Customers With Small Footprints, Moderate Wind Can Expect Short Payback
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Green Energy Technologies LLC, a privately held company founded in 2006, has announced the launch of WindCube®, a 60kW rooftop wind turbine designed for on-site power generation by commercial and industrial power users in urban and suburban locations. The turbine, which captures and amplifies the wind, fills a previously unmet need for wind turbines that can be placed into service in a very small footprint.
WindCube®, so we understand, is the first commercial-scale urban wind power system for rooftop use and hopefully will find much acceptance. Small wind is the way forward to greening our villages, towns and cities. Often the problem is, though, local ordinances – planning laws, as they are called in Britain – that tend to stand in the way of such applications.
Even though in the UK the laws are supposed to be relaxed now as to the installation of wind turbines and councils are no longer supposed to be able to object to green energy projects they still do and interfere, often on the grounds of aesthetics.
Maybe things could change in the very near future, as they must, and we can then, finally, see renewable energy on every home, and ideally all the different varieties of it.
“Now building owners anywhere can consider being a part of the renewable energy picture,” said Mark L. Cironi, president and founder of Green Energy Technologies, and with John W. Fedor, the technology’s inventor. “With WindCube, it’s not necessary to have the wind of Kansas or Nebraska to become a generator of wind power. In states with excellent renewable energy incentives, moderate wind and high electric rates, the payback can be as little as three years.”
The turbine is available as a single (60kW) or dual (120kW) system and in rooftop or tower-mounted design. The product is modular to satisfy a customer’s electrical requirements, and produces the same amount of energy in a 22x22x12-foot framework as a traditional turbine with blades 50 feet in diameter. It is ideal for a wide range of users, from industrial companies and commercial office buildings to big-box retailers, college campuses and electric users in remote locations.
The WindCube features a groundbreaking patent-pending design that relies on the wind tunnel effect known in physics as the Bernoulli Principle. While the rest of the wind industry generates energy through the use of free-stream wind, the WindCube captures and amplifies the wind, which produces more kilowatt-hours (kWh). As the wind comes into the WindCube shroud, it becomes concentrated, creating increased velocity and in turn, more power. Because of the amplification effect, the WindCube is able to capture wind energy as low as 5 mph.
The WindCube generates electricity by running its motor backwards using an impeller (the opposite of a propeller), eliminating the need for a gearbox. This lowers the cost of ownership because the gear box is the source of most of the maintenance problems and failures on conventional wind turbines.
A highly favorable element in the timing of the WindCube launch is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 federal stimulus bill, which contains a provision that allows buyers of “small wind” systems (up to 100 kW) an uncapped investment tax credit of 30 percent of the total installed cost for systems placed in service between now and 2016.
The American Wind Energy Association predicts the federal subsidy could help the small-turbine market grow by 40 to 50 percent annually, a boost that would parallel the growth of the U.S. solar photovoltaic industry after a similar 2005 initiative. Moreover, in addition to the federal tax credit, most states provide some form of applicable renewable energy incentive. Ohio, for example, offers a tax rebate of 40% (capped at $200,000) of the overall project cost on facilities served by the state’s investor-owned utilities.
Green Energy Technologies (www.getsmartenergy.com) is the manufacturer of the WindCube®, a unique wind turbine designed specifically for commercial and industrial power users located in urban and suburban settings. As the premier provider of urban wind systems, we are committed to delivering innovative, reliable technology and providing best-in-class customer support. The WindCube’s groundbreaking design allows large power-users to integrate wind energy into a variety of standard urban roofs. If roof space is limited or incompatible, the WindCube may be tower-mounted. With the WindCube’s superior flexibility, a wide-range of users can now benefit from the power of the wind. It is ideal for everyone from industrial companies to developers with LEED-certified commercial office buildings to electric users in remote locations. WindCube is a registered trademark of Green Energy Technologies.
© 2009
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Green Energy Technologies' WindCube® Launched at Windpower 2009
