Roof Mounting of Wind Turbines

Mounting micro wind turbines on roofs. It is worth it?

D400 wind turbine generated mounted to a wall

The debate about roof top mounting and building integration of wind turbines continues with strong opinions on both sides of the argument. While the manufacturers of the D400 Wind Generator (1), the Windsave 1000 (2), and Air-X (3) wind turbines claim that it is safe to install their turbines on roofs and fitted to the gable end of residential properties, there are many that believe this is both dangerous (turbines falling from and through roofs etc or shedding a blade in extreme conditions), annoying (constant vibration felt through the property on which the turbine is installed), and highly inefficient (the wind at roof height in a built up area is extremely turbulent).

Bracket used to hold a Windsave 1000 wind turbine to the wall of a house

A very detailed argument against roof-top mounting is provided by Paul Gipe in his article on Roof-Top Mounting and Building Integration of Wind Turbines (4) on the Wind-Works.org website in which he summarises Mounting wind turbines--of any kind--on a building is a very bad idea. I've yet to see an application where this has worked or will likely work.

Hugh Piggott (5) agrees with Paul Gipe stating that Rooftop wind turbines are a load of nonsense, and that The manufacturers of rooftop wind turbines invariably make quite unrealistic claims, and present a very strong marketing rather than engineering image. They are always looking for very large numbers of sales before demonstrating the technology in a public way. They often play on public misconceptions of the nature of the wind by quoting high power outputs in absurdly windy conditions.

See also our article Consumers Disappointed with Micro Wind Turbines (6).

Web Link References

(1) http://www.reuk.co.uk/D400-Wind-Generator.htm
(2) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Windsave-1000.htm
(3) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Air-X-Wind-Turbine.htm
(4) http://www.wind-works.org/articles/RoofTopMounting.html
(5) http://www.scoraigwind.com
(6) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Consumers-Disappointed-With-Micro-Turbines.htm

Article from REUK.co.uk:
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Roof-Mounting-of-Wind-Turbines.htm
Published: 24th September 2014
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