Small Windmills

[Dean]

Anyone watch Living with Ed and see the episode with Larry Hagman's house. He had these ground level windmills that were circular and not fan like.

Curious to know more about those but can't find any information on them.

[Tex]

Google "vertical axis wind generator". I think they are not as efficient as other generators, but they may have advantages in certain situations.

edit: "vertical axis wind turbine or VAWT" might get better results.

[mrboma]

Originally Posted by Dean

Anyone watch Living with Ed and see the episode with Larry Hagman's house. He had these ground level windmills that were circular and not fan like.

Curious to know more about those but can't find any information on them.

Dean,
Hey from Santa Cruz. Been reading all the information here for a few weeks now... 2 words, THANK YOU. Great find here, you guys and gals to an awesome job here.

Now, onto your question. While I have not seen the show you speak of there is another wind turbine I have been following since seeing it back in 2005 on Beyond Tomorrow. I would seriously take a look at the Turby. There is a small translator on the top left for english. AMAZING unit to say the least.

If you do find the ground based one, I would love to read more about it. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mike

[dunappy]

This is the one that Ed and Jay Leno have. They each have a different size though.

Pacwind - home

[JeepHammer]

Originally Posted by Dean

Anyone watch Living with Ed and see the episode with Larry Hagman's house. He had these ground level windmills that were circular and not fan like.

Curious to know more about those but can't find any information on them.

I posted up an article on Wind Power where I not only listed Vertical Axis wind generators, but actually showed some pictures of them.

Vertical axis are MUCH less efficient than horizontal axis machines, but the make sense for places that don't allow tall towers.

Most places won't allow or insurance companies won't insure your property unless you have at LEAST 150% the height of the tower to your property line.
That's VERY impractical for city applications.

If I remember the show correctly (been a couple of months since I saw it) Hagman had super strong wind resources, So an inefficient turbine design wasn't an issue for him.

You wouldn't believe how stupid the building restrictions are for stuff like towers in some real estate markets!

[bobbarker]

We get such powerful wind here constantly that I think I would have to seriously bolt something like that down, I've seen a huge sign to a store go flying into traffic here

[Dean]

What is about the max energy a horizontal can produce?

[EvilTOJ]

Looks like someone is yet again stealing my idea. I had an idea of putting giant vertical axis windmills on the east coast and reinforce em. Then when hurricane season blew around, generate megawatts of electricity for cheap!

[hague720]

Vertical Axis Turbines (Vawts) dont need to turn into the wind to speed up in gusts from every direction as opposed to fan types that have to turn into the wind before generating anything considerable.....my2cs

Thomas , North Wales , UK

[Tex]

I noticed from Pacwind's website that tower heights of most of their generators were shorter than most conventional wind generator tower. Does a VAWT not need as tall of a tower? That would be a big plus if they can produce more usable power from shorter towers in turbulent wind. I know any generator would be more efficient higher up, but you have to look at the return on your investment. The tower is usually the biggest cost of a wind turbine. I like the low maintenance aspect of Pacwind if it's not all sales hype.