How a Small Wind Turbine Will Revolutionize Wind Energy

[@UndecidedMF]

Will wind turbines become the new wind chimes? Or should city slickers seek their renewables elsewhere? Use code 50UNDECIDED to get 50% OFF plus free shipping on your first Factor box at bit.ly/3BRkS87! If you liked this, check out How This Mechanical Battery is Making a Comeback kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6O7qGd5ot2foKM

[@jimthain8777]

I think it has a serious shot, and for both apartments and home owners. Pairing wind and solar, helps to offset their "intermittent" nature. If it is light enough the wind speed can be slower, and still turn the turbine. This is clearly an emerging technology, and we don't yet know what the mature technology will look like. I hope you keep following the developments in this field, no matter what strange twists blow through its development.

[@OB17358]

After two power outages in one month, and living where it is often windy at night, this wind “chime” would be unobtrusive and fill the solar gap of cloudy days and night time. It seems size and shape would keep it stable at high rotation. I wonder if height could be adjusted by either moving it up and down a pole, or moving a pole up or down to achieve maximum output. Also could this be engineered to hold more than one collector on a mast?

[@studlystud]

The combined top 100 most populated cities in the U.S. only holds 19% of our population

[@briankuhl9314]

I think the idea is brilliant, but if we believe the photoshopped GIFs in your video, the ideal placement would be in corporate spaces. So the ROI will need to appeal to large landowners who will hang the omni directional SWT off there apartment complexes and deal with the NIBism. I just can't see anyone attaching one to a balcony in a condo, not because it is technically infeasible, just most HOA would actively oppose such visible change to the building.

[@grantramsay9956]

Now that we’re going into the winter I hope you’ll do a video on de-icing systems for wind turbines.

[@2Fast4Mellow]

3 years ago I bought a 10kW windturbine from AliExpress and it produced a whopping 125 kWh in one year. We have enough solar panels on our roofs to cover most of the year, but at the edge of our garrden there is a small run (stream) that starts running from September/October to about April maybe May, so I created a waterwheel and using a CVT transmission I connected the watersheel to the turbine and last year the construction produced 1700kWh and it generated enough energy in the winter months and in 2023 we pulled 230 kWh from the grid, so far this year we keeping it at zero. I created a funnel which for about 6 feet reduces the width of the stream with 60%, making the water flow faster which is probably why we're still at 0 and we have the added benefit that unlike a traditional windturnbine, our waterwheel turbine is not visible from the yard which I think is a big advantage...

[@paulmccarter908]

@@2Fast4Mellow you for President 2028

[@vaakdemandante8772]

if the wind-turbine is 10kW, is it hourly, daily, monthly? If it's monthly then fine, 125kW is a lot, but otherwise it's just like 10 days worth of power used by an average home - peanuts really. The waterwheel generator is another matter as 1,7MWh is in the ballpark of a usable solution but then again, who has access to flowing water? Hardly anybody. Not to deny one can setup a home system using zero or almost zero external power. That's certainly doable, but solutions of 150-300 kWh are not viable unless they are dirt cheap and can be scaled when needed. You can setup a lot of solar panels but you cannot set too many wind-turbines on a given area as they will suffocate each-other.

[@CarlinComm]

Wish I had water running near me, but at least I got good solar and wind potential out here! That's cool, thanks for sharing your details.

[@2Fast4Mellow]

@@vaakdemandante8772 It's maximum output is 10kW, but it needs a hurricane in order to produce that. It's like the maximum output of your solar panels, only obtainable in perfect conditions. The turbine can reach 10kWh if it is spinning at the maximum rpm for an hour. It required a 8 m/s wind to start spinning, but about 9m/s to sustain it. Wind power is useless, it was almost never spinning. It spun sometime late autumn to early spring, but not enough to generate real power. Still, the 1700 kWh is nothing compared to the 13.500+ kWh generated by the solar panels, but it is enough for the winter months to help out with the lack of sun power. I started testing first with the waterwheel directly attached to the shaft of the windturbine (as a replacement of the wind propeller) and a garden hose. Did not work, then I started playing with different gear ratio's. We had a defunct scooter and I converted the CVT for use with the wind turbine. On the propeller shaft there is a white marking and a RPM meter is reading that figure, an arduino is controlling a servo that is changing the gear ratio of the CVT. It's typical range is between 400 and 900 wH. Our typical annual power usage is 14-15 mHw and I wanted to make minimal changes to our daily routines (family of 6). The turbine was quite expensive, so I started tinkering in the hope I gout recuperate some of my money. It works, but I agree not suitable for most other people ;-)

[@richard--s]

​@@vaakdemandante8772 if it is 10 kW, than this would be the maximum power output at the maximum allowable wind speed. (it must be a rather big wind turbine for a private person...) When you have these 10 kW for 5 hours, then you get a total of 50 kWh accumulated energy. That would be a full EV charge. But when the wind is too low (like at my place) then it could not deliver anything for most of the time. (except when a cold front rushes through, but when it's over then it's over... at my place...). Solar typically delivers more, but only during the day. 10 kW peak solar power would be a small installation for a house roof. 20 or more would be more typical.

[@byrongordonbeukes3934]

Every bit counts! We have both solar and wind energy harnessing. During the windy, cloudy winter months, when solar power is reduced, the turbine is relied on. During the less windy Summer months, Solar is relied on. It cost us a minimal amount to install ourselves and we have no need for grid power. It has already paid for itself and the products are still under warranty. It's is surprisingly easy, even though we knew absolutely nothing about it, when we started. We started watching KZbin videos and learning about it, then found the courage to give it a go. It was Easy as and we have no regrets! We are Never without power.

[@jayducharme]

For the past three years, I've had a small Savonius-style turbine on my shed to provide power there, alongside a single solar panel. I'm very happy with how it's worked out. On cloudy and windy days, the turbine charges the batteries in the shed. On calm sunny days, the solar panel takes over. With an inverter, I can power electric yard tools, charge tool batteries, etc. I'm not running a refrigerator or heating system. But for the small tasks I need, that system does the job.

[@richpalmisano1740]

This is effective and realistic use of a wind turbine.

[@3komma141592653]

So it's not even connected to your house? Or isn't it worth it?

