I was reading an article today in the New York Times about how some of their high-rises have installed these small wind turbines on top of their buildings to cut the buildings electrical costs for it’s common areas. These are not the large turbines that we see on wind farms in rural Iowa, these are much smaller and resemble small mounted airplane propellers.

One building owner interviewed in the article claims that it’s 10 one-kilowatt turbines mounted on the top of his building generates enough electricity to power all the building’s common areas, including the elevators. As windy as it’s been here in Des Moines in the last few weeks, imagine how much these local building owners could save. These things almost pay for themselves within one to two years. With the emphasis on being more green and looking for alternative energy solutions, I wonder what downtown building wants to lead the way for Des Moines and try this solution.

There’s also another good article on these turbines here:
http://www.alternativeconsumer.com/2008/04/08/architectural-wind-an-urban-wind-turbine/

By MulderDSMcloseAuthor: MulderDSM Name: Larry Bradshaw
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Posted under Living Downtown | Last modified on January 5th, 2009.