A real live urban windmill
If you imagine the classic view of a wind generator, you think of the classic tall, white windmill towering over a farm. Or a cluster of windmills on a rural hillside. You don’t often see windmills in the urban environment.
However, Alexis Madrigal over at earth2tech discovered such a creature. He reports it’s the Skystream 3.7 built by Southwest Wind Power. There’s a lot more that’s quite interesting about this San Francisco home so go read the article yourself. But in the meantime, check out the windmill in action.
December 1st, 2007 at 7:41 pm
[...] Skystream is a wind generator I’ve written about before. It’s a relatively small design that has a 1.8 KW capacity but doesn’t dominate the [...]
May 8th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Isn’t there a vertical windmill that is available for use in an urban setting? I’ve been trying to find information on them but can’t seem to find any. I thought I saw something similar to what I am searching for on a Discovery Channel show. Any ideas?
May 11th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Hi Brian,
They’re actually a little hard to find, I suspect due to safety issues and regulations.
But there are a few that are coming into their own. Here’s a few that I’ve found:
http://www.movinglikewater.com/?p=64
http://www.movinglikewater.com/?p=62
http://www.movinglikewater.com/?p=59
http://www.movinglikewater.com/?p=54
http://www.movinglikewater.com/?p=19
November 29th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Nicholas, I just saw a brand new vertical windmill installed in West Seattle on Fauntleroy across from Lincoln Park. It’s in the front yard and imposing in size and presence, oh yeah and unabashedly ugly. I would think neighbors, no matter how forward thinking, would hate it. I’ve seen some that are works of art, but this one looks like it was built from Legos and giant shell pasta sprayed painted blue. Would love it if you took a look and post a photo and your thoughts.