10 Small-Scale Wind Turbines Cut NYC Apartment Building’s Electric Costs in Half

Science & Technology (alternative energy)

aerovironment wind turbines photo
Obviously not on an apartment building in the Bronx, but at Logan airport in Boston, this is the sort of wind turbine to be installed by Blue Sea Development. Photo: AeroVironment

Though small scale wind turbines certainly have their drawbacks compared to their larger industrial-scale cousins, especially in urban areas (as the New York Times correctly points out), they can be put to good use. Witness an affordable housing project in the South Bronx which has deployed ten wind turbines to supplement the facility’s conventional power usage:

Turbines to Power Common Areas, Elevators
At Blue Sea Development Company’s newest five-story apartment building in the Melrose section of the Bronx, ten one-kilowatt wind turbines from AeroVironment will be installed. The electricity from the turbines will be used to power the building’s hallways, elevators and other common areas. The $100,000 investment in wind turbines will cut the building’s common electricity costs in half, according to a representative of Blue Sea Development.

Residents in the apartments, which will rent for $750-1,089 per month (yes, that’s considered affordable housing in NYC...), will have to sign up for ConEd electric service, but if they want to pay about 1-2 cents more per kWh they can sign up for one of ConEd’s green energy programs and be totally carbon neutral on the electricity front.

via: New York Times

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