[@RussellFineArt]

I worked in the small wind industry for many years, have seen dozens of designs, some very similar to this omnidirectional one, and they all cost far more than solar and produce far less energy and result in being a rip off. I’ve owned a Skystream small wind turbine in my yard, for the past 17 years and sold over 2,000 of them around the world. There’s just not enough consistent wind at low elevations to make them worth it, which is why every one of them say they’re still in development, ie, they’re getting investment money from suckers, and thin on details like energy production and price. Even large, utility turbines are struggling to compete with utility solar on price, availability, energy production and speed of development to COD. I work in the utility solar industry, I’ve crunched the numbers a thousand times, stick with solar + battery storage.

[@maltekoch1632]

Its strang how many people are stil flogging the dead horse. Perhaps there may be a few individual exceptional cases where small wind turbines are worthwhile, but there will really sparse. Like a off grid mountain Hut all the time in the fog with extremely consistent heavy winds.😂 not the situation many people live in.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Defy low elevations. The elevation of the roof of a two-story home is very different than say that of the 39-story building that I live in.

[@tombh74]

There are many urban areas at the far end of the Earths lattitudes where solar+storage cannot cope alone simply because of many months with no to little sun as well as lack of available land for solar installation.

[@RiversJ]

That's what you get when economic and infrastructure decisions are allowed to be polluted by emotion and politics. While solar is now at a point that it isn't pure lunacy and some few use cases are quite sensible, it's still being subsidized very heavily by trade politics, near complete externalization of the hazard and pollution costs to society and often direct tax subsidies on top. Yet we still refuse to invest in reliable power generation with cleaner technologies, politics and big oil(Environmentalists) really did do a horrible crime against humanity with their decades long scams.

[@maltekoch1632]

@ronmaximilian6953 39 stories is not low for sure. But the consumption of the building should be so big some few thousand kWh of electricity from this wind turbines will be negligible. Just use the money to build big ones they are more economical. A modern one with 50m wings has 50×50 more are than the ones here presented. Guessing same wind speeds you would need 50×50=2500 times the turbines. Biggest offshore one going up to 260m diameter. Would need 14k of these small wind turbines for same capture area.

[@icare7151]

Here in the Broadmoor Area in Colorado Springs there was an artist who took Omni directional wind power and turned it into moving metal art sculptures silently powered by the wind. They are mesmerizing and incredibly intricate and beautiful.

[@TheHoveHeretic]

Here in the UK, we've artists in *our* Broadmoor too.

[@stevenhanly4412]

As I was watching this video, I couldn't help but think, "paint them red and decorate the stem with leaves and thorns...make them into roses". Basically, they have an interesting shape that would do well as art projects.

[@laughinggas5281]

Where is it on the hotel grounds

[@icare7151]

It is not on the Broadmoor Hotel grounds but in the area between Cheyenne Mountain North and South Canyons. I am an expert guide in the area. I do not want to give the exact address do to the privacy of the family as the artist sadly committed suicide due to the arrogance and belligerence of the neighbors who pressured the authorities to tear down the beautiful sculptures due to “traffic congestion viewing the awesome artwork.” The artist was an incredible engineer, put into an art form that truly is revolutionary for the energy industry of which I’ve viewed as a young lad at six years old now in my 50s and also an accomplished engineer with revolutionary technology in the energies sector, waiting for the correct moment to introduce the technology.

[@Quasime42]

@@stevenhanly4412 make them see through, that way you minimise the flicker effect which makes them unpopular when in line of sight.

[@winterrye3022]

Pittsburgh resident here. We have some of the worst solar potential in the states with more cloud cover than Seattle but Solar just eeks out being cost effective in some niche cases. We get as much city wind as any comparable urban area. Here's hoping the economics of this work out. The burgh is probably one of the best regional cases for wind making sense over solar

[@NerfThisBoardGames]

It's an interesting idea for sure, cities could be the grounds where the math works out But it's a problem that would certainly need the city builders to get involved

[@Skumm93]

I see both being imperiative, you get rooftop solar on the buildings and aligning the turbines across the frames, plus of course regional nuclear throughout the US fueling entire sectors of the baseload needs. All of it combining would be enough to greatly reduce power load strain.

[@__Dave__]

@@winterrye3022 it wouldn’t be economical, but a one-way downhill car “incline” would be pretty fun and would generate net positive electricity if the electric motor is left hooked up to the grid. Basically a downhill chairlift for cars lol

[@nathansmith7153]

It's just another scam

[@kadmow]

- work out the energy in wind - wind weight is around 0.075lb / cu-ft and at a certain speed has kinetic energy.... The most you can extract typically is around 60% of that (try any harder and the wind will go else-where, or you extract the very energy required to make the "extraction" possible.... (bodies claiming to exceed Betz limit is calculating their inlet and outlet areas incorrectly) Thumbs up, here's to hoping.

[@hughbrommage387]

Bring it on. More in the mix the merrier. Great concept. Low maintenance is the key

[@djwarner7144]

Back in the Jimmy Carter days I did a preliminary engineering wind energy evaluation for the Chicago area. The gross wind energy available at first indicated sufficient energy for the technology of the day. There were periods when the wind speeds exceeded the safe velocity for the mechanisms and a safety device would feather the windmill. Unfortunately, the 7% of the time when the safety mechanisms were in effect accounted for more than 50% of the annual energy expected. The next problem occurred when examining a windmill parameter called its solidity. If a windmill had a 100% solidity, the windspeed after going through the windmill would fall to zero - and effectively pile up downwind. A solidity factor had to be significantly lower for maximum efficiency. Say the windspeed drop after passing the windmill might be 70-80%. So only 20-30% of the lower energy winds could be effectively captured. This required upsizing a single family windmill beyond the space available on a typical home's plot.

[@anguscampbell1533]

This could be used in conjunction with a friction heater to supply heat in cold climates. This would enable a lower cost installation than generating electricity with a generator, inverter and wiring as well as batteries to store the electricity. Essentially the turbine turns a friction heater which can heat up a water (or oil if freezing is a concern) reservoir in a tank and a heat pump could extract that water as needed. The heat pump could alternate between the ambient air or the reservoir as needed. Producing energy doesn't necessarily mean producing electricity. A friction heater is easy and cheap to build and easily replaced when worn.

[@frederickheard2022]

Mechanical electric generators are also cheap and easy to make, and electricity is much easier to transport and store.

