Sustainable Solutions: Residential Wind Turbines

You are looking at a Windspire, a vertical-axis wind turbine that generates electricity from wind power. This model produces about 2,000 kWh of electricity a year in an area with average wind speeds of 12 mph (about ? the needs of the average house). It can be used on-grid to power homes, businesses, even large commercial buildings, and off-grid, etc. The model you are viewing is a "giromill" style, which used vertical airfoils that, just like the airplane wings, use the concept of "lift". Lift enables the rotor to spin around a little faster than the speed of the wind.

Since it spins around a vertical axis, Windspire can catch the wind from any direction to turn the rotor without re-orienting itself. The airfoils also spin more slowly than the tips of propeller-style blades, rendering it virtually silent. Windspire was specifically designed with aesthetics and minimal cost in mind.

How can a wind turbine convert wind power into electricity?
In areas of sufficient sustained wind, the rotor is turned in the same manner as a windmill. The rotating center pole (as seen here, can be either on vertical or horizontal axis) is attached to a generator containing strong magnets and coils inside. As the magnets rotate around the coils of copper wire, a magnetic field is created, which induces an electric current. The current is converted to useful AC current or DC current for battery-charging.

How much electricity does a residential-scale wind turbine produce?
A wind turbine produces different amounts of electricity at different wind speeds. At higher sustained wind speeds, more energy is produced (for reasons of safety, residential turbines are limited to a maximum velocity). The energy generated from a wind turbine depends on the "windiness" of your site as measured by both the sustained wind speed and annual seasonal variability of the wind. With this information, it is possible to calculate an estimate of the amount of energy you will generate over a year.

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United States Botanic Garden
Green Roof Engineering
Green Roof Plants
James A. Garfield
Power from the Wind
Capitol Square
Capitol Square, SW
The Pollinator Partnership
Capitol Square, SW
The National Garden Takes Root

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