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Small and Household-size Wind Turbines

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General
Small Turbine Testing
Inventions & Questionable Wind Turbines
Rooftop & Urban Wind
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Shrouded Wind Turbines
Feed-in Tariffs for Small Wind
Accidents & Safety
Reviews
Auf Deutsch
En Français
More on Small Turbines

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General

Coal Plants Closing, People Owning Their Own Power, Feed-in Tariffs and More a podcast interview with Paul Gipe, author of Wind Energy Basics
Community Colleges Offering Wind Courses in North America
6th Annual Small Wind Conference will take place June 15 and 16, 2010--The 6th annual Small Wind Conference is the premier event for small wind-electric system designers and installers in North America. . .
Pennsylvania Adopt An Anemometer Program 1980: A Unique Anemometer Loan Program created circa 1980 by the Center for Alternative Resources for the US Department of Energy.
Guardian: Many home turbines fall short of claims, warns study
Allgaier in Holzhausen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Wind Chargers: Building Tools from the Nation's Past by Paul Gipe and Carl Judy, 1983 (Yes, it's a very old article that just resurfaced at Mother Earth News.)
Small Turbine VAWTs and Rotor Loading
Fantasy Wind Turbines (Read this first.)
Solar Without Limits: Breaking Free from Net Metering
Wind Power (2004) Available Now in French
Wind Power: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business (2004) by Paul Gipe
Simple Rules for Small Wind Turbine Design by Michael Klemen
Small Wind Turbine Size to Meet Household Consumption
Small Wind Turbines and Birds
Small Wind Turbines Sprouting as Power Prices Rise
Small Turbines Not Left Out of Wind Boom
Net Metering -- Wind Without Limits
Spanish Survey of Small Turbine Technology
Get A Grip! Raising a Bergey 850 with a Griphoist
Lowering the BWC 850 with a Griphoist
Renewable Devices Swift Mk II AEO
Stewart Russell's commentary on Windsave.--Stewart knows what he's talking about. He's a pro.
Swift Turbine Specs Look Dubious by Stewart Russell
Review of Earth4Energy to avoid a deal "that's too good to be true".
Skystream
Skystream Field Observations
New Federal Subsidies Distort the US Small Wind Market: Or How to Increase the Power of the Skystream 3.7 with the Stroke of a Pen
Commentary on the Skystream 3.7 Updated to May 9, 2009
Small Turbine Testing
The Need for an International Small Wind Turbine Test Center
Britain's Energy Savings Trust Finds Small Wind Turbines Perform Poorly in Tests
Calculated Yield of Small Wind Turbines at Zeeland Test Site (2008)
Warwick [Small] Wind Trials--Performance monitoring of rooftop wind turbines in Great Britain. . .
Massachusetts Small Wind Report 2008: Consultants to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative have issued a damning report on the performance of small wind turbines installed under the MTC's subsidy program.
Testing the Power Curves of Small Wind Turbines
Noise from Small Wind Turbines: An Unaddressed Issue
Comments on a Proposed Performance Standard for Small Wind Turbines
Detronics Field Tests the Air X
Side by Side Comparison of Proven 5 kW and Iskra 5 kW at Hockerton Housing Project
Tests on Small Wind Turbines at Applachian State University
Whisper H40 ASU Power Curve
Air X ASU Power Curve
USDA Noise and Power Curve Tests of Small and Household-Size Wind Turbines
NREL Noise and Power Curve Tests on Small & Household-size Turbines
NREL Mariah Power (Windspire) Tests
Inventus 5 kW Power Curve
Brazilian Tests Confirm Air 403 Underperforms Power Curve
Wulf Small Wind Turbine Test Field
Small Wind Turbines Monitored at Wulf Test Field
Field Tests on Air Breeze BR0001068
Air X ABeta004 Wulf Test Field Final Report
Whisper H40 Final Report
BWC 850 Measured Power Curve
Air 303H and Air 403 Measured Power Curves
Marlec 910F Measured Power Curve
LVM 6F Measured Power Curve
Ampair 100 Measured Power Curve
AirX Fails Power Curve Tests
