Wind power is one of the most environmentally friendly sources of sustainable energy. Most wind energy comes from large-scale “wind farms”, but smaller turbines can be a great source of supplementary power for homes.
Similar to home solar panels, residential wind turbines may be used to charge batteries in off-grid homes like wilderness cabins, or connected to a home’s grid power system. Bornay Aerogenerators, a Spanish company that has been producing wind turbines since 1970, currently manufactures some of the best-performing small turbines for residential applications.
Bornay offers a wide variety of turbines ranging from the Bee 800-watt model to the Bornay 6000, a 12′ diameter triple-blade model that can produce upwards of 600 watts of power. For comparison, a high-quality solar panel system can produce around 170 watts per square meter of area, so the Bornay 6000 could conceivably match the power output of a 35 sq/m photovoltaic array – and keep producing energy after the sun goes down.
So why doesn’t every home have a wind turbine for added energy? Initial installation can be much more expensive than solar panels, and restrictions like zoning laws can make it impractical to construct a turbine tower on your roof. But for rural homes and specialty applications, high-performance turbines like the Bornay models could be a great source of alternative energy.
Learn more about Bornay’s designs at the Bornay website.
(images: Bornay Aerogeneradores, slu)