[@wagnerrp]

Your "simple" friction heater still needs a reservoir, fluid pumps, heat exchangers... the heater itself might be simple, but all the surrounding equipment needed to make it do something useful is not. An electrical generator attached to this is going to be at least 80% efficient, potentially above 90%, and the heatpump it powers will be several hundred percent.

[@jlundberg100]

YES, in San Francisco my daughter's roof is awaiting O-Wind because she resides near Mt. Davidson which is the highest point in SF where the weather is generally overcast (not suitable for solar) but windy (offering a perfect test case for urban residential O-Wind placement)..... on the waiting list...keep us posted, thanks so much....

[@svOcelot]

We live on our sailing catamaran (s/v Ocelot). Electricity is always a big issue, as we have to make all that we use. But characterizing it as XX KWh/month if your winds average YY knots (as you did in this video) is slanted, because the higher gusts contain much higher energy. You can't divide that by time to get accurate W/windspeed. What we want is: How many Watts will it produce in YY knots of wind? No averaging over time. Just a curve of Watts vs Windspeed. Unfortunately, a 2m sphere is pretty large for a sailboat. We'd probably be more interested in something closer to 4', or 1.2m. Yes, I know that won't give as much performance, but our needs are commensurately smaller.

[@SodiumSyndicate]

Plus the 2m sphere would make your boat unstable in high winds.

[@paxdriver]

Aww this is so awesome! I drafted a concept for this a couple years ago I'm so glad someone designed one and built a better design! It's so neat to see an idea in your head working and testing.

[@alklesczewski1207]

There is actually another use case for these and that is on the shore. They are compact enough and look "artsy" enough to line the boardwalk, or other areas near where people actually walk. I was at Cape Cod this summer and there seemed to be winds blowing all day long!

[@EmergentStardust]

From a mechanical engineering standpoint, that design is beautiful.

[@flux_inverter4500]

A lot of good ideas out there for wind power. Just waiting for them to come to market and have acceptable power output. I live in a flat area, but with constant wind that changes directions, and something like this could be useful. Downside is wind speed can get high so it needs to handle high winds.

[@ShuRugal]

the O-wind looks like an excellent candidate for a flat-pack self-assembly kit. the turbine appears to be made of very simple repeating shapes which could be made from pre-cut sheet metal and assembled with simple tools. That would leave the generator and power delivery electronics as the most expensive component. It would be really cool to see this thing sold at several pricing tiers: 1 - "full service" - work with a local installer for the installer to provide and install a factory-built unit with all the bells and whistles 2 - "some assembly" - same full-featured kit as the "full service" version, but shipped as discrete subassemblies, with the turbine itself arriving in flat-pack form for the customer to install or arrange independent assembly/installation (say, from a general contractor) 3 - "turbine-only, assembly required" - just the turbine unit, in flat pack form, with a collet adapter to attach to a generator shaft. customer supplies own generator and control system.

[@Mephistahpheles]

That's my style! Reading all the negative comments on here....but my 1st turbine cost me under $10 in new materials (magnets) to convert a discarded ceiling fan into a generator. Efficient? Nope. Does it power much? Nope. It's enough to keep the lights on in my shed, though. Discarded "out of style", but perfectly good, LED tape light. Also not great....but, hell.....free is a good price. Google search for 3d printable version of this yielded....err...something. Not sure what, haven't chased that rabbit yet.

[@jeffkilgore6320]

If one turbine produces anywhere near 5k, then for many US homes, that's nearly 50%, which seems worthwhile.

[@JohnDir-xw3hf]

But it doesn't.

[@displayname7t4]

@@JohnDir-xw3hf But it literally says it can.

[@weeveferrelaine6973]

@@displayname7t4 Can and does are very different. It's probably 5kw peak, but the times it'll be at peak output are also very likely close to the times you'd need to consider locking the unit so it doesn't get torn apart in a storm.

[@4nrmike]

The video doesn’t mention peak power output. It estimated 2000 to 5000 kilowatt hours per year. That’s 5 megawatt hours/year production. You’re getting your units mixed up.

[@laughinggas5281]

I'd have to listen to the segment again but I think those numbers might have been applicable to the globe that was 7 ft across

[@JewishMusicToronto]

From my experience with apartment life, I've been hoping for this to become a reality for years. So many buildings in Toronto are wind tunnels. (I didn't know about downwash being such a big part of that.)

[@ian2593]

should release a 3d printable version (small) to maintain interest. If you can see it spinning yourself it helps.

[@JohnDir-xw3hf]

It's not effective enough. It's a toy.

[@algirdasnausedas324]

@@JohnDir-xw3hf combine it it with fly wheels and scale up. Curious how far would that go

[@JohnDir-xw3hf]

@@algirdasnausedas324 it would be Very Very heavy and expensive and useless. Learn something about how wind turbines work. Start from wind power formula.

[@richpalmisano1740]

Spinning and power are completely different things.

[@shiccup]

​@@JohnDir-xw3hf what if you printed 20 of em

[@TheOfficialBenStory]

I work at a hospital. Could you imagine the benefits this could have in regards to providing backup power? Placing some of these a good safe distance away from the helicopter landing pad would produce a lot of electricity, and we lose count of the number airlifted per day/week, not to mention the electricity that could be produced by the natural air currents. I’d love to volunteer to test this product out!

[@RyuuKageDesu]

We live on the side of a small hill, where the wind can get to some dangerous, even destructive, speeds, but most the time it's supper calm. So, I'm curious about the extremes of the design. What is the slowest wind speed that will generate any energy, and what's the most destructive speeds it will handle.

[@maltekoch1632]

@@RyuuKageDesu besides the mechanical problems I heard a lot of power inverters die on small wind turbines. As input power fluctuations seems to be a lot worse then on solar.

[@williamwilson6499]

Ain’t no calm like supper calm.

[@RyuuKageDesu]

@@williamwilson6499 When it goes from nasty to calm, the supper calm can get so eerie you can almost taste it. Thanks for catching my typo. Too funny not to keep.

[@dwc1964]

I wonder if a flywheel might help mitigate these fluctuations

[@maltekoch1632]

@dwc1964 would push up the rotation mass. This would significantly increase the demands on bearings and stability and thus drive up prices. Less mass is needed if further from the rotation center, but giving big needs on the structure to keep the centripetal forces in control.

[@eliinthewolverinestate6729]

I like the idea of small scale wind. Vs the huge looming turbines I see locally. But small scale can make unwanted noise.

