The Ridgeblade is a wind powered generator designed for installation on the roof of houses. The unique design of the rotor and its housing means it can harness the natural buffeting of the wind as it moves over the ridge of the house. This overcomes the main issues people seem to have with wind generators, namely the noise and the look of them.
Designed by a bunch of aeronautical and turbine engineers in North Yorkshire, the Ridgeblade has just won the Dutch Postcode Lottery Green Challenge. With the £500,000 prize money helping them, the Power Collective hope to launch the Ridgeblade by early 2010.
RidgeBlade addresses the issues associated with traditional micro-wind generation technologies. The unique design means it can reliably produce electricity in low or variable wind conditions whilst creating very little visual impact. This means that it is suitable for locations including urban houses, rural buildings and environmentally-sensitive sites such as National Parks.
Tags: gadget, ridgeblade, wind+power+generator, wind+turbine
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I think this is clever. It would not work for me (large tree, lack of flow along the ridge) it could be great other places.