BEEAs finalist Matthew Luethi blogs his subsequent progress with his silent vertical axis wind turbines
I had been asked to explain the workings of my turbines to several Groups of Students so I built a working tabletop model 50 cm X 40 cm.
By seeing it working, I received suggestions to manufacture turbines of roughly this size for marine, caravan and leisure purposes, to keep batteries charged. Because of the noise the competition turbines creates, this would be an opportunity since they keep boat owners awake in the night!
I also sold my second 500W turbine, going to Scotland. On the trial test it started to produce a current at a wind speed below 3 mph. This turbine is dark green. The Scottish customer cut the top off one of his large Leylandii's so we clamped the turbine onto a 5m scaffolding pole and fixed the two together on to the tree. So now there is an evergreen tree with my turbine on top charging a 24V Battery bank.
In my quest of raising Capital, I had a thought! We have all been asked to donate or offset our carbon footprint. By doing this, we don't know where the money is going or how it is spent. I think it would be a more open way if the carbon offset money went directly to a green program or technology. I would give a certificate for doing this and would print the logo or name on the turbine blades as a proof as to how the money had been spent. For a certain amount of cash, I would also issue a share certificate to strengthen the bond between the carbon offsetting person and the technology created.