[@WumbologyPHD]

You really kept shortening "small wind turbines" to SWTs, which just adds a syllable

[@AquilaSornoAranion]

And I have to translate it in my head every time. And just like all his videos, it's the only time you'll hear the abbreviation, and then never again (with very very few exceptions)

[@andybwilly]

that's how much he's obsessed with efficiency!

[@domzar7697]

If only our 350 million American friends would pay as much attention to appliance efficiency as Indian households. They do however tend burn a lot of stuff for their energy needs not so much AC etc and there are 1.49 Billion of them so not so green...

[@drachenfels6782]

@@domzar7697 quick math lesson, there is 1.49 billion of Indians each consuming 7586 kWh per year vs 350 million Americans each consuming 77028 kWh. If USA had population of India, we would be effectively Giedi Prime. Saying India is not so green because they have a larger population (and yet smaller energy consumption in total numbers) is laughable. And don't get me started that they started industrialization about 100 years after the USA and if you take historic emissions into account, Giedi Prime to power of 2.

[@stevefrancis4949]

I like the Darwin turbines which takes dirty air and makes it clean. There's a company called Ventum using this kind of design could be a new chimney especially if you string them in series

[@MrZakoor]

Great to see Nicolas taking the idea forward, i was the wind tunnel tech at Uwe Bristol where they did the testing in the footage, he still has our electric generator

[@broccoli.invasion]

No mention at all about efficiency, and I guess so because it is probably terribly inefficient. The turbine has a small area, lots of surface area (thus air drag). If the design is to capture turbulent airflow, then it basically captures 'bursts' of energy, making power point tracking difficult and much worse than if the wind energy is stable. If you capture bursts of energy, you need to store it somewhere, because you can't do much with it otherwise.

[@briankuhl9314]

All SWTs are terribly inefficient, there return on investment is terrible. But the niche use case of leveraging gusty wind around tall buildings where the ambient wind is channeled may make them cost effective. Still they need safety testing and zoning approval, so I'm not sure they'll ever catch on?

[@garrenosborne9623]

Instead of big single turbines, lots of small ones integrated with neighbourhood & town planning. Plus most everyday domestic power use divides into heating/cooling {high power}& low power - device charging - like water needs a re think {blue, grey, brown}, maybe different circuits for use & power source. Combine total design integration {passive apartment block, not houses, with district heating - industrial heat run off, with community scale heat pumps, enhanced geothermal...... Chances are if your an urbanite...your not a man with castle & mote, your a built community anyway {apt block etc}, might as well acknowledge it - factor it your design ie earth ship the city space.

[@skierpage]

​@@garrenosborne9623 no, the economics of wind entirely drive you to bigger blades. A small wind turbine producing exponentially less power is not exponentially cheaper. Cities could put up large-ish wind turbines in the middle of parking lots or golf courses (over NIMBY objections); anything else is a waste of money. Instead make Renewable Power Purchase agreements with someone who can build an economically viable wind farm somewhere else, and reduce red tape and utility intransigence so more building owners install more solar.

[@KevinLyda]

I live in Ireland and consume about 17 MWh/year. That's because I have fully electrified my home and transport. No heating oil bill, no gas bill, no petrol bill. Just electricity. Wind is appealing to me because my largest use of electricity is in winter, not in summer. So my solar generation is low. Just a few kWh a day from a 6 kW array. Meanwhile I consume 60 - 100 kWh a day in winter. However there's loads of wind in winter. I'd need storage as well because it's not constantly windy. There are times I'd make a ton of energy and times I make very little. Some of that can be heat storage so it doesn't totally depend on batteries. My house is built with concrete blocks so it's a thermal store in itself. Even in rural areas there's a good case for residential wind in northern (or southern) latitudes.

[@KevinLyda]

@UndecidedMF27 does this sort of ridiculousness actually work?

[@stevebaker3691]

In summary it looks like sand battery is the game changer for citizens needed heat.

[@simon359]

All I need is the wind in the evening when there’s no solar coming in! If I could only dial the wind in on those hours, it would be great! 😜

[@theelectricmonk3909]

So buy a battery - get the best of both worlds: Energy when you need it, which is topped up when it's available.

[@danielnunez1974dn]

I think it would be a more productive turbine rotating on three axes like the axes of a cardan shaft, with magnetic and liquid bearings. Some more challenges during the design and commercialization stage. I also like the idea that Orellana used, it is excellent. I also think that it will be one of the first turbines for homes combined with solar energy. Consider whether it is convenient to use more than one O-Wind turbine of different sizes, separately or concentrically. There are many challenges, the beginning of a journey begins with the first step. My best wishes to all the O-Wind staff.

[@nigeladams8321]

How would you obtain usable power from that though? If it just spins on one axis you can just throw a belt on it

[@jaypeltz2587]

I’m disappointed in this article. Any wind machine has performance curve. At different wind speeds it produces X watts. The power of wind goes up at the cube of the speed. All SWT’s or vertical axis wind machine companies never produce the actual curves only estimates. If he was serious he would show us and you the actual power outputs in many different wind speeds. Also he has the turbine out in an open field which is perfect for good performance. How does it do next to or on buildings etc. It’s not a serious product because he doesn’t show the performance output data.

[@richpalmisano1740]

As is the case with the vast majority of SWT's in the marketplace. They promise numbers that can only be achieved in 0.1% wind conditions (tropical storm force winds).

[@maxtorque2277]

Like all "small" wind turbine manufacturers they don't show actual objective data because it's TERRIBLE! It's like Ford saying "hey, look at our new car it manages 10mpg and 20mph" and obviously nobody would buy it........ Hence they obfuscate as much as possibl, talk about "efficiency" or "potential gains" or "site specific suitability" or whatever, but basic physics tells us it's basciallyjust crap.

[@richpalmisano1740]

@@Larsino2000 Your point?

[@TTxR2]

I totally agree. A whole video full of emptiness without actual data. It's just hot air! Disappointed by Undecided on that one.

[@nigeladams8321]

What I like about wind over a silicon is that it's a mechanical device, it's easy to fix rather than just replace unlike a solar panel Pumping silicone with light is cool and all, but a spinning magnet near some wire just works

[@pgrosebud2012]

2 questions just popped into my mind: 1) do wind turbines get dirty enough naturally, to degrade efficiency. 2) if they do get dirty, how can a condo owner 20 floors up, clean the turbine?

[@phoenuxx]

New market for skyscraper window cleaners?

