Micro Wind Turbines At Home  

WorldChanging has a post up about wind turbines that can be used to generate power at home (up until now they've only really been suitable for rual or very low density urban use). I'm starting to think houses that are mostly energy self sufficient are entirely possible if you put a bit of time and money into it - especially in sunny, windy places like Australia.

The elements of bright green home design are rapidly coming together, and it's looking increasingly clear that high-efficiency consumption and home microgeneration are an ideal combination. We've looked at residential efficiency quite a bit recently, so let's turn again to the home power generation side. Of the three main sources of clean renewable power -- solar, wind and ocean (tide/wave) -- two are reasonable options for the individual buildings (sadly, home ocean power appears to have limited application). For solar, we can go with building-integrated photovoltaic shingles or wall/window units; for wind, we have "rooftop" (but often wall-mounted) turbines.

While most small wind turbine developers have focused on small towers for rural users, two UK-based manufacturers -- Windsave and Renewable Devices -- have been working on micro-turbines for the urban environment, and have been working with utilities and developers to get wind power into buildings. These efforts are starting to pay off, and in more than just number-of-roofs. Last week, the "Swift" micro-turbine from Renewable Devices won the "Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy" in the energy generation category.

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For a typical home, this is enough to offset a good portion of electricity use. But the real win is when a micro-turbine is combined with building-integrated solar and high-efficiency consumption: relatively inexpensive additions to a home could turn it into a net producer of power. Best of all, these can be retrofits to existing buildings. Combine these with a gas-optional hybrid -- recharged for free overnight by home renewable power -- and you might even have the makings of the sustainable single-family home.