AirX Noise Emission Measurements
Summary of Power Curves Measured at the Wulf Test Field
Inventions & Questionable Wind Turbines
Fantasy Wind Turbines (Read this first.)
An Open Letter to Inventors by Mick Sagrillo: Specifically to inventors of vertical axis wind turbines and rooftop wind 'technology breakthroughs'
Energy Ball--A Review--I've been putting off writing anything about the "Energy Ball" simply because there are too many of these "inventions" for one person to track, analyze, and report on. Like many of these contraptions, and that's the best I can say about such devices, it's a distraction from more serious endeavors.
Stirring Up a Hornet's Nest: New Turbine Generates Controversy
US Wind Turbine--Heavy on the Hype
Rooftop & Urban Wind
Earthtronic's Honeywell Windtronics WT 6500--A Review--Lest the Honeywell name lend some kind of legitimacy to the WT 6500 note that the Honeywell trademark is simply used under license. Tellingly, "Honeywell International Inc. makes no representation or warranties with respect to this product."
Britain's Energy Savings Trust Finds Small Wind Turbines Perform Poorly in Tests--The field trials monitored 57 small turbines for an entire year, the world's largest effort at monitoring machines of this size say the reports authors. . .
Warwick Wind Trials Gives Failing Grade to Rooftop Wind--If further proof is needed that mounting wind turbines on rooftops is a bad idea, the final report on the Warwick Wind Trials is it.
New US Rooftop Wind Turbine Lab (Boston): The Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Science, is installing a rooftop Wind Turbine Lab in the summer of 2009.
The Folly of Building-Integrated Wind by Alex Wilson, BuildingGreen.com--A thorough analysis of the concept by an experienced renewable energy journalist.
Aerovironment's AVX 1000 Rooftop Turbines at Logan Airport
Building Integrated Wind
Urban Turbines: What Are They and What Makes Sense
Urban Wind Field Trials in Great Britain
Small-scale Wind Energy Policy insights and practical guidance by Britain's Carbon Trust (pdf, 1.66mb)
Small-scale Wind Energy Technical Report by Britain's Carbon Trust (pdf, 5.72mb)
Rooftop Wind Turbines at Montreal's Biosphere
Unsubstantiated Claims of Rooftop Wind Turbines (An Open Letter by Hugh Piggott)
Roof Top Wind in Inaction
Robert Dreeszen's Roof Mounted Wind Turbines
Roof Top Windsave in Scotland
Roof Top Over the Top in Britain
Stewart Russell's commentary on Windsave.--Stewart knows what he's talking about. He's a pro.
Swift Turbine Specs Look Dubious by Stewart Russell
Andy Mahoney's Rooftop Mounting Failure
Wind Speed Measurement over a roof top in Edinburgh, Scotland by Hugh Piggott
The case (or not) for Roof Mounted Wind Turbines by Nick Martin
Rooftop Mounting of Wind Turbines
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Muncie VAWT--An Expensive Demonstration--As can be quickly seen in comparison to the Bergey Excel, the VAT-20 kW turbine is overrated by almost three times. Unfortunately, this is typical of the new crop of VAWTs. Designer's and promoters greatly overstate what the turbines are truly capable of delivering. . .
NREL Mariah Power (Windspire) Tests
How Not to Site Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (Mariah Windspire) (Updated January 3, 2009)
Small Turbine VAWTs and Rotor Loading
Quick Grab a Stake--Mag-Wind Rises from the Grave--Mag-Wind is back. Grab your children. Bar the door. The dead walk. . .
Mag-Wind Pyramidal Power
Ventilators and Squirrels in a Cage
EcoQuest International, WindTree, and AWEA Cease & Desist Order
Chicago Offshore Wind Negates Crackpot Invention
Shrouded Wind Turbines
Fantasy Wind Turbines (Read this first.)
Wind Cube Squarely Over the Top--What with the flood of new "internet wonders" overwhelming me, I've decided to stop trying to debunk them all. Wind Cube is one I've ignored--until now. . .
Ducted or Augmented Turbines--Ducted or shrouded wind turbines have been invented and reinvented throughout the 20th century. . .
Comments on the Vortec Diffuser Augmented Turbine

