New wind power technology offers savings at home

Mention wind power and you immediately think of giant wind farms, both on shore and off. But thanks to a new wind turbine design released at this month's National Hardware Show, getting wind power at home may become just as common as rooftop solar panels, and perhaps even easier to install.

Windtronics introduced the Honeywell Wind Turbine, a compact, wind-powered electrical generation system that promise to deliver up to 25% of the electrical needs for the average house. Introduced by Windtronics, this system features a revolutionary wind power technology design that makes it affordable and efficient for residential use. Here's why:

Most wind generators consist of an electrical generator surrounded by large blades, which spin to turn the generator and make power. An inherent detriment of this design, however, is that blades have to be big enough to overcome the resistance needed to turn the generator. As a result, most wind generators are huge, with residential models requiring at least a very un-neighborly looking sturdy metal tower as a base.

The Honeywell Wind Turbine is quite different. The design starts with the wind turbine itself, which resembles six-foot-diameter bicycle wheel, and features a Blade Tip Power System (BTPS) that moves the mechanics to the perimeter of the turbine. By doing so, engineers were able to ingeniously replace the traditional gear box, shaft and central generator that add resistance and drag in other wind power technologies. Without these, the free-wheeling turbine generates energy from the blade tips to create significant power and operate easily in a greater range of wind speeds. As a result, the wind turbine gets going in 1 mph winds and starts generating power at just 2 mph. At the other extreme, if you're experiencing high winds (above 40 mph) in your neighborhood, this turbine's computerized Smart Box interacts with the motor to reposition the turbine for safe wind capture.