Mini Wind Turbines for City Homes Proposed in Scotland

Sometimes efficiency isn't everything. If the cost of a tower throws the financials off, you can be better off with a turbine that doesn't go by optimal design specs.

The proposed turbines aren't them, but there are some low-noise/low wind speed turbines on the market, e.g. http://www.renewabledevices.com/

While I share your skepticism about the above proposal given current turbine prices, if they were cheaper by half I could see house-mounted turbines really taking off.

<p>
"A 'number of technical difficulties'" IMHO means that mounting small wind turbines onto a building is just a dumb idea. They throw out the rules of wind, one of them being that in order to remove the influences of turbulence you need to install a wind turbine 30 feet higher than any surrounding obstacles within 300-500 feet. Additionally, since they are <i>small</i> turbines, they don't produce very much energy in typical wind speeds (forget at their rated speed -- how often does 27 mph happen?). And have you ever <i>heard</i> a small wind turbine when it gets hit with a gust of wind? Very loud and annoying because they're inherently high-rpm designs. Additionally, by tacking the things onto a dwelling, you just subjects the inhabitants to the high-pitched frequencies the turbines produce -- when they're actually creating any useable power.
</p>

<p>
I predict that when they install these units, they're not going to perform well, and will ultimately be removed.
</p>

<p>
What they need to do is talk to Proven (come on, it's a Scottish company folks!) and put up bigger units on properly spec'd towers, which can provide significant <b>useable</b> power to the community's grid. Additionally, put PV on the roof. Sure, there's not as much insolation from the sun that far north as in other more southern locations, but it'll be money better spent than tiny, ineffective wind turbines.
</p>

Conversion energy efficiency should not matter when your wind is Free. What matters is providing the basic amount of energy for the home with high reliability at a reasonable cost. The side note issues would be having a presentable looking device on your home to not lower the value of the home. If all these efficiency and technical factors were always the factor, we would not be driving automobiles.

i would refer the discussion to the web site for Windsave http://www.windsave.com/technical.htm
Most of Mr. Stoops' objections are answered there.

Innovative engineering can help a lot, if it gets a chance.

Mr. Stoops looks to the Urban Wind Turbines in a very bad way. In Holland we have some experience and it is possible to provide in your own energy (balanced in time by grid connected). Look to our website www.idet.nl to see some models of UWT and they don't make any noise.