202: Wind Turbines for Homes - A New Approach

[@TheIgle]

Using the machines for side jobs can also build expertise that will certainly benefit the long term project and goals. I sure hope the investors see this as a good use of your time and resources.

[@LordDragon1965]

Technological devices have been thought to spring to life fully formed like Athena from the head of Zeus. It never has worked that way. I love the idea of adding Fletner (sp?) sails to Savonius turbines. Chris and Cheryl seem to be both unusual and cutting edge. Kudos to them and you.

[@AnvilCreekLodge]

I want one. My winter power needs are minimal, we don’t have much sun, but we have plenty of wind.

[@sagetmaster4]

This is super exciting stuff! Thsnk you fot giving them more exposure

[@fabioara7403]

I feel your pain, Matt Ferrell. You are not alone.

[@iancowan3527]

I like the theme and idea of the series!

[@JonathanHarvell]

This company is going places. Wish I could invest in them. Unfortunately, I live in an area with very little wind, else I would buy one whenever they became available.

[@mastweiler22]

Here in the uk the SD3 and SD6 HAWT turbine has blades that flex back on springs in severe weather, so they don't need to be stopped in storms.

[@BrianMunger-z6v]

I know you’re talking about wind turbines. I always think of water turbines and putting them in saying rivers under the water far enough that it boats don’t bother it. I don’t know why they haven’t done this makes sense in the world like rivers like the Niagara river where you’ve got quite a good current, just seems like you could have all the power you want

[@pyromjm]

Why not use a CVT (continuously variable transmission) ?

[@erniecolussy1705]

Just to clarify, large wind turbines vary their blade angle to keep electric production at 60 hz. (USA). This is done to eliminate losses related to using inverters. (As I understand the design.) At very high wind speeds or when out of service they feather the blades to stop them. I was disappointed that the conversation didn't ger into AC power frequency regulation. Based on what was said I assume that an inverter will be use to create 60 hz AC electric power for applications were 60 hz AC power is desired. (Typical household power.)

[@chlistens7742]

I am sure they have a good speed control to adjust size.. but i kept thinking if they put an anemometer on the top or bottom of the unit with a Centrifugal governor to close the scoops and have the turbine always try to open the scoops. I think with gearing they could use an old school flyweight speed control to try to close the scoops. similar to old school elevators centrifugal governor. it seems like a piece of simple old school tech that may not be the best to adjust but it may be the most durable efficient way

[@RossReedstrom]

I think they address this in their FAQ - the RPMs aren't high enough for a centrifugal type governor to generate enough torque to move the vanes.

[@sykoteddy]

I really enjoyed this interview! I had no idea about this channel, because I have never heard you mention it on your channel Matt. Just a hint for you to mention it to make it more wide spread. 👌

[@stuart6478]

I love this design

[@robertroberts5218]

That center axis pole is not big enough. In fact, think about a design wrapped around existing momople towers. E.G. urban high tension, interstate light masts, bilboard masts. Add more scoops on the stack to get an offset angle of 8° or less. Incorporate a variation in scoop height, tied to a ratio of primes to null/eliminate sympathetic vibrations. Hopefully, these three specific suggestions can help you out as you continue forward. I'm rooting for you.

[@rojoclaz]

This is fascinating! I do wish that Cheryl would correct verbage to verbiage, but I’m just nitpicking. Seriously, I hope that their product comes to fruition and is a great success!

[@maggiem.5904]

What does “correct verbiage to verbiage” mean? - from a fellow nit picker.

[@rojoclaz]

@@maggiem.5904 Hi! Cheryl said “verbage,” without the “i” before the “a,” rather than the correct “verbiage,” WITH the “i.” I too was nitpicking, though I understood what she meant. Does that make more sense now?

[@jmacd8817]

I'm seriously impressed with their tech, but as with many things like this, I worry about the durability of these turbines. I see lots of moving parts, gearing, etc. There's also a lot of mass, though that can likely be reduced to a point, but still. Regardless, a cool, fascinating idea. The possible melding with a flettner rotor is freaking awesome.

[@TheIgle]

Moving parts is one thing. Rubbing parts is the worry. Gears and such don't have much rubbing so I hope the maintenance is low!

[@RyuuKageDesu]

I would love to have this tech on the property. Even if it's an out dated unit, it's better than what we currently have, which is nothing.

[@rayrude-assyankee8943]

I'm enthusiastic about the idea, enough to invest a small amout, what I can afford, in it to help development. I hope thet are able to get far enough to market it. Small scale wind generation seems a worthy niche to fill.

[@DanielBoger]

48:41 I wish you would have explained more about what a Flettner rotor is or does. I had to google it. 30 efficiency gains sounds too good to be true.

