Vertical Axis Windmills
Urban wind power systems aren’t new. Way back in the mid-70’s, the first rooftop windmill was installed on top of a NY City co-op building. The wind turbine generated enough electricity monthly - 200 kilowatt-hours - to power the building with enough electricity left over to deliver some to the Northeast power grid. So why didn’t urban wind generation catch on? For one thing, the technology was primitive compared to today’s. The early models were noisy and vibrated enough to be felt throughout the buildings. They looked like propellers on sticks to some people and weren’t aesthetically pleasing at all.
Things have certainly changed. When Chicago turned to Bil Becker, of Aerotecture International, http://www.aerotecture.com, he was able to provide the city with vertical-axis wind turbines that are almost beautiful. More like modern sculptures, these new rooftop turbines are able to generate electricity no matter the wind direction. Unlike horizontal-axis turbines, they can do that even when the wind is blowing with 100 mph gusts! Their price — under $4,000 and falling –make them accessible to the residential market also. Thanks to new design technology, vertical-axis turbines are almost no hazard to wildlife, they don’t vibrate at all and produce very little noise.
With very little fanfare, these rooftop arrays have multiplied at an increasing rate over the last decade, according to the American Wind Energy Association, and the industry is expanding exponentially. Phillipa Rogers, a spokesperson for Quiet Revolution, says, “We can’t make the turbines fast enough.” Company president, Phil Watkins, sees more than 40,000 turbines distributed by next fall. (http://www.plentymag.com/features/2007/09/a_mighty_wind.php)
In addition to rooftops, other areas might be suitable for vertical-axis turbines. Bridges, ridges such as the ones around Los Angeles and other western cities, steeples, smokestacks, cell towers and other tall structures all have the potential to support at least a small array of turbines. Mountains could support arrays in areas where there are no tall buildings. Wherever the wind blows at an average of at least 8 mph, the generators could be installed. And as more are installed, the price will go down until they’re within the range of almost every home owner.
If enough of the rooftop generators come online, they could actually generate enough power to start transferring it to the nation’s major power grids, which would reduce pollution from coal and gas fired plants. As they join the wind farms, solar projects and hybrid cars, rooftop power generators could become part of a wave of homegrown alternative energy projects. As people get used to seeing them, alternative energy could become much more accepted and less alien to the average person.
While some skeptics are convinced that urban rooftop wind turbines are not the answer to the world’s energy needs, but rather a distraction from wind farm projects and solar power projects, others consider them a good fit for urban dwellers who need alternative energy generation now. Wind farms take time and a huge financial investment to implement and it will be a long time, if ever, before all of the nation’s 38 million urban dwellers have access to wind farm energy. Why not install vertical-axis turbines on their rooftops instead of adding to the burden on conventional power generating plants?
