Climate change has become so severe that several energy innovators are contemplating methods to reduce emissions while still offering reliable energy production across the industrial and household sectors. The challenge of reducing emissions can sometimes be a little too much to overcome; however, recent innovations in home-based power generation like the WindTree have the international energy market stunned, and no, we are not talking about rooftop solar panels. We are, in fact, referring to a new wind power option for homeowners.
Necessity is the mother of all inventions and innovation
Most of the world’s best and astonishing innovations have been driven by necessity, when something no longer works, or a new method of doing things is required; that’s where innovation steps in through the minds of our most brilliant innovators. This reality has become especially true in the energy sector, with a litany of alternative power options available for the public to peruse.
Home-based energy generation has been increasing in recent years as households and businesses try to keep the lights on, regardless of what the current energy market looks like. Having a system in place in one’s home to generate energy enables households to generate sufficient power in the short term. An innovation has emerged from France that has swept across the energy sector.
The WindTree is the latest innovation that has taken the home-based energy sector by storm
A wind tree is a new invention that is essentially a mini wind turbine designed for home use or at your local business. The innovation consists of 36 ‘leaves’ that act as mini wind turbines connected to a steel base of the wind tree. The aesthetic design is supposed to mimic a normal-looking tree, but this wind tree comes with the added benefit of creating enough energy to power a four-person home for an exceedingly long period of time.
France and Europe are embracing the potential that ‘wind trees’ present
Several French start-ups now offer a variety of wind trees for customers to peruse at their own discretion, with the companies boasting that the colours of the tree trunk and leaves can be fully customized to match your home. All that is required to install the wind tree on your property is a small piece of land and a few nuts and bolts; no permits are required.
Notably, a 36-leaf WindTree is designed to reach a maximum annual output of 36,000 kWh at a wind speed of 12 meters per second (m/s), making it far more efficient than rooftop solar panels, but there is unfortunately a downside, as they are still quite expensive. However, Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, a creator of WindTree by NewWind, has noted that these wind trees pay for themselves in electricity bill savings over two years.
“The main advantage of our technology is that it works with a very small input of energy, so it will work with 2 meters per second of wind, whereas other machines need 4 or 5 meters per second to get going. This means that we can produce energy over more days of the year.” – Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, a creator of the WindTree by
NewWind
Europe’s proclivity for wind power has become all too real in recent years
While the US President, Donald Trump, has all but ended the US’s dream of advancing the wind sector, Europe is taking a far more considered and pragmatic approach to home-based energy generation. Installing a wind tree takes minimal effort and even fewer regulatory barriers to navigate due to the fact that no permit is required. The tiny wind turbines designed to look like leaves power a small generator that delivers the power straight to your home, making them ideal for households aiming to move off the grid.
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