It doesn't really matter if it starts producing 1 or 2 watts in 2 mph winds. There simply isn't much power to capture in winds less than 12-15 mph. Article says it only weighs 170 lbs (?!?) so your roof should be able to handle the weight. The only thing is, the weight isn't really important, what is important is the wind loading and the article doesn't mention that. If you get a 90 mph wind guest it will tear this thing right off and take part of your roof with it unless you seriously re-enforce your roof. Of course roof mounting small wind turbines is a waste of time and money as has been pointed out numerous times before. Living in a class 4 wind area doesn't mean this turbine will be exposed to class 4 winds unless you mount it up in free air on a pole. Article doesn't mention this and doesn't factor in the cost of doing so. In a class 4 wind area (when mounted 50 feet up in free air) this turbine can generate $400 worth of electricity per year. Figuring in realistic costs for installation and taking the 30% rebate into account this will take over 20 years to break even and I doubt it will survive that long. For the same cost as installing this turbine you could install at least a 2kw solar array which would generate more power even if you don't live in one of those rare class 4 wind areas. As Woogy pointed out, numerous studies have shown over and over again that small turbines like this one are not a good investment unless you live off grid, on a sailboat, or something similar. Don't take our word for it, use the website provided by Honeywell to see how well this would work for you, I just went through it and it says I can save $3,000 of my electric bill.....over 15 years!!!! that means it would take over 30 years to break even and that assumes I can get this installed for the ridiculously low price the website estimates. If you want to install one to feel good about going green, knock yourself out, but don't expect to save any money on your power bill.
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First of all I don't think neon-hippie is a bad thing. If you made this forum "Green Living" then you need to be open to discussions such as CSA's, buying local, traceability, recycling, reusing and much more. There is much more to Green living then renewable energy. I personally don't like the title of Energy policy or there will be oodles of posters saying drill drill drill. There already is a forum for ecology which in my opinion should cover conservation. You are going to have a certain amount of garbage posts in any grey forum. I don't think that the title is going to stop what you are talking about in your first paragraph. Anyway, there is my opinion. My wish was that people wouldn't give out wrong and deceiving information but that is going to happen no matter what you call it.
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