$750 wind turbine producing 3-5 kwhrs/day?

This came out on Geoff Lawton's Friday Five.  The first 3 articles I searched about this don't have any info about how the turbine imrpoves efficiencies to this level, nor if there's something unique about the design.  has me wondering about wind power--is it really a lot easier than most people have been thinking?

I know you can get spare parts and make a cheap turbine from the junkyard, but how much wattage will that net you? how much wind is there really, say, in an urban or forested area? if you can get out in the desert sure you can landsail at 120kph but in the city you have to pedal a whike and go at most 30, and then if there's no wind you just have a very inefficient bike to get around.  So how much wind energy is really available? what's the big picture here for the cheap-and-dirty do-it-yourself person in urban or forested setting?  thanks!

Their company here

Interesting.
Will be nice if its actually viable but I agree that I am not seeing anything truly different from other wind turbines I have looked at.

It does not strike me as revolutionary in any way.  

For most locations, the tower, batteries, inverters, charge controllers, wire, etc will cost far more than the wind turbine itself.


One of the best resources, if you want a real education in home brew wind power is over on the fieldlines discussion board.  Wind is a big focus, but they talk about every technology really.

http://www.fieldlines.com/


One rule of thumb is, you must get the turbine located above the turbulent air caused by trees and buildings.  Let's say, 25 feet taller than any building or tree within 100 feet.  

It is rare that a tower lower than 40' will give you good efficiency unless you live in kansas and there are no trees around, and the house is always downwind.

A safe tower that height is not a trivial engineering project to be safe, and likely not inexpensive either.  Every installation is different.


A peculiar thing has happened in the last 2 or 3 years due to the amazing decrease in solar panel cost.  For many locations, it is cheaper to put up a few more solar panels and a bigger battery bank, than it is to put up an expensive tower and wind turbine.