[@TheHoveHeretic]

A new drone application perhaps?

[@wirelesmike73]

Everything gets dirty, especially on the side of a building in a city. The buildup of dirt, mold, mildew, and other types of grime can both add to the weight of an object, and change the surface texture, both of which can affect the performance of almost anything, especially something that requires equal balance to function correctly. As far as cleaning, that would fall to the professionals, like those who do high-rise window cleaning. Those companies already do much more than just cleaning glass. They scrape, scrub, pressure-wash, clean, caulk, paint, reseal, and otherwise resurface most all building surfaces of all sizes. Anything larger than a standard residential home requires professional cleaning, even a simple one-story building like a gas station or fast food restaurant. Cleaning turbines would simply be another annual or biannual service requirement for any property, commercial, or otherwise. And, the fact that they connect to a power grid (even a localized one for an individual building) would require a certain level of safety protocol for maintenance. Not to mention the danger of working on or around such a large moving structure in a high-wind area. They would have to be locked down somehow to prevent them from moving while they're being worked on, and would most likely only require a good pressure washing every few years... depending on the environment and surrounding buildings. [On a high-rise rooftop, perhaps not so often. But, on a lower level building, surrounded by other structures with lots of exhaust and closer to ground traffic? That would require more regular maintenance. You'd be amazed how filthy things can get on the roof of any building. Even those way up above regular traffic and occupation.]

[@bysshe51]

So short answer yes, long answer it may not matter at this scale. On the largest scales damage due to dirt etc of the leading edge of the blades of a windmill degrades efficiency significantly. But on these small scales… probably not.

[@wirelesmike73]

@@bysshe51 💯 I would imagine that, even though these have more surface area than a standard blade type, they don't likely suffer the same kind of shear forces that result in such damage. Their shape and efficiency would probably protect them from such problems. They have so little drag that the effects of any erosion-type damage would likely be nominal. But, no doubt, there would be issues unique to their design that would be discovered over time. I can only imagine they would be less of an issue, though. This seems to be a really good design, even if the esthetic appearance isn't for everybody.

[@Nphen]

I knew as soon as I saw the design it would be a true "omni" directional wind turbine. This is capable of harvesting otherwise wasted energy. Smart public policy would look at trying to find ways to maximize easy placement of these, and setting up home, apartment, and office/institutional microgrids that can act as VPP. For example, the Michigan State U campus is windy in the winter, when solar produces less. These could easily be installed on buildings and along walkways & streets by MSU's internal IPF (Infrastructure/Planning/Facilities) who could install battery banks in dorms and so on.

[@2Burgers_1Pizza]

Make it reflective so it works for pigeons as well. My neighborhood will be filled with these overnight. 🤣🤣🤣

[@Jourei_]

Now _there's_ the marketing energy we need!

[@Yay295]

I really don't think you actually want a giant disco ball outside your house.

[@wirelesmike73]

@@Yay295 or, multiple rows of them. lol

[@katanatherobocrux]

@@Yay295 *disco dancing intensifies*

[@LVANH_Lynx]

😂

[@mkkm945]

I've always thought of the tops of NYC skyscrapers, particularly the 99% without outdoor viewing areas, as ideal. They're out of sight in a windy environment + the buildings themselves have shafts for wires and connections to grids. It's definitely worth investigating and perhaps investing in.

[@tombh74]

I think the main downside of this product is the challenge with predicting production for a given location. For solar, production can easily be estimated, but with turbulent wind in city areas it can be a big challenge for wind generators. This can make it difficult to calculate return of investment. If some early adopters experience much lower production than promised, and without the option for a refund, the product can quickly get a bad reputation. Otherwise I like it,. Also the esthetics of it. It doesn't look so intrusive in the urban environment as other small windmills.

[@maltekoch1632]

My hopes are low on the visibility of the data, as many small wind turbine companies had big claims. If its specialized on turbulent gusty wind. How do the work with the extremely spikey power production? Extremely over speced power inverters, what pushes the cost. 2.2m wind turbines is not small. As are the forces big winds are acting on it. Especially with quickly changing direction even having dynamic and cycling loading. Giving needs to a really beefy holding structure. Nothing people renting just bolt to there 4th floor balcony.

[@bysshe51]

Actually less hard than you think. We have wind maps too 😊 biggest thing will be placements by knowledgeable installers. A shadow is easy to see. A wind-shadow less so.

[@maltekoch1632]

@bysshe51 wind maps with meter or less resolution. Predicting the turbulent flow from the buildings around on all wind angles. That seems pretty complex. Nothing you would have country wide.

[@tachywubdub2469]

I always had the same assumption. My guess is that a small demo device could be used to approximate true output over a trail period. Folks could then compare that to public wind data. And extrapolate power generation by date It won't be perfectly accurate but it is an estimate. What is apparent is that this isn't already a process and given the simplicity of the idea, I worry the engineers already know it is a bad idea.

[@maltekoch1632]

@@tachywubdub2469 in an open field with traditional locations wind maps should be the first step. With turbulences produced by the buildings around you, the simulation has to be a lot more detailed. Small difference can make huge difference in the outcome. There are maybe some spots with really higher wind speeds, but there are although some with much less than without the buildings. Problem the extemes can be pretty close each other.

[@SSGrille]

Matt, thanks for sharing this. I think this could be an added option in the right environment. I also work in the city, and experience the winds funneled down the street. I don’t see why these could not be of benefit. I like hearing about people and groups who are thinking outside the box, and at least trying, and testing, different ideas. This may, or may not, be an option, but it has given thought to another out there to help solve their issue.

[@animistchannel]

Actually, this kind of omni-directional function plus not having huge swirling booms spinning around would make this an excellent application for electric or hybrid-electric boats, especially long-range cruisers that need to be self-sufficient. On cargo carriers, arrays of these along the edges could reduce fuel costs. You can get some energy from a solar roof, but in higher latitudes, overnight, cloudy windy conditions, etc having some of these up on poles (or deployable on extendable poles) would make a great second power source, especially while anchoring/docked overnight to fill the battery packs for the next day. During windy times, you could afford to run the boat faster without draining the batteries.

[@Platypus2012]

Sending you healing vibes. Thank you for your great videos.

[@dinokknd]

Generally these small turbines never generate enough power to actually justify their installation. I wish O-wind the best of luck actually beating those bleak prospects.

