We all know how much electrical energy a full- legal-limit ham shack gobbles up. This “whisper-quiet” home wind turbine that has already been installed at 250 locations in Scotland is now being sold in the US.
Cascade Engineering on Monday said that the Swift wind turbine, suitable for homes and other buildings, is available in the U.S. and Canada. The Swift tries to set itself apart from the existing small wind turbines with a design that reduces noise. Also, the turbine can be attached to a home, rather than a free-standing pole or tower.
Like other wind turbines, the Swift has blades that turn in the wind to power a generator. But rather than the typical three blades, the Swift has five and a ring that goes around them. That "outer diffuser" ring cuts the noise level to 35 decibels and the vibration, according to the company.
The turbine, with a seven foot diameter, also has two fins to direct the turbine to face the wind, able to turn 360 degrees and shut down if the wind is too high.
It can generate 1.5 kilowatts with 14 mile-per-hour wind and about 2,000 kilowatt-hours over a year. U.S. households typically consume between 6,500 and 10,000 kilowatt-hours in a year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
SOURCE: CNET
My name is Bob, and I am a ham radio operator, freelance web developer and a retired commercial radio personality. It turns out that I also enjoy blogging...
