Fake Wind Turbines

In the last week or two we have become aware of some wind turbine installations that are essentially big, “green” pinwheels. These installations will not produce the power the turbine is rated for at best, and at worst will generate minimal power. Unfortunately, the customer may never know how much money they wasted, if they were in reality purchasing the units to generate electricity and save money.

When installing a wind turbine, the turbine must be 20 feet above anything within 200 feet (including trees). This is not just a good idea, but actually a law of physics. Sure the turbine will spin, but the turbulent air flow from surrounding objects will reduce the wind generator’s ability to consistently produce power.

Another misconception is the idea that vertical axis wind turbines are “newer and better” than horizontal axis turbines. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s both vertical and horizontal axis turbines were researched extensively. The horizontal axis turbines were determined to be the better solution for a variety of reasons. There have been no technological advances that would change the results of that research. For more information check out these excellent articles here, here, and here.

Wind Turbine Chicanery

We were discussing this issue around Sunrise this morning and someone commented that these wind installers are a lot like some of the solar hot water installers in the 1980’s. Back then there were crazy tax incentives to install solar hot water systems. At first there were some reputable companies and installers, but as the industry grew there were a lot of “fly-by-night” companies and some “snake oil” salesmen.

If you want to “be green” and do not care about the economics, then sure a poor installation does not matter (unless it is unsafe). However, if you are really interested in sustainability, energy efficiency, local electric generation, or any of the other really good reasons, please do your research at a reputable company or website. Oh yeah, there are a lot of “bad science” wind turbine websites also. Some of them have amazing computer generated graphics, but no real products. However, if you are willing to be their “first”, they are sure their turbine will really work well.

Bottom line: wind turbine selection, site selection, and installation are not “rocket science”, but they are also not “magnificent, magical” energy machines.