[@nigeladams8321]

Surely something like this would be good to hook up to a battery. That way it can constantly be charging and then you can draw high power when you need it

[@philsoldierX78]

This is goofy to focus on, but I never realized how consistent you are when mentioning the sponsor in the beginning when this is the first time I’ve seen you mention it without saying “more on that later.” Through me off more than I would’ve expected

[@MellowWind]

I've been waiting for a house turbine for years. It should be cheaper than solar which is very cost prohibitive in USA. I would buy one in a heartbeat if it were affordable.

[@skierpage]

As everyone in comments is explaining, small wind is not cheaper than solar. Wind power becomes economical when the swept area gets really big.

[@franceswilliams2421]

Hi Matt, love your work, could you do a video on why energy consumption is so high in the states?, is it cultural ie never switching off the lights or is it lack of energy efficiency in home appliances and construction, thanks so much for your work 🎉

[@KavanOBrien]

If you look at the housing stock in the UK 70 % have chimneys , if a tiny version of that wind turbine could be on top a chimney cowl wires connecting to a small battery at the bottom of the chimney in the fire place or directly connected the a heater in the fire place warm air in winter cool air in summer, reasonable priced , I think sometimes the little steps get missed trying to solve bigger steps .

[@endosquid]

You aren't a genius. Maybe you should look at why this isn't happening.

[@KavanOBrien]

@@endosquid it was just an idea , was only thinking of a tiny one not a big one just enough to generate for one heater , wasn’t even thinking if it’s a good or bad idea just a passing thought .

[@greengarden9514]

Bring it on, get production going soonest for early adopters. We've lived off grid 15 years Colorado 9600' with solar just fine. This will top off our batteries on windy cloudy days so we don’t have to use our 2 woodstoves as much, and would take the pressure off our propane glycol in floor heat system. We won't pay early adopter premium prices for the turbine, but we will pay economical early adopter prices.

[@onenote6619]

Thing you have to remember about all Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTS) is that half their blades are always moving into the wind and losing power while the other half are being pushed by it and gaining power. They work by shaping the 'into' side to resist wind less than the 'away' side. Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTS or windmill-style) generate power across their entire surface. For an equal surface, HAWTS will always beat VAWTS on efficiency, which is why all the big windfarms use them. Anything that spins will generate vibrations. Nothing is built perfectly. And if you put rapidly-spinning machines on your dwelling, there will be vibrations. The higher you go, the more wind you get. The more cluttered the area is, the less useful energy you will get.

[@TheHoveHeretic]

I'm thinking Voith Schneider propellers?

[@richpalmisano1740]

Good analysis, someone actually did some research and didn't have their rose colored glasses on.

[@maxtorque2277]

Also you need to consider the V cubed term in the power formula, a turbine that has a small capture area (omi-ball thingy) relys on fast windspeeds to make it's power, but the cube terms means hugely varriable output. ie 2m/s wind = 8w, 4m/s =64w, 10m/s = bang! (1000W), this makes it really really hard to load match it

[@onenote6619]

@@TheHoveHeretic Those are designed for propulsion in water, not power generation from air. The cases are very different.

[@stvybaby]

Thanks for continuing your wind turbine videos. Living in mountains with turbulent wind would neccessitate a vertical axis wind turbine to supplement my solar panels and battery as my needs expands for EV, electric bikes, solar generators and other electrification.

[@MultiCappie]

This is the first wind turbine design I could call practical. Hope the testing and development go as hoped.

[@karlstathakis7786]

This is random, but I dig the new music you have in your intros. The old one wasn't bad or anything, but this one is just *nice*.

[@VelcorHF]

It really is crazy how the rapid prototyping things like 3-D printers enables is driving a lot of innovation. I love being able to test stuff out like this at home.

[@renecaminada5867]

As you yourself have already mentioned, maintenance is the key to efficient use of wind turbines. That is why large wind turbines are much more cost-effective than small wind turbines. This design can also only provide a positive balance in specific places, and that is where the problem lies, which the designer himself honestly indicates. What I think is that this design also needs a study every time into what the wind strength is over a longer period to find out whether this design is applicable. Of course, the costs for research will decrease per individual/household if a study is applicable to multiple households or placement of multiple wind turbines, but the design seems to focus on an average household and then the costs for research into whether it is suitable will increase drastically. Where the 'resident' always experiences wind around his home, this will not immediately translate into a positive cost-benefit ratio. The fact is that wind is present 24/7, 365 days a year. Sun does not shine at night, wind does blow at night and at times when more power is required, such as in the evening when there is no sun. The question can also be asked for the US why they consume so much power? Our household does not even consume 2500 kWh per year, if you consume more than 4,000 kWh in the Netherlands, even your provider will wonder why, let alone 10,000 kWh per year :o . It would be much wiser for the average household in the US to change your consumption in order to save costs, then a wind turbine like this can be applied much more easily.

[@rynait]

US power consumption is bit skeptic. the real problem did not post the source here. my source said usa average home of 1,000 sq ft, tend to consume between 4 to 6 kwh. The problem is "average" home is not consistent (home vs condo vs apartment vs high rise) in USA thus SKEWING the data. When he said 10 kwh in usa,, I looked for source. nothing. bah humbug fake reporting.

[@rynait]

also another thing about "study" did you notice WHEN this inventor patented the o wind? I did; year 2018. Well that is 6 plus years old invention and that O-innovation did not publish preliminary study ... I liked robert murray's video about o-wind and how study is "delayed", but six years old...(head shaking).

[@hiddenbunny7205]

do remember this fundamentally is still a VAWT but the turbine blade harvests more z-direction wind instead of just the x-y plane. The more compromising the design, the less efficient it is mechanically (wind deviates more from the turning axis). Yes, the turbine will move more frequently because you can harvest more wind direction but do it less efficiently, so it is difficult to say what the real gain is. This is where pursuing one design idea (harvest more wind directions) creates other problems. Other comments have also mentioned the real wind vs. ideal wind conditions. The wind turbine rating is usually done at a stable direction at 100% production wind speed (usually around 10-12 m/s), and in reality, that type of condition covers at best 10% of total annual hours. From several attempts to calculate VAWT use in NYC, the payback periods just make no sense for any installation. We happened to have weather data for 4 years on top of JAVITS center and the result is each relatively large VAWT (rating for 1kw @ 12 m/s) can generate probably 200kwh annually at the best scenario under the real wind data. We have 3D wind data and this estimate is already including z direction wind, so the min0direction turbine in this video will not fare better than our calculation because the efficiency would dip even more. Most of the "praise" about this sort of thing only think qualitatively not quantitatively. When you crank the number with real data, it makes no sense

[@mybootscamewithoutstraps]

I've said this and will always say this: There needs to be competition in every single space for creating better energy independence and there will never be 1 thing that rules them all. What will probably be best is that we use a mixture of things that are excellent at each individual situation. For a residential home like you or I may have, we might need solar and a few spinny balls to get the job done. For a commercial building, maybe they need a few large turbines and something else. My belief is that we should just try all of these things out and keep making progress. They're all viable.