[@gemelwalters2942]

Looks to have great potential. Hopefully the data results are what they expect or more.

[@jedics1]

Its a great idea but when I hear statements about installing them "in your back yard" warning bells go off, this thing is pretty big, no way its going to be safe to instal one at ground level nor would there be enough wind there in most cases. At 5+ grand with 500w of intermitent power generation it will create a payback of 10 or even 20 years. Add installation and maintenence costs to that? I hope I am wrong because I would love to see these in action...

[@haskelswain1842]

I had to read through probly 50 or so comments to find this one. Something is wrong when nobody is questioning this. I thought the same thing and did the simple math in my head. Personally love the idea of wind turbines etc. But seems like a great field to fleece people. Read through these comments and you'll understand. All these people sposedly begging to throw money at this at the figures he quoted. Fishy if you ask me. I hope and we'll see but man I'd be careful

[@jedics1]

Dunking on ideas doesn't get as many views, gushing over them on the other hand!

[@jonapgar1673]

Their comments about side jobs got me thinking. Are there any companies offering manufacturing "in the cloud?" I don't really want to own a bunch of equipment. I want to spin it up on demand when I want to test a new design

[@bobmulder4064]

They have been doing this for years now and have produced nothing but taking money from people to fund and it is now October 24 and still nothing and still asking people to invest.

[@markf2834]

another great video, terrific interview, and so many exciting prospects ahead! Thanks for all of this

[@daveh6356]

Nice idea & great if true but something smells off. The variable air gap is so obvious even I thought of it.

[@ab22aq22]

It seems like the founders are honest and trustworthy but I do not belive they understand what they are trying to do. To me there are lots of red flags and alarmbells going of. 1. Why bother trying to capture the miniscule energy in low windspeeds? A 400 W turbine at 25 mph would produce roughly 0.002 W at 1 mph and 0.02 W at 2 mph. ( assuming the same efficiency).It is the equivalent of trying to sell a PW solar cell with the argument that i can produce electricity during the night, which its competitors can not. 2. The target of 400 W at 25 mph seems way to high for a turbine of that intended size. It would require an efficiency of about 90%. Doable but highly unlikley. 3. After five years the company only have a prototype which they hope to gather data from and they are expecting it to take years before a production ready product. In my head it sounds like an alarmbell. 4. I fail to see the big market. In most location the pricetag would have to be tiny in order to make this a viable product. A rough estimate for electricity production in my location would be in the ballpark of 4 kWh per year which would mean this thing has to be sold at a price comparable to a cup of coffe to make sense. I do not belive that is a reasonable price to make profit hence I am skeptical of the wider use. I can only see this as a niche product which already have exist competitors with prooven products.

[@jtbarney3]

I agree. In my area (city), we get an monthly averages of 5-9 mph, but along the cost there are annual averages of 15 to 20 mph, with daily wind speeds of 30 mph being common. At best it seems like the product will be nitch for costal areas, not for the masses. Give me some good numbers around 10 mph winds and lower the price by removing a 0, then we can talk.

[@haskelswain1842]

Thank you for pointing that out. Very few comments like this. I do hope all is on the up and up but seems like an easy way to crowd fund and fleece folks. But give it time and well see

[@TimWigan]

Barely more than an idea currently... Don't hold your breath

[@meilyn22]

Nice way to quit your job and live based on funding. So he employed his wife, and will employ all his family members to make more salary from this company. Enjoy while you can. We know this project will not materialize.

[@haskelswain1842]

I suspect you may be right

[@xohdis]

is Halcium Energy Inc dead?

[@stuart6478]

I'm not gonna subscribe but you're chill so I'll leave another comment.

[@Hrkenna]

Cool idea, but.... 1) The cost is inherently much higher than solar and solar is getting less expensive 2) This is a very small research project. The joint efforts with universities sound very tenuous. It can result in some good refinements but will take years. 3) To scale up the manufacturing will require many millions and will require a support organization etc.... in other words all of the trappings of a functional company I see this as more of a niche application. I suspect a success path is through licensing the tech to established companies. Best case this is 5 years away.

[@CapablePimento]

Integrate in 5g towers

[@vica153]

Nifty looking lawn ornaments, but so silly to talk about it as if its some sort of revolutionary tech. Wind power is obviously inadequate for modern electricity consumption requirements. Talking about small efficiency improvements even though magical 100% efficiency turbines would still not be a cost effective means of electricity production. The little company is a bit of a joke too. They wasted a bunch of time and effort trying reinvent the wheel with basic aspects of the turbine design because they apparently didnt think to look at tech that had been around for a long time.