The Age of Roof Wind Turbine Power
Has the time really come where the world could be potentially self sustainable in terms of it’s energy supply and demand? Well sadly the answer to that is, not yet. However one step closer to achieving this is roof wind turbine power. Roof wind turbine models have been on the market for a number of years now but they are really coming into age as they are becoming more efficient, cheaper and easier to install.
Older roof wind turbine devices were very bulky, inefficient and limited in use. They were very difficult to install and expensive to the point of making their payback period ridiculously long. When considering the payback period of such a device you need to also take into consideration the installation and maintenance costs. The older roof wind turbines were costly to install and needed regular maintenance whereas the most modern ones can be installed by any good electrician and rarely need maintenance.
The roof wind turbine industry is growing very quickly. The small wind turbine industry as a whole grew by nearly 70 percent last year. There is almost instant independence from the grid with a good device installed. With this benefit alone it is easy to see this industry and the sustainable energy industry is only going to keep expanding.
In terms of the pay back period of the latest roof wind turbine devices you are looking at about 5 years compared to up to 20 years for ones you would have bought 4 years ago.
The government currently has an incentive program for small scale wind power systems. You will get a 30 percent discount for a roof wind turbine with a capacity under 100 kilowatts. This is currently running until Dec. 31st 2016.
The traditional wind turbine required a tower for it to be attached too. This presented two initial problems for those wishing to install one on their home in a suburban residential area. One it is very costly to put up a tower that is strong enough to hold such a device and two council approval is hard to get for such a tower which is quite often an eyesore. Modern roof wind turbines take away the need for a tower since, as their name suggests, they attach directly to the roof.
Traditional wind turbines relied on gears and a gearbox to create the electricity. For a traditional wind turbine it takes a wind of 7-8mph just to overcome the resistance of gears. This resulted in a loss of up to 25% in efficiency. Modern designs have replaced gears with hubs and bearings. Instead of a gear box magnets are now used to generate electricity. This has also added to the efficiency of modern roof wind turbine devices. Other advances in efficiency include larger wind acceptance areas and replaceable blades as damaged blades will reduce their effectiveness.