# Thought I would share



## chickenmommy (Aug 24, 2004)

This is in Sarasota, where I work. It is amazingly quiet. I think if you click on the pic it will take you to the actual short video. We also have a couple solar trees and plug in stations for electric cars. If I had an electric car I could travel to and from work nearly free.


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## Ky-Jeeper (Sep 5, 2010)

hmmmmm


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## ace admirer (Oct 5, 2005)

the building towers over the close sit wind generator. I would not expect much if any power from it.


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

If you were to depend on that toy to charge your electric car you will be stranded some where along the road with dead batteries.

Yes they are impressive to look at and "quiet"......
Those vertical access wind **turbines** just do not make much of any power.............

Some while back the liberal's made an issue of funding an "up and coming" vertical access company here in MI . . . . . . . . .---jobs, jobs, etc. 
Well guess what, . . . that company just quietly faded in to the night and has vanished..

I lost a customer to some hot dogs who installed two of those VA toys. In two months one of those toys self destructed in the wind. Last I heard she (lost customer) had taken those guys to court..............

Ask to see a log of that toy's energy production.............................


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## Alaska (Jun 16, 2012)

Its simple . What do the big boys do? Three blades. And keep it way above any obstructions.
That is one of the many feel good green bull ---- projects. Oh look at me Im green. Screw that. Im off the grid totally with wind and solar. The greenies always go ooh ahhhhhh your so green . BS I just trust my investment in my power system much more than when it was in the hands of wall street. And we look forward to storms that knock the power out on the grid. We can see and be seen for miles and we turn every friggin light on.


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## chickenmommy (Aug 24, 2004)

Geeze, you guys have no faith and are quick to shoot something down.  According to the powers that be, the combination of the solar and wind have cut power usage down for that building by just over 2/3. The angle of the pic doesn't show the fact that is forward of the building, and because I didn't supply you with this information you also don't know that there was a lot of research done and this was found to be the ideal place for the turbine as it sits in an almost constantly blowing wind tunnel. Corporate has been very happy with the results of this investment. Maybe improvements have been made since Jim-mi has checked in to them?


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

I have been involved for many years with wind turbines.. Installing and other wise.

No that is not like the one I mentioned that was very briefly built in MI..

For years some one has tried to "reinvent the wheel" coming up with yet another 'super improved' vertical access **turbine** . . . . . . . . .The out-put of those things is dismal...

That thing that is pictured is a feel good green piece whirrlygig.........

If that thing were here on my 'homestead' it would very soon self destruct.

If vertical access was worth a darn the BIG MONEY guys would have invested in it.

I am happy to say that I did my part in working for a company that has put in two very high dollar wind farms.
( 6 million for the turbine- 1.5 million for the tower- plus install labor.)

Sorry for the rant chickenmommy but I really don't want people to think "I'll put up one of those things and then I can go "off grid"..............Not with that kind of equipment you wont.


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## Alaska (Jun 16, 2012)

Yeah one of the local ranchers here got talked into a bunch of those a few years back. I think they are all gone now


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## Allen15 (Apr 18, 2013)

That device may be perfectly sited and produce as much as it can with near-perfect efficiency, although I suspect that if they have a good sized building, they're getting much more power from their solar than they could from wind.

That being said, the prevailing winds in that area may just cause enough of a normal eddy current around the building to keep the average wind directed to it higher than what may appear at first glance, but no matter what, it will never beat Betz's law, so its swept area is just too small to be able to generate much real power.

Corporate America is often happy with things because it gives them either a good PR image, or warm fuzzies, so without hard numbers on the cost of that wind generator vs. the amount of power it has produced since installation, Corporate being happy would seem to be the only criteria that it needed to meet, and no other measure is available.

If they got subsidies or tax write-offs that may be another reason why they are 'happy' with it, but we can't see that from the video.

In physics, Betz's law defines the maximum power that can be extracted from a fluid flow by *any* means, no matter the design of a turbine, and it comes down to NO turbine can capture more than just over 59% of the kinetic energy of a stream, which would be the cross-sectional area of the turbine, or the swept area, and this is only for that magical, perfectly 100% efficient turbine with no losses.

The power or kinetic energy in wind goes up with the cube of the velocity, so increasing the speed by locating in a regular eddy current will help, but it's still not the most practical way to generate power from wind *for the $$ amount that was spent*.

Glad they're happy with it, and I hope that it is an inspiration to all who see it, but if anyone wishes to attempt to duplicate it, or worse, wanted to copy it with a different goal in mind for a different location, I hope they do their homework on the location that they are really considering, and get some good advice, especially if they needed to depend upon it for power...


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

OK . .I can see "corporate liking it"...........................strictly as a feel good PR idea. . . . . .the public sees it and says "Oh looky there . . . that company is going *green*"...........
More PR BS...............


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## ace admirer (Oct 5, 2005)

i got a bridge i'd like to sell you


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## Alaska (Jun 16, 2012)

ace admirer said:


> i got a bridge i'd like to sell you


where does it go? and 
where does it come from?


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## ace admirer (Oct 5, 2005)

i have several, you pick the road, more than likely i will have a bridge for sale on it. All are in good to poor shape. but all look very serviceable.


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