Free Republic

Innovation: A New Rooftop Wind TurbineThe WindTronics turbine can generate energy at low speeds. By Nicole Marie Richardson Oct 1, 2009 The answer is blowing in the (very gentle) wind Generally, rooftop turbines can't produce electricity unless the wind is blowing six or eight miles per hour. This turbine is different. Developed by WindTronics, based in Muskegon, Michigan, it's only 6 feet in diameter and can generate energy at wind speeds of just two miles per hour. WindTronics moved the power-generating parts to the outside of the wheel, where the blades turn faster. Reducing the bulk in the center also...

Has Affordable, Efficient Rooftop Wind Power Arrived? Of the 10,500 small wind turbines installed last year, 99 percent were attached to giant constructed towers in rural areas. Rooftop wind turbines—constituting 1 percent of the market—have a huge potential in urban and suburban areas. But the products, which are heavy, noisy and require permanently attaching wind-catching blades to homes, have not yet caught on. One inventor thinks his unique turbine is just what the market is looking for. Are rooftop turbines set to take off?

KENYON -- Russ Foss has lived on his 500 acre farm, southeast of Kenyon, for more than 42 years. A dairy farmer, Foss has kept busy serving time on the local co-op board and growing crops in his field. But Foss is clear to say that his 500 acres will never be home to what some are calling a "second crop," -- wind energy. "When they (the turbines) came out, I myself thought it was a good idea," he said. "Wind sounds like a good idea, until you really look into it. Then there are just so many holes in...

ENGINEERS from Ecotricity are working to establish how a 20m blade mysteriously fell off a turbine at Conisholme wind farm - but residents have their own conclusions. It is believed the a blade fell off the 89m turbine and another was left badly bent on Sunday January 4. Speculation has continued amongst residents in Conisholme and the surrounding villages with some saying they saw strange flashing tentacle shaped lights above the wind farm on the night before it happened. Mr John Harrison, Saltfleetby described how on Saturday night, January 3 he looked out of his landing window to see a...

Wind turbine plan scrapped by University of Illinois By Christine Des Garennes The University of Illinois has canceled its plans to build wind turbines on campus, citing the university's "deteriorating fiscal condition."A contract for GE to build and deliver a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine for the South Farms was sent last week to the university from GE, but university officials did not sign it.Chancellor Richard Herman on Thursday notified GE and student leaders of the university's decision to halt the project. ..... "In the fiscal situation we're in, we need to be looking for things that have immediate cost savings," Warner...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Sept. 29, 2008 – People in the smaller villages of southern Afghanistan have limited or no electricity. Though rows of power lines stretch for miles across the desolate sands of the region, only residents of major cities have electrical power. Army 1st Sgt. Mark Kane helps direct a British and Canadian convoy transporting turbine materials into Afghanistan. He is assigned to the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. The battalion’s soldiers cleared the way and secured the area during the Aug. 28 mission. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

Almost three thousand British troops in southern Afghanistan have successfully transported a huge hydroelectric power turbine through Taleban territory. In one of their biggest operations in Helmand, a convoy of 100 vehicles took five days to move the massive sections of the turbine 180km (112 miles). The $6m (£3.4m) turbine will produce electricity for an extra 1.9m people. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the operation was a reminder of Nato's "fundamental purpose" in Afghanistan. The operation to increase the output of the Kajaki dam in southern Afghanistan is part of a development project which has been planned for two years.

A local company has designed a new type of wind-turbine blade that mimics the aerodynamic performance of a humpback whale's flipper, allowing a turbine to capture more of the wind's energy at much lower speeds. The odd-looking blades, which have teeth-like bumps along their leading edge, are a dramatic departure from the smooth and sleek design that graces most wind turbines. But Stephen Dewar, co-founder of Toronto-based WhalePower Corp., says the new approach could have a profound impact on wind-energy economics. It means turbines manufactured with WhalePower blades would be capable of capturing energy where the wind is less strong,...

It may resemble a giant rotary washing line, but it might just help Britain meet its hugely ambitious new wind energy targets. At least that's the claim of the company developing a novel "vertical axis" wind turbine dubbed the Aerogenerator. The 144-metre high V-shaped structure would be mounted offshore and capable of generating up to 9 megawatts of electricity, roughly three times as much power as a conventional turbine of equivalent size. Switching to such a design could ensure that thousands fewer turbines would be needed in order to meet the government's new wind power target, says Theo Bird, founder...

HOUSTON -- Texas hopes to get word this month on whether it has won a bid for a U.S. Energy Department wind turbine testing facility -- a prize the state's land commissioner says would boost Texas' position as the nation's leader in wind-generated energy. Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said Texas bid on the project last year and is in the running with Massachusetts. The research and development facility will test wind turbine blades in excess of 200 feet long. Patterson said Texas has several pluses in its favor, including a site near Corpus Christi donated by BP PLC and a...

Wind turbines 'are ruining our quality of life' By Martin Beckford Last Updated: 1:15am BST 16/04/2007 The majority of people living near wind turbines believe that the noise they make is ruining their health and quality of life, a report has revealed. Neighbours also claim that the constant hum and the loud "whooshing" sound made by the blades in high winds is destroying the value of their homes. A survey of people whose homes are situated within 1.2 miles of turbines has shown that three-quarters of them feel that the noise has damaged their quality of life while four out...

A system that provides electricity, refrigeration and water - the three vital elements of emergency situations such as hurricanes and war - has been created by two University of Florida professors. William Lear, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and S.A. Sherif, a mechanical engineering professor, combined a gas turbine power plant with a heat-operated refrigeration system. The cool air from the refrigerator makes the turbine more efficient and powerful, Lear said, while waste heat from the turbine then powers the refrigeration. The engine, which runs on conventional fossil fuels, biomass-produced fuels or hydrogen, also forms about one...

Rolls-Royce Eyes Oil-Less Engine, Other Innovative Propulsion Concepts Defense Daily 06/08/2006 Author: Michael Sirak INDIANAPOLIS--Rolls-Royce's LibertyWorks advanced concept shop has divulged a list of novel engine designs that it is pursuing to power the Department of Defense's next-generation missiles, unmanned surveillance aircraft, long-range strike platforms and agile transport planes, according to senior company officials. Among the concepts is a paradigm-shifting aircraft engine that uses magnetic bearings around its core. These bearings form part of the engine's integrated high-speed electrical-power generator for producing the large amounts of power needed to run the aircraft's onboard sensors and even directed-energy weapons. Equally important,...

Mini gas turbine motorcycle Posted Oct 28, 2005, 11:00 AM ET by Eliot Phillips Russ W. Moore of Bad Brothers Racing has an awesome project on his hands. The motorcycle frame is from a Yamaha YSR-50. Smaller than a standard street bike and larger than a pocket bike it comes with a 50cc engine and is street legal. The gas turbine is being constructed from a Cummins ST-50 usually found in large trucks. The documentation is pretty thorough and covers the build from the beginning. It’s still in progress, the exhaust and pumps still need to be mounted, possibly a...

The invention of a gas-fueled generator the size of a quarter heralds a future of ever-smaller machines The lightbulb went on when Alan Epstein, a meticulous 53-year-old engineer with a twinkling sense of humor, was sitting in a jury pool in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, courthouse. The question he was pondering that spring day in 1994 had been put to him by a United States Air Force official: How difficult would it be to build a jet engine the size of, say, a coffee cup? Epstein, the head of MIT’s Gas Turbine Laboratory, which has a staff of 80 and receives...