Fusor Forums

Here's a wind turbine design that a company in the UK came up with that allows for urban use. Doesn't need nearly the space requirements of a normal turbine or the wind requirements.
http://www.quietrevolution.co.uk/

Now all we need to do is shrink it down to about 1-2 meters tall and it would be perfect for most houses/townhouses.
-Eddie B.

Well Ed,

It's pretty. It's also $25,000. It also squeaks repeatedly in spite of all the hub-bub about it being silent.

I want to see this, using polyethylene teraphthalate rotary molded, and about half the size you guys are offering. That should allow you to bring the cost down to $5000/unit. Then if you can solve the squeaking, I'll get one.

It is 25000 GBP, more like US$48,000 for a 6 kW generator, if we are looking at the same model of qr5. qr2.5 might be less. Still, US$8 per watt before installation is higher than solar panel's US$8/watt after installation. For most sites, solar is also more efficient.

Does anyone know why a propeller-type turbine design might be less attractive than this vertical one? The propeller-type is certainly more efficient and economical.

I'd like to know more about how this works in advance, but on the site there reads very little about what kind of forces are appearing into this kind of structure.

k chan: It is attracting because there are many areas with such environments where trees and structures are interfering with wind, therefore causing that wind may blow in few seconds from another direction. This kind of propeller type allows wind from any direction to spin itself making it useful into urban environments where there are lots of obstacles. At least... According to the site.

Also, it looks a quite striking!