Philippe Starck shows off "Democratic Ecology" wind turbine

It looks like wind power is about to get a bit more stylish with the outspoken Philippe Starck now wading into things with his "Democratic Ecology" personal wind turbine. The turbine first made its debut at the recent Greenenergy Design show in Milan and, according to Inhabitat, it's now on track for an actual release in September of this year, thanks to a little assistance from Pramac. If all goes as planned, the turbine will set you back about €400 (or just over $600), and provide anywhere from 20% to 60% of the energy need to power an average home, although you'll presumably need some additional equipment to go along with the turbine.

[Philippe @ Jul 2nd 2008 3:58PM]

"Come on kids, let's go outside and blow on the turbine"

[Harkonian @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:01PM]

It's always the "some additional equipment" part that makes products like this a losing proposition for consumers.

[Blah @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:02PM]

Am I missing something? The article says the thing costs $600, but also says that this is "not realistically within everyone's budget". Wouldn't you recoup the $600 within the first two or three electric bills? Did they forget a zero? Something doesn't add up.

[ry @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:12PM]

To actually make use of this you'll need at the very least a DC -> AC inverter and grid tie-in. This will feed energy back into the grid when you're generating and reduce your electric bill equivalently. To get fully up and running off-grid you'd get a nice array of batteries as well as DC -> AC inverters. This is where the major costs lie for alt-energy residential installations.

[nikster @ Jul 2nd 2008 5:38PM]

A DC->AC adapter isn't exactly rocket science - can't be expensive. A grid tie-in would have to be supported by the local electric company and/or government. The electricity company doesn't really have an incentive to allow you to save - they make less money - so it's hard to see why they'd be excited about it. Therefore there need to be strong laws and/or financial support for the grid tie-in.

Batteries are very expensive and hard to maintain - I'd hate to see my house-powering battery array at 50% capacity after 2 years. It would potentially destroy the ecology-equation when I have to dispose of toxic chemicals for the batteries and so on. A grid tie-in would be practical.

Grid tie-in pending, I will get 2 or 3 of these. It's not just about money either - it's about being conscious of the ecology, about doing something to save the planet. I'd imagine there would be millions like me. "What are you doing for the environment?" "I am running a couple of wind turbines". The goal would be to have zero energy impact for my home at some point.

Making them pretty or at least non-ugly is key to wide-spread acceptance. I applaud this effort and P Starck.

[A.C.E.R. @ Jul 2nd 2008 8:12PM]

re: nikster - AFAIK many states have a law that requires utility companies to allow tie in. It's different for each state, for instance in CA I think you can only recoup your usage. If you generate more power than you use the utility won't have to pay you for it.

[Macro @ Jul 7th 2008 10:32AM]

You don't need batteries if you are still hooked to the grid it would just lower your power bill/CO2 unless you had a couple even then its easier to sell power to the grid during the day and pull some at night.

[Iridium @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:03PM]

Wow a wind turbine that doesn't look like you have an airplane attached to your house.

How big is it though? You can't really tell from the photos. It says that the turbine can generate 20-60% of the energy you need to power a house, but how much does it generate?

Also what is the minimum sustained windspeed needed to generate that kind of power with this turbine?

$600 isn't bad but do you also need to buy a whole bunch of other procey components to get it hooked up into your grid?

Too many questions, not enough answers Mr. Starck. The guy does make some nice stuff sometimes but he is a total quack.

[Ken @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:03PM]

God I hate that pompous ass. What the hell has he ever done that's actually been worth the materials used to make it?

[Hoffy @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:17PM]

The dude is Iron Man! Oh wait... that's Tony Stark.

[HC @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:29PM]

I was always partial to his Aprilia Moto 6.5

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1293/534460919_945af435a7_o.jpg

[bluestate @ Jul 2nd 2008 5:08PM]

His Louis Ghost armchairs are tres chic.

http://www.dwr.com/product/pg/kartell/louis-ghost-armchair.do?search=basic&keyword=Starck&sortby=ourPicks&page=2

[xB Owner @ Jul 2nd 2008 5:41PM]

He does have a couple of pretty nice reasonably priced watches from Fossil.

http://www.fossil.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchResultsView?D=STARK&Dn=0&Ntt=starck&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=FossilSearchEn&langId=-1&storeId=12052&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&catalogId=10052&categoryId=30000&in_dym=1

[nikster @ Jul 2nd 2008 5:43PM]

You don't need to look much further than the article above. He's made turbines that may lead to a breakthrough in acceptance of wind technology. It doesn't get much better than that, sorry.

[Nastro @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:03PM]

Here's an example of a hair brained scheme.

[compressedbunny @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:55PM]

More like an air brained scheme, I'd think.

[The 3rd Hot Dog @ Jul 2nd 2008 6:51PM]

And finally, more like hare-brained.

[Rick @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:05PM]

I'll bet the associated electrical gear, battery storage (if equipped), grdi connection gear etc. will cost alot more than €400.

[Rick @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:05PM]

It gives people a warm feeling inside to do this stuff.

[Destian @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:12PM]

20% to 60% of a home's electricity for $600? This is clearly incorrect.

[Blayne @ Jul 2nd 2008 7:27PM]

"...although you'll presumably need some additional equipment to go along with the turbine."

Yea my guess is about $15,000 worth of more equipment. I think that price is just for the new "blades" that turn with the wind.

[Hotrod @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:22PM]

Looks like a magnifying glass.

Since my home only consists of me and my bed ridden father, and since I'm at work half the day, this could save me a pretty penny. I look forward to its release and additional details.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:22PM]

I dont care as long as it saves me money on my electric bill and reduces my dependency on an electric company monopoly sign me up... just make it for under $2,000.

[Idlemind @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:39PM]

I guess its better than the "Republican Ecology Wind Turbine"

[Znarfaggle @ Jul 2nd 2008 4:41PM]

someday this man will realize what atrocities are being committed with his inventions and he'll decide to help people, not hurt them.

oh wait, wind turbines? damn. they still kill birds though, right? so like, maybe just invent the chest repulsor?

[ruindpzzle @ Jul 2nd 2008 5:31PM]

Oh, you mean it's not powered by all the hot air blown around by the democratic politicians?

[TVGenius @ Jul 2nd 2008 6:59PM]

That image seems to be missing either Brett Somers or Charles Nelson Reilly.

[fshagan @ Jul 2nd 2008 6:59PM]

Its BS.

Installed cost will be much more for his "$600" wind turbine, assuming its a 10kW turbine. That's the size that makes a difference when you are trying to tie in to the grid to reduce your electric cost. I suspect its a 1kW system for battery charging.

You have to put turbines on a tower in most places, and that drives up the cost by $9,000 to $12,000 just for the guyed, 60' tower and assorted installation materials (self-standing towers are more). You need an inverter the utilities recognize and will allow to be attached to the grid. A GridTek 10 inverter is $8,600.

[The_Steven @ Jul 2nd 2008 7:11PM]

If it's real, sign me up!

[Diarheea @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:34PM