$633 Turbine to produce 20-60% of my homes power? Where do I sign up!

Stylerod · 07-08-2008, 09:56 AM

Heard about this on NPR this morning.

Famous designer Philippe Starck recently revealed he felt a certain shame that all the things he'd designed were not essential for living. This turbine, which he designed with the help of generator company Pramac, can theoretically provide a single home with 20-60% of all the electricity it needs. The name, which needs work, or at least the prefix "turbo" in front of it, is "Democratic Ecology." If the performance is indeed true, at $633, it's actually a steal and I'd order one right now. [inhabitat via Boingboing]

But who else here thinks that this will be a piece of crap? But if it isn't I will be getting one.

Ardentfrost · 07-08-2008, 10:04 AM

$633? Shit man, at 20-60% savings, it'd pay for itself in less than a year. Of course, I'd like to know more about it... like how it works, what it requires, how big it is, etc...

Stylerod · 07-08-2008, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

$633? Shit man, at 20-60% savings, it'd pay for itself in less than a year. Of course, I'd like to know more about it... like how it works, what it requires, how big it is, etc...

On NPR they said it is 18 feet high. I think that must be with the pole. Because I think the picture shows the actual turbine being maybe 4 feet high (as compared to the human shape).

Then I thought maybe that was just for the turbine without the generator but this article says it includes the generator. Looking forward to finding out more about it.

nbiggershaft · 07-08-2008, 10:38 AM

how does it generate power?

Stylerod · 07-08-2008, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by nbiggershaft

how does it generate power?

Wind.

Studies are even showing that a personal wind solution would be more effective than a wind farm.

Domestic Fuel » Archives » Study Says Personal Wind Power Generators Better

7960 · 07-08-2008, 12:07 PM

It's well past time for each home to generate some of its own power or do something to reduce the amount of energy used.

I've never understood why new homes don't all have something specific to that region that generates power.....solar in the south/southwest, wind in the mid-west, northeast.

Or we can do things to save on heating/cooling. When building a new home they have to dig anyway....why not dig a little more and put in the piping for geothermal? The piping is 5 cents/foot so put 5,000 feet for in-ground heat/cool exchange. Then rather than getting a regular boiler/furnace get a heat pump/heat exchanger instead for a minimal increase.

I just put on an addition and opted for a heat pump rather than just an a/c. It's going to be effective down to 37 degrees. I'll spend a little more on electricity but a LOT less on oil. These things are common sense but it doesn't seem like many people are doing it.

WickedLou9 · 07-08-2008, 01:27 PM

I guess a generator is a pretty simple device. It's just a coil of wires wound around a magnet. All you have to do is spin the magnet to induce a current. A small wind turbine is just a propellor attached to a simple generator. It shoudln't be expensive.

7960 · 07-08-2008, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

I guess a generator is a pretty simple device. It's just a coil of wires wound around a magnet. All you have to do is spin the magnet to induce a current. A small wind turbine is just a propellor attached to a simple generator. It shoudln't be expensive.

the generator isn't. the electronics, batteries, shit that runs it may be.

my father's neighbor put in a 6' windmill, a battery bank, controllers and power switches, etc. it was about $20k when he was done and it provides 75%+ of his needs during peak. during off peak it recharges batteries and then puts power back on the grid so it's paying for itself .

WickedLou9 · 07-08-2008, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

the generator isn't. the electronics, batteries, shit that runs it may be.

my father's neighbor put in a 6' windmill, a battery bank, controllers and power switches, etc. it was about $20k when he was done and it provides 75%+ of his needs during peak. during off peak it recharges batteries and then puts power back on the grid so it's paying for itself .

Yeah I guess that makes sense. I wonder how they can say this would be so cheap.

7960 · 07-08-2008, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

Yeah I guess that makes sense. I wonder how they can say this would be so cheap.

maybe that's the plan, is to make them so they're cheap?

or maybe that's just the turbine and you still need batteries and electronics to run your house?

