 50% more of the time, than traditional systems.

How much energy does the turbine produce?

The HWT generates

• Renewable Electric Generation 2752 kWh/yr in Class 4 Winds @ 33ft

The HWT offers the lowest cost per kWh in class.

Here are some helpful Wind Resource Sites

http://www.solar-estimate.org/index.php?page=wind-calculator

http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_maps.asp

http://rredc.nrel.gov/wind/pubs/atlas/atlas_index.html

How much money will the turbine save me?

The ROI of the turbine will depend on many different factors:

1. Your annual kW usage

2. The price you pay per kWh

3. The incentives available to you

4. Your installation cost

While the ROI will be shorter for some people than for others, we believe that increasing energy prices within the next few years will decrease the payback time of our product even more.

Just made available last August 2010 in the US.

An important question in the FAQ: What are the state and local regulations governing turbine installations?

Anyone knows the answer to this in the Philippine setting?