Feed-in Tariffs for Small Wind
Advanced Renewable Tariffs for Small Wind Turbines--Presentation by Paul Gipe for CanWEA 2009 Conference, Toronto, Ontario. Includes a summary of feed-in tariffs for small wind turbines worldwide and a review of small wind program performance in the USA and Britain.
Feed-in Tariffs for Small Wind Turbines Becoming a Reality--Presentation by Paul Gipe for ASES Solar 2009
Advanced Renewable Tariffs for Small Wind Turbines: Presentation by Paul Gipe for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, June 2008
Preparing for Prime Time: What Small Wind Needs to Make Its Mark Presentation to CanWEA's 2007 Conference (pps)
Capital Subsidies Are Not Good Public Policy--Congress' resort to an easy to understand subsidy system as opposed to a more sophisticated approach based on actual generation has led directly to more confusion in the small wind turbine market.
Small Wind Turbine Feed-in Tariff Calculations--The following tables are provided as a public service. Feedback is welcome.
Accidents & Safety
A Summary of Fatal Accidents in Wind Energy
Thoughts on Doing It Yourself
Tower Work and Do-it-Yourselfers
Vanessa Skarski's Account of Her Father's Death on a Small Wind Turbine
Steen Aagaard's Crippling Fall
The Death of Terry Mehrkam
Contemporary (2006) Mortality (Death) Rates in Wind Energy
Man Falls to Death from E66 in Germany

Reviews
WWEA's Wind Energy International 2009/2010-A Review
Homebrew Wind Power by Dan Bartmann and Dan Fink
Choosing Windpower by Hugh Piggott A Review
Wind Energy: Technology and Planning CD-ROM (includes section on small wind turbines)
AEI's Wind Course CD-ROM: "Wind Energy and Wind Turbines," a review
Real Goods' Solar Living Sourcebook 11th Edition
Brakedrum Windmill Plans Year 2000 Edition
Windmill: Essays from Four Mile Ranch by David Romtvedt
Wind Power Workshop by Hugh Piggott
Auf Deutsch
Kleinwindkraftanlagen und ihre Anwendungen
Wind-Wasserpumpen

En Français
Le Grand Livre de l'Éolien par Paul Gipe


More on Small Turbines

The early days. Paul Gipe sitting on a crate of wind turbines after returning from a salvage operation to Montana in the mid-1970s.

For testing of small wind turbines and for all around helpfulness on the subject of wind energy no one beats the Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University. The Folkecenter for Renewable Energy is a long-standing reference source on the success of Electricity Feed Laws and Community Wind development in Europe. The Midwestern Renewable Energy Association has long been an ardent proponent of renewables, not just wind energy, in Wisconsin.

Alternative Energy Institute
www.windenergy.org


Nordvestjysk Folkecenter for Vedvarende Energi (Folkecenter for Renewable Energy)
www.folkecenter.dk

Midwest Renewable Energy Association
www.the-mrea.org/


For tips on the design of small wind turbines visit the sites of Scoraig Wind Electric's Hugh Piggott, www.scoraigwind.co.uk, and Windmission's Claus Nybroe, www.windmission.dk.


If you need parts, service, or advice on how to maintain your small wind turbine, you can subscribe to the yahoogroup small-wind-home. There are several knowledgeable participants on this list who offer a wealth of technical information. Once you've subscribed, monitor the list, then, when you're ready, post your question.

There is also a discussion group on small wind turbines (petit eoliens) in French at http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/petit-eolien/.

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