Philippe Starck Wind Turbine

08Aug08

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Just the other day I was watching a TED talk about wind energy, and thinking about the huge potential that it has for small scale applications like residential homes. I was wondering what it would take to throw a small turbine on my roof. Would it be ugly? Would it be expensive? Today I come across a story that design giant Philippe Starck has beat me to the punch. He has designed a small attractive wind turbine that can create up to 80% of a homes electricity. The price is expected to be between $800 – $1,200, which is way more affordable than solar. I looks like it may not be available for a while, but it definitely looks like a winner.

See the New York Times story “And Now, to Try and Catch the Wind”

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Comments

8 Responses to “Philippe Starck Wind Turbine”

  1. DV on August 8th, 2008 9:16 am

    I’ve looked into small scale turbines myself. The only hitch is the installation height, all of the suppliers recommend a height that was beyond doable in my case 50-75 feet. My neighbors wouldn’t be too happy with that.

  2. Jason Hammond on August 8th, 2008 11:25 am

    This is an idea that is long overdue. It sounds like the Stark Model may be something that can be added to the top of your roof, which should easily help deliver the need height to capture good wind energy, and significantly more attractive than a traditional TV antenna.
    If the price quoted in the Times article is correct they will pay for themselves in a year or two. Yeah, good design!

  3. Jacob on August 10th, 2008 9:10 pm

    It looks as though it might be available this semptember for around $600. I for one would love to have one. Is there any reason one couldn’t have two of them and send power back in to the grid? This is great, we get huge amounts of wind here sometimes it would be great to have a reason to look forward to it. The NPR website says that it is 12 feet wide by 18 feet tall. Sounds ridiculous and hard to believe.

  4. Cool Residential Wind Turbine on August 11th, 2008 10:10 pm

    [...] Grassroots Modern.This prototype residential wind turbine by Philippe Stark Wind turbine may generate up to 80% of a [...]

  5. liam. on August 13th, 2008 3:32 pm

    i definitely agree that consumer level wind power is long overdue. this is a step in the right direction. assuming jacob’s noted 12′x18′ size as reported by npr is correct, if the size could be scaled down a bit without sacrificing output, that would be damn near perfect…

  6. CW on August 16th, 2008 1:01 pm

    Even if not installed at ideal height it should be a plus.

  7. Jacob on December 12th, 2008 10:15 am

    As someone who has a good deal of experience researching the small/micro wind industry, I truly wish this were even in the realm of possibility,… This silly thing called physics pretty much debunks all the claims of this turbine. Look up Newton and Betz, and you can learn what reality says about extracting energy from wind. Even if this thing were 100% efficient and had enough torque to startup at low & turbulent wind speeds (what you get at the rooftop level), and turn a generator the simple truth is, at rooftop level, the wind simply isn’t there. You might get 40-80 kWh/mo. Now..consider this turbine is probably 30% efficient.. now take into effect permits, angry neighbors, your insurance company,… just not realistic. Mount it 50+ ft up, and now you might get 20-40% (300kWh/mo)..but still. Plus, at that height, unless you live in the country, you have to get permission from the city and will have some p*ssed off neighbors. There have been lawsuits by neighbors angry about high turbines. This guy just doesn’t understand the physics behind this design. This industry is saturated with these guys who come up and make huge claims then slowly disappear. If the design is anywhere near as efficient as he is claiming, maybe there is some commercial application, but at this size I cannot not see it going residential.

    One day, I hope to be proved wrong! Coal fired utility plants need to go!

    btw, 12×18? Is this true? Anyone know how big that is?! That would be almost 1/3 the length of an average US home, and 2/3 as tall… on your roof!!??

    btw2, its December 08, three months after it was supposed to go on sale, and yet I find it nowhere? Publicity stunt anyone?

  8. Update* Philip Starck wind turbine : Grassrootsmodern on August 6th, 2009 6:17 am

    [...] a year ago we posted about a wind turbine that Philippe Starck had been working on. The object was to make it attractive [...]

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