Countless inventors are stepping up to the plate with the latest and greatest green technologies that will save the planet.This is great to see, but the waters of sensible change will no doubt be muddied along the way by some failed attempts, some questionable claims, and perhaps even a little snake oil!
我们在众筹网站Kickstarter上发现了PowerPod小型家用风力涡轮机，它在原则上看起来很棒，但在过去看到一些家用风力涡轮机未能实现其承诺时，我们认为它可能看起来有点太棒了。犹他州盐湖城一家名为Halcium的公司创建了Powerpod，该公司希望Powerpod将成为家庭可再生能源发电的游戏规则改变者——如果这能证明自己，我们都支持Powerpod。
Are small domestic wind turbines any good?
The makers of the PowerPod compact domestic wind turbine on Kickstarter claim that "for places that get less than 300 days of sun a year, a PowerPod could produce more power, for less money than solar panels"这确实让我们好奇，因为有这么多变量在起作用，我们不知道为什么这总是正确的。
Important in that claim is the 'could', so Ecohome's engineers decided to run some figures of their own just to see if this claim looks plausible. Perhaps this 'could' be true in some places, but it's also a bit of an overreach in our opinion and it’s certainly the first of several eyebrow-raising claims that prompted us to dig deeper.
在阴凉处或多云地区安装太阳能电池板肯定会影响投资时间的回报，但缺少阳光也不能立即等同于健康的风能供应，至少我们的工程师是这么想的。
And more importantly, wind speed at low altitudes has proven to be relatively limited. therefore in their opinion (our number crunchers), the turbine would have to be installed about 100 feet above any surrounding obstacles to optimize performance, despite the +40% claim on efficiency due to this funky design. The wind turbines we have seen that aren't just anecdotal and where someone is serious about harvesting wind power, are generally seated on a tower or pole way above any obstructions in close proximity.
Another advantage the manufacturers promote for their compact domestic wind turbine is that it is safer for children. True, but if it’s sitting at ground level in your fenced-in backyard where children play, then the limitations of any wind turbine set in, which is reduced wind speed on the ground compared to one placed higher in the air that isn't slowed by buildings and trees. So, it’s ‘safe for kids’ if you put it in a location where it won’t work very well. That would be something like advertising a set of kitchen knives as being ‘kid safe’, because they are too dull to cut anything.
Do vertical axis wind turbines work better?
There are a family of ‘alternative’vertical axis wind turbine designs that use rotary blades like this, the Zoetrope wind turbineis another example. Vertical axis turbines like this have for the most part turned out to be duds.
We asked Ecohome Engineer Denis Boyer to weigh in and he had the following to share:
The PowerPod promotional video claims that the air velocity is increased by 33% as it funnels through the intake. I suppose they have made some calculations to back that up, however, they go on to claim that their design will provide 3 times (300%) as much power as a regular turbine, but that it is not what we’ve concluded.
If we suppose that all the air hitting the surface actually makes it to the turbine (which it will not!), it can be shown that the power delivered would be no more than 1.8 times (or 80%) compared to a standard turbine. But there would likely be a lot of turbulence which would cause a good portion of the incoming air to be deflected, which then won’t participate in the energy production. Therefore, the actual power produced would likely be much less than this 80% increase.
所以，总的来说，我们对这种设备是否真的能兑现它的承诺以及是否能在全国大部分地区超过太阳能电池板的性能还存在一些疑问。
PowerPod涡轮机的投资回报率是多少?
What is really needed to keep skeptics like us at bay, would be some actual data we can dig our teeth into regarding performance and cost. That would also permit us the opportunity to stand behind this thing with confidence if it really works as they claim.For example - were the company to run a test for a month or so in a particular city (or better yet multiple cities), with a turbine placed at a proper height, and measure the energy collected, it would give some idea of what it can actually deliver.
