The Windwandler – Topping up your energy on those dark days.
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 09.20.05
If you already have solar panels installed on the roof of your house I bet they have transformed your life and you are currently enjoying the new found freedom of being ‘off the grid’, but do you find yourself increasingly concerned these days about cloudy weather? With the winter months edging inevitably towards us the ideas of cloudier, rainier weather and shorter, darker days are enough to spoil any solar power enthusiast’s day! Well some smart guys in Germany have come up with a back up plan. The Windwandler is designed specifically to be used in conjunction with your solar panels when they aren’t able to work at optimum output.
Its elegant, sinuous form sits, like a weather-vane, atop your roof spinning on windy days to top up your energy levels. And if you live in a really sunny and really windy place it is even possible to feed the excess output that you don’t use into the public network. So if you are worried about not having enough energy to keep yourself warm and cosy this winter, then check out the Windwandler. Thanks to Vjekoslav Radisic in Croatia for the tip. ::the Windwandler
[Leonora & Petz]
What an aesthetically interesting design! What I'd love to know is how it stacks up against conventional bladed wind turbines of similar size in terms of power output and noise.
Can anybody compare this product to conventional small, or homebuilt, windturbines? It looks great, but is it better? Or the same?
I'd buy it just for the name.
"Say, that's a snazzy weathervane you've got there."
"Yes--it's my Wind Wandler!"
"Fantastic! I've been looking for something to wandle my wind, you know."
looks good. but since i can't read (german?) i was wondering if anyone could pass on the output and noise spec's and maybe the price.
On the main page there is a icon of the English/American flag. Click on that to convert to English.
As Treehugger's Berlin correspondant, I wanted to offer you some translation. However, I see the website offers a choice of flags for language selection at the home page (easy to surf past that half-US/half-UK flag though). Under FAQs I found noise level of 42 db at 1400 rpm. Although the English pages suggest a price-list link, it is not active. The German version says price is only availble by query, but they can probably handle an English email. Now can the wind-techies tell us if this is a better mousetrap or only a cool conversation piece? Happy wind-wandling?
I wonder how this would serve on top of an RV? I am always looking for ways for my folks to green their "camping" experience...
Hey, now. It's a rare home solar installation indeed that takes you off the grid, or where you would experience any difference in your daily routine during a cloudy day - and unfortunately, those are assumptions that keep many away from home PV...
Forget backing up your solar, why not go with this guy on its own if you live in a windy area. Micro-wind, while more limited geographically than solar, is probably a more economical bet if you are considering renewable home power generation.
As for how this stacks up to other micro-turbines, it looks like it stacks up very good. Check out the english version of their site here if you are of the non-German speaking type (like myself). It's helical design is more efficient than bladed turbines, is much quieter (42 decibels - wikepedia's decibel entry compares 40 decibels to a residential street at night BTW) and doesnt need to shut-off at high wind speeds like bladed turbines (its design supposedly shunts high winds around the turbine after a point). Plus it looks pretty cool, in my opinion anyway. If they can get the cost down, these suckers could be a great development for microwind.