[@dwwolf4636]

No we shouldn't. These things are an utter waste of time and materials. They are on the order of magnets for carburetors to improve fuel efficiency. The math doesnt math for these things. End of story.

[@mauricioventanas]

So many cowboys making weird turbines without any knowledge of fluid dynamics or rigor to validate their prototypes. This guy looks like he's for real, but I would still be very cautious about his development.

[@richpalmisano1740]

SWT's are fraught with fraud and promises that can never be achieved unless the turbines are running in tropical storm force winds...

[@MelleagranT]

Most of US households uses electricity to cook, also heating/cooling. Here in Brazil we cook mostly with gas, and the few households that heat water uses also gas.

[@peterfaber7124]

These kinds of companies shouldn't be selling wind turbines,... they should be selling electricity.

[@muradabdel-karim3636]

@@peterfaber7124 unless they're just trying to sell something 🤔

[@KaelinGoff]

The turbines dont work, otherwise they would.

[@muradabdel-karim3636]

@@KaelinGoff I can't say don't work, they do in some areas.

[@williamhicks558]

@@muradabdel-karim3636 He probably meant they aren't cost effective. I doubt if any of the ones we've seen demoed don't actually work, they just don't do it cheaply enough to be worth doing. If they were competitive cost wise, they would be brought to market and we'd see them as often as we see solar. Or we'd see wind farms of the new types, not just the huge bird and bat killers we have today (which I've been told are quite loud, though I've never heard them when I've traveled to where they are).

[@nigeladams8321]

Electricity is largely a regional Monopoly What these guys should be doing is allowing non-commercial free use of these devices

[@ronm6585]

Thank you Matt.

[@graphixkillzzz]

i used to live on Jamaica Ave in Queens, and every few days a crazy gust of wind would rush up or down the street, regardless of season but i think it was crazier rushes of wind in the summer. i got caught in it a few times and it is definitely always strong enough to push you around. given all the shops with roll-up gates, it sounded worse than some good earthquakes i been in 😳😵‍💫🫨😵🤯

[@2MANYWWWWWWWWWWWWS4U]

Does this guy ever decide on anything? Sheesh, might as well have my wife talking. 😝

[@jondavis1834]

That is his channel name

[@ChinchillaBONK]

I mean, usually good journalism is supposed to lay out the facts and have as little opinion as possible and "experts" chosen to be interviewed to give their opinion usually are objective. That's the standard globally. Only in America when news channels almost always give their very subjective biased opinion all the time trying to forcefully sway public opinion and dramatically arguing non-stop with each other. It's like watching WWE but news version. So annoying

[@UcheFiasco]

How did this very obvious joke whoosh over both of your heads

[@EdwinWiles]

​@@UcheFiascoit may have been phrased as a joke, but it presented an opinion that needed an answer. How did you miss that?

[@UcheFiasco]

@@EdwinWiles some questions are rhetorical my friend.

[@chandlermorris2219]

This is the first turbine I think I've seen that looks like an art piece. If I saw it in my city I would never have guessed that it was generating power.

[@rtfazeberdee3519]

If this works reliably, there is no reason a house couldn't have 2 or more if reasonably priced

[@maltekoch1632]

And if big number claims are right. Big scale production would be needed as a normal turbine produces the energy as thousands of these 2m wind turbines. For pretty much all houses besides some spots in city centers wind near the ground is much less then in 100m height, where modern turbines are. Especially as buildings can not just speed up the wind but although shade it completely from some directions.

[@robbourne83]

Are they looking for triallers? I'm in the UK and get a lot of constant wind hitting the back of our house due to its position and elevation. I think we could really benefit from this.

[@briankeane1234]

As a structural engineer, I see virtually no chance of these being added to existing buildings in urban areas. It would be like adding sails to a building & I guarantee the building was not designed for that. Cool technology though it's probably got some good niche use cases

[@GordonSeal]

Nonsense, you are acting like holding a paper towel out with one hand would be enough to drive an oil tanker.

[@howebrad4601]

I have the perfect spot for this on my property. Angle of my tall home vs angle of my tall steel shop, with both at the crest of the hill coming up out of a valley means huge wind between my buildings. Plus I live in a fairly windy state and have large scale wind towers not far away. Our power is relatively cheap here though so not sure on payback.

[@ingilizanahtar644]

I pay KZbin money not to watch ads, but then I see ads again in the videos I watch. How will you put an end to this vigilance?

[@matthewwhite4133]

@@ingilizanahtar644 you can just fast forward through it

[@brlinf06398]

pay to him too

[@digitalscribbler68]

Thanks!

[@DanielEdwards-]

Put a wind turbine where I live on the north east coast of Scotland and you’ll have all the free energy you need. Some places are better suited than others, especially in winter with that cold Arctic breeze blowing from the north for 4 months!

[@matthewyabsley]

If you have the opportunity to install these things the most practical use is in combination with a water tank. You can use what limited energy you have to preheat that water tank. It is unlikely you will generate enough energy to raise the temperature enough for normal use (shower, baths etc) but it is enough to lower the gas or electricity bill if your boiler is clever enough to moderate its burn depending on temperature. Further to that you can divert any excess energy (if exists) to a great big pot of sand, using that stored energy to raise the temperature of the water again if needed. It doesn't interfere with your existing tech, it collects some energy and doesn't need a lot of maintenance.

[@CarlinComm]

That's pretty cool, in that it looks like it would thrive on turbulence caused by buildings. And that it was inspired by a beach ball is just fun! Good luck with the development, hope to see these in the wild!

[@jackpittens796]

This looks awesome. Such a creative design.