这样一来，房主就会知道，根据当地的公用事业费率，他们的能源成本中有多少可以被这样的购买所抵消。如果它能在4-5年内产生足够的能量，而且它的寿命估计为20年，那么我们就自己去买一些。但如果需要40年才能还清，那么你最好使用太阳能电池板，因为太阳能电池板正试图与之竞争。如果这些东西想要在市场上站稳脚跟，就必须有具体的数字。
It’s great to see innovators stepping up with new ideas, but they won't all be game changers. In our opinion, while this one looks cool, it likely isn’t the magic bullet that the world needs. But we're prepared to be proven wrong, so Halcium engineers, if you're listening, make your case!
And to our awesome readers, one of which pointed this out to us - if you spot any other cool ideas billed as 'green technologies that will save the planet", please comment below and we might look into it!
Now you know more about small domestic wind turbines,learn more aboutsustainablehome comfort,energy efficiencyandhow to reduce the carbon footprint of homeson the following pages and in theEcoHomeGreen Building Guide.
Find more aboutgreen home constructionand reapthe benefits of a free Ecohome Network Membership here. |
There is any test in wind tunnels to certify the Power Por efficiency? If not, for me, it's another bust.
你的指责太有政府色彩了!让我给你一些不那么严格的想法。就我的处境而言，没有任何东西，我是说没有任何东西能满足我对安全和方便的需求。然后你拿苹果和橘子做比较。我可以在我房子的一边用一个，风把表面吹干净。我住在沙漠里，南面的家在山谷顶上。风每天都在吹!
about your last statement on 'saving the world' . there is one thing in and of it's self NOT ONLY SAVE THE EARTH IT WILL BRING NUTRIENT DENSE FOOD AND REGENERATE HUMAN HEALTH ! i must be loco? ! ? ! it's not me but biologist /scientist and farmers that have been open soursing the procedings. they just went to congress to tell them[FDA] to step off and let the mango thru .
想象一下，如果一家公司建造了一个10层的建筑(就像一个停车场)，并在网络上放置了数千个单元，并且有一些单元需要维修的通知，以便技术人员能够去正确的单元进行维修/更换?你可以用这种系统为很多家庭供电。基本上就是新一代的风电场。这种类型的各种尺寸的单位是无限量的。
Air doesn't care to force itself into small holes. The air will form a buffer in front of the pod and flow around. Can't work
nonesense. I'll bet those things work well as it's forces the air into the unit..
hi guys! have you seen the flower turbines? they looks pretty cool
As with any device, the value is a factor of many things.
Efficientcy is one, environmental impact (in manufacturing, use, and end-of-life,) another--as well as aesthetics, costs.
他们估计效率，你估计效率，但缺乏实际数据。没有人知道。
沼泽风车有了解决鸟类问题的办法，但声音问题仍在继续。
大型风车是由公用事业公司设计并为其服务的，以保持其目前对电力的垄断地位。
These companies don't want dispersed power generation--they are focused almost entirely on profit, and a great deal off their profits come from charging small users far more than industrial users.
仅仅是让不同用户的每千瓦时成本相同，就会迫使大用户寻找减少使用量或自己发电的方法。
Until we rein in those whose sole goal is profit, environmental problems will continue to increase.
随着我们的天气变得越来越恶劣，只依赖一种能源的地方将越来越少。
Mathematically speaking, and after testing, it has been found that vertical axis windmills simply do not produce the same amount of power under the same conditions. Not all inventions need a prototype and someone standing beside it with a clip board to measure its efficacy when there is sufficient relevant data available.
If you want an alternative small scale power solution to redude the monopoly of large utilities then why would you not use the most effective technologies?
But you can put a lot of these things in a relatively small area and stack them up in a multi story parking lot structure. Those large wind mills you have to spread them apart.. At least these things won't kill birds, and would be far more accessible for servicing. A power company could just buy a bunch of them, put them on a network for monitoring them and alerting a tech to service them as needed... They could make these things at different sizes.. I think it's very promising design..
