Ridgeblade Wind Turbine
Ridgeblade Wind Turbine If you want to go green, look towards the blue … the blue sky, that is. For the first time, good news on the green front involves what’s over our heads – our roofs. This time, instead of solar roofing shingles, it’s the Ridge Blade®, “an innovative, affordable and effective way of harnessing the wind’s power to produce renewable electricity.” The Power Collective in the United Kingdom came up with the idea – it’s designed to maximize energy potential, even in low wind, while being visually discreet. From the pictures, the The unit looks like it will be barely noticeable. It sits right on the ridge line on the top of buildings. Wind is forced over the surface, pushing air through the turbine to generate electricity.
The unit addresses the issues associated with traditional micro-wind generation technologies. The unique design means it can reliably produce electricity in low or variable wind conditions whilst creating very little visual impact. This means that it is suitable for locations including urban houses, rural buildings and environmentally-sensitive sites such as National Parks. The unit is fitted on the ridge line at the top of a building and uses the existing roof area to collect and focus the prevailing wind. This is where the wind is forced to travel over the roof surface, accelerating the airflow though the turbine. The unit generates electricity in a wide variety of wind conditions making it a quiet, discrete and effective way to reduce carbon emissions and cut electricity bills. The Power Collective aims to issue a target release date early in 2010 which will ensure all necessary refinement and performance testing is completed prior to releasing the RidgeBlade to the market. |
This new technology is an innovative, affordable and effective way of harnessing the wind's power to produce renewable electricity.