[@caseyleedom6771]

Something you didn't consider: What's the effect of the "O-Wind" on wind in a City Scape? Imagine if you had a significant number of these within a city: Could this have a significant calming effect on wind at Ground Level? This could be an additional advantage, somewhat akin to the idea of Noise Treating a Restaurant in order to bring down the total Acoustic Energy bouncing around the interior.

[@williamelkington5430]

Sounds promising. Thanks for covering this new approach. I'd be interested in real data on dingle detached home implementations: implementation costs and average electricity generation across a variety of regions.

[@richpalmisano1740]

It's not promising. It's pure bs...

[@CAMacKenzie]

The thing I worry about in urban wind turbines is that wind exchanges the air in the city and moves out air pollution. If you take energy from the wind, it would seem to me that this would reduce air exchange and worsen air pollution in the city, though I suppose it might reduce pollution in rural areas.

[@gregraburn51]

awesome as always thank you

[@Scubongo]

That looks interesting. I love the design. It's actually beautiful. Hope it takes off.

[@PatDollard-h5u]

So often the case - it looks promising but really needs to be tested over time to see if will endure all the real world conditions that get thrown at it. i hope they have the funding to do just that. It would be so great to see a truly successful urban SWT solution.

[@pablomax9376]

I have also looked into windmills since where I live it's always at least a bit windy. The costs are just obscene when compared to solar though. For the amount of power they can generate, it's simply not reasonable on the scale of a single family home.

[@abrenos3744]

his invention is his spherical airfoil, its a pretty good idea, and we will be seeing extreme versions of these in the near future.

[@tpsb05]

Can't wait to buy one !

[@POSTSINGULAR1TY]

love this channel

[@morghana3775]

I live in the country and have a fairly light environmental foot print when it comes to energy consumption.. My property is in a rather unique area, where I get cross winds because of the shape of the land around me.. I really need something small, and this looks like it might do the trick..

[@theresolutemind9538]

I live on a windy/gusty ridge in the Colorado foothills and at an elevation 7,640 feet. With net metering, I’d loved to be a test site.

[@mworld]

Here in Australia we have an energy storage problem. Through the day there is more than enough energy being produced by all the roof top solar. The energy managing authorities now want a way to turn off the output of roof top solar indicating there is too much energy available. Opinion: Energy transition is really wealth transfer.

[@domzar7697]

G'day . I spent a 18 months in OZ, Perth WA, Mt Isa QLD and Sydney NSW and you definitely have way too much solar. What you need is battery sound obvious I know and they aren't cheap but you get to store all that sunshine for the evening and night time and when the battery is full sell what you don't need overnight those greedy Utility companies. FYI I have solar and a battery (Powerwall3) in not so sunny Manchester UK but the 13.5kwh storage supplies all our household consumption and then some. In winter we charge the battery from the grid at cheap rate prices (wind blows over the North sea most of the time) which makes up for the lack of solar as its seriously dark and miserable here mate 🥶

[@c.t.murray3632]

I like this Omni directional in that it doesn't hurt Birds, doesn't have insect nests. It does create electricity. I really don't like the large huge 900 ft tall wind turbine sitting in a field of corn. This is a great idea with time it will be exceptional energy source.

[@davocc2405]

Would love to see this painted a matt black or similar matt dark colour so it's hard to discern its physical movement and looks more like a static sphere than something spinning that triggers our sense of motion detection.

[@Sight-Beyond-Sight]

If tied into an off-grid/hybrid solar charging type system, this would be awesome, especially during stormy seasons where power loss would be more likely.

[@nathansmith7153]

Just no.

[@kyivstuff]

Cool!

[@maxsmith4234]

If possible, I would try to look for a small turbine that can go up to high speeds. Wind where my family lives is SUPER strong 1/3 of the week. Like when my parents first moved down they needed to tighten down the aluminum roof because it was shaking a ton during the wind storms.

[@Potrimpo]

Even the O's can offset a fair amount of non-renewable energy sources. It won't completely eliminate it, 20%-50%, but that's 20%-50% that's being used. Added that if there's wind at night, then there's potential of being able to store it as either hydrogen fuel, batteries, capacitors, even that ocean battery.

[@lemon_boy577]

that's OK tho. it's not suppose to take care of it all. it's like a side dish since city dwellers can't do anything crazy

[@David-yo5ws]

I can see this in many niche markets. Being a low power producer in a small footprint, with little to no maintenance, it would be a beneficial asset to a small village or remote habitat. Maybe a low voltage system using 12v DC rectifier? But I think it could be a small business model for the DIY handyman as a franchise business model . That's where I think he should go instead of a central supplier or company.

[@allon33]

Why is it so big? I want 100 of these, that fit in the palm of my hand! Wire them together; a 5 year old could work that out. This is a salesman, selling as much product as he can, a money-grabber. Matt, you should have questioned his motivates for making it so large.

[@eerybuzzero9229]

It's a good start. If it's developed in the right direction, it will help you succeed. But for me, there is a way to store energy without using batteries because their lifespan is short and the cost is very high. When they expire, they are difficult to dispose of. So I use wind energy to circulate water energy, that is, use a wind turbine to pump water up and store it on a tank. When there is no wind, release the water to spin the water turbine to produce electricity. Doing this will circulate and get continuous energy without using batteries.

[@tex8917]

still think that SWT has a future in rural homes, in this case you could put 2 or more on a home to meet the energy requirements in US. This one, like harmony, looks like it might work in slower wind speeds of most rural areas. Love its low noise.

[@danfat5288]

It doesn't need to fully cover the energy demand ... It's enough only a percentage and it's something. More, you install it and it works day and night. Would be interesting to see a farm of these work in hurricane areas.

[@EdoDijkgraaf]

I live in an always windy seaside resort (Hoek van Holland). O-Wind is very welcome to attach a pilot installation to my house. I would love it if they succeed in making wind energy accessible to European families.

[@rogermiller2159]

Could you also use the wind turbines as wind dampers? Of course we don’t want still air in a city, but for an architect and civil engineer to be able to use this as a way to control air currents might be handy.

[@anotherplottwist]

Would love to have this one in the backyard

[@JeremyCobb]

Such a difficult market. I feel we are not quite there, but I so want us to be. Here in the UK, flipping from solar to wind as a summer winter tactic could eradicate bills to zero over the year and probably reduce the need for large batteries.

[@judischarns4509]

It’s worth a try. We need to keep innovating with wind. Home sized would be nice. We don’t get sun so wind would be nice.