Video: EWB Low cost wind turbine at Maker Faire
by Catherine LaineSeptember 8th, 2008
Duration: 2 min 15 sec
In spring 2007, we teamed up with the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders to develop a low cost windmill as part of our Project Placement Program. The goal was to provide low cost (under $100) renewable electricity for LED lighting, cell phone charging, or small radio use, etc.
The idea is to beat the price of a small (less than 3 watt) photovoltaic solar panel system. The current solution is “a vertical axis pico-turbine constructed of electrical conduit, canvas, steel tubing, and bicycle gears”.
Above is some vid of a prototype design at the Maker Faire in San Francisco. Core77 who shot the footage of Matt McLean quips: “Turns out bike parts, electrical conduit and Teflon tape have more uses than you think.”
Heather Fleming one of the project leads will be writing up results from current testing on her blog. The EWB-SF/Appropriate Design Team spent a few good hours in Candlestick Park earlier this month running tests and have scored many new volunteers of late to keep the project going strong.
Related Posts:
Video: EWB-SF: Prototyping low cost wind turbine at AIDG Guatemala
Link of the Day 03222008: EWB/AIDG/XelaTeco Project in Wired Mag