Stupid question... If these really do work then why not put them to work on the interstate. We have land available or space available between traffic. Even when the wind isn't blowing, the traffic is moving the air. Has anyone thought of trying that?
I don't think that's a stupid question, This just isn't the right product for the job. If you're going to manufacture any product with an end goal in mind, like generating power, your product design should be the most efficient possible, which is not this. You could in theory line every interstate with wind, or solar, or at the least have small individual solar panels on the top of each light so it generates its own power.
我绝对认为这个想法有很大的潜力。如果我的后院有这些美丽的结构，利用能源，而它们整天在风中吹，为什么不是每个人都想要一个?
As a decoration, sure why not. But technologically speaking, and if you're looking to generate power, it's a step backwards. It's like 're-inventing the wheel' and making it octogonal or something when round wheels are clearly more efficient.
我想知道一个家庭需要多少人来供电?如果一个普通家庭需要10个这样的设备，那么可能就不需要了，但如果一个普通家庭只需要几个单元，那么我相信电力公司可以建造多层的农场，为那些位于大风地区的小城市提供电力。当然，它们不能解决整个电力问题，但风能、太阳能和水力的混合可以最终消除对煤/石油电力的需求....
It would take way more than ten of these to power the average home David. And again, this is an inferior technology so if you were going to buy a bunch of mini windmills to put on your roof in hopes of powering your home, I think most people would choose the most efficient design. If someone came up with an 'alternative' solar panel that produced less power I really can't see anyone taking them seriously. I think it's happening here because this thing is cute.
我跟踪了这个Saga很长一段时间，该公司只是一个骗局，它的字面意思是一个人要求数百万美元，但他找不到几百美元来得到一个逆变器来测试他的原型3年…
He has this same wobbly prototype on this same condition for over 4 years and never shares the real energy generation for a simple reason it's all baseless claims that are stupidly far from reality and the guy behind it knows it it's all a scam..
You can assume that just checking the physics of it, changing orientation of the wind you will lose an absurd amount of energy, and on vertical you ate fighting even more against gravity, not only that but he also funnels it to the tip that will make you lose energy again.
Now comes the most idiotic take that is the tip of the blade is the most efficient, that's complete BS, not only you lost a lot of energy redirecting wind twice but you are running a turbine only by the tip which by lever physics rule would be less efficient than driving the whole blade of a normal wind turbine...
This product is physically impossible to be more efficient than any products that already exist that use the wind on its original direction to generate energy..
Vaporware to steal dumb people's money..
我给那家公司发了一个简单的问题:“他们听说过伯努利定理吗?”没有答案! !I see no evidence of it in the design of the Powerpod
I totally agree that some numbers would be great. But I also suggest that not every application is the same. Solar panels vs. wind turbines might be simply a design choice. In that case, for anyone who likes the style of having a turbine on their home, more power to ya! And one other big issue I have with a comment in the article is this: If anyone wants renewable energy from a device they buy and it has a payback period of less than infinity (ok, 10 years or so) then they are buying something better than paying a never-ending electric bill to the fossil fuel emissions generating utility company and they aren't producing the emissions. Compariing infinite payments with an arbitrary payback period as if 4-5 years is "worth it" and 10 years is not; well that's not the case. Both renewable energy solutions are totally better than fossil fuel sources with never-ending bills. Don't you agree?
We don't dissagree with your overall opinion between renewables and fossil fuels, but we think if you're going to commit a financial investment towards saving energy and money, then it makes sense to go with a design that works well and has the best return on investment. If you are car shopping and a large conceptual difference in design means one type is more efficient than another, would you not go with the one that has that offers you the most savings - financially and ecologically?
Our only point is that this new design does not provide as much power as the old design. If you like the look of it as a type of whirly-gig sculpture for your yard then for sure buy it, it's way better than a sculpture that doesn't generate power, but if your intention is primarily to generate home renewavble energy then a vertical axis turbine is the way to go.