New Industry Products

Green Energy Technologies Launches Commercial-Scale Urban Wind Power System For Rooftop Use

May 05, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

Green Energy Technologies LLC announced the launch of its WindCube®, a 60kW rooftop wind turbine designed for on-site power generation by commercial and industrial power users in urban and suburban locations. The turbine, which captures and amplifies the wind, fills a previously unmet need for wind turbines that can be placed into service in a very small footprint and take advantage of the nation’s net metering laws.

"Now building owners anywhere can consider being a part of the renewable energy picture," said Mark L. Cironi, President and founder of Green Energy Technologies, and with John W. Fedor, the technology’s inventor. "With WindCube, it’s not necessary to have the wind of Kansas or Nebraska to become a generator of wind power. In states with excellent renewable energy incentives, moderate wind and high electric rates, the payback can be as little as three years."

The turbine is available as a single (60kW) or dual (120kW) system and in rooftop or tower-mounted design. The product is modular to satisfy a customer’s electrical requirements, and produces the same amount of energy in a 22 x 22 x 12-foot framework as a traditional turbine with blades 50 feet in diameter. It is ideal for a wide range of users, from industrial companies and commercial office buildings to big-box retailers, college campuses and electric users in remote locations.

The WindCube features a groundbreaking patent-pending design that relies on the wind tunnel effect known in physics as the Bernoulli Principle. While the rest of the wind industry generates energy through the use of free-stream wind, the WindCube captures and amplifies the wind, which produces more kWh. As the wind comes into the WindCube shroud, it becomes concentrated, creating increased velocity and in turn, more power. Because of the amplification effect, the WindCube is able to capture wind energy as low as 5 mph.

The WindCube generates electricity by running its motor backwards using an impeller (the opposite of a propeller), eliminating the need for a gearbox. This is said to lower the cost of ownership because the gear box is the source of most of the maintenance problems and failures on conventional wind turbines.

Roth Bros., Inc., a national energy management company, will provide WindCube customers with 24/7 monitoring of energy usage using an online remote system that it designed for the WindCube. Roth will also provide professional installation of the WindCube turbines at each customer’s location, from initial site analysis to commissioning, and Roth can provide post-installation preventive maintenance and service on the units. Roth currently provides remote energy management and HVAC and roofing services for more than 100,000 locations throughout the United States.

"Adding Roth Bros.’ construction and installation capability, contractor network, and energy management and services expertise gives us the infrastructure to truly launch the WindCube on a national basis," said Mr. Cironi.

Net metering is a simple, inexpensive, and easily-administered mechanism for encouraging the use of small-scale wind energy systems. When a customer produces more electricity than is needed in a building via an on-site generation system such as the WindCube, the existing electricity meter spins backward, yielding a credit to the electric bill. At an average wind speed of about 15 miles per hour, one WindCube will generate about 160,000 kWh per year of electricity.