I doubt you can run a home directly from the generator without something between it and your home.

Ardentfrost · 07-08-2008, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

maybe that's the plan, is to make them so they're cheap?

or maybe that's just the turbine and you still need batteries and electronics to run your house?

I doubt you can run a home directly from the generator without something between it and your home.

I don't think that would be possible because you'd still need power regulation. The generator would have spikes and lulls

Stylerod · 07-08-2008, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

I don't think that would be possible because you'd still need power regulation. The generator would have spikes and lulls

Yeah, you would need an electrician to put in some kind of regulator and hook it up to your house power. We did that for our generator. We have a few circuits like our heater, fridge and some area's of the house that can be powered by our generator if the power goes out. We just flip a switch, plug the generator in and we are ready to go.

thewise1 · 07-08-2008, 02:41 PM

One thing you're going to find as we move forward is that power companies - which are heavily regulated and not allowed to charge for the generation of power, but only the delivery of power - are working on creating a 'green grid'. This is a new 'smart grid' that allows homes that generate power to 'store it' in the grid; in other words the power company buys it off you if you have excess power, and you buy it back at the same price later. The idea is that the power generation network becomes more distributed and decentralized and brownouts and such can be solved by simply rerouting power unlike how it currently works.

Ardentfrost · 07-08-2008, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by thewise1

One thing you're going to find as we move forward is that power companies - which are heavily regulated and not allowed to charge for the generation of power, but only the delivery of power - are working on creating a 'green grid'. This is a new 'smart grid' that allows homes that generate power to 'store it' in the grid; in other words the power company buys it off you if you have excess power, and you buy it back at the same price later. The idea is that the power generation network becomes more distributed and decentralized and brownouts and such can be solved by simply rerouting power unlike how it currently works.

That's pretty brilliant. If all I needed was to buy this turbine and could let the power company deal with all the storage and whatnot, it then becomes a LOT more attractive.

thewise1 · 07-08-2008, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

That's pretty brilliant. If all I needed was to buy this turbine and could let the power company deal with all the storage and whatnot, it then becomes a LOT more attractive.

I don't know when this regulation takes effect - I'd have to ask the consultants in our utilities practice - but I would expect this to take place inside the next few years, depending where you are.

Stylerod · 07-08-2008, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

That's pretty brilliant. If all I needed was to buy this turbine and could let the power company deal with all the storage and whatnot, it then becomes a LOT more attractive.

Hell, buy 4 turbines! That price is almost too low. Put in "personal wind power" in Google that the first thing that comes up is a $13,000 system.

WickedLou9 · 07-08-2008, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by Stylerod

Hell, buy 4 turbines! That price is almost too low. Put in "personal wind power" in Google that the first thing that comes up is a $13,000 system.

They have wind turbines on boats. Not like ocean liners,I'm talking about small privately owned boats like sail boats and such. They are much smaller and produce DC current though. They are like 800 bucks and produce something like 30 amps at peak. Not sure how feasable that would be for your home.

Stylerod · 07-08-2008, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

They have wind turbines on boats. Not like ocean liners,I'm talking about small privately owned boats like sail boats and such. They are much smaller and produce DC current though. They are like 800 bucks and produce something like 30 amps at peak. Not sure how feasable that would be for your home.

It probably wouldn't power my fridge.

WickedLou9 · 07-08-2008, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Stylerod

It probably wouldn't power my fridge.

Probably not. But what if we had the ability to store the power that it was making during times when we aren't using it? Maybe the houses of the future will have fuel cells in the basement.

Thats a big problem with how we generate power today. We can't turn off these big coal and nuke plants at night when we don't need all the juice. So we just run the extra through huge resistors and burn it all off. We need to store that extra capacity and use it during peak times.
That's another great thing about hyrdo-electric power. They can use the exess power at night to pump water back up to the top, recovering the unused energy to be used again the following day. It just might be the most perfect method of power generation we have. Clean, large capacity, renewable, and incredibly efficient. well over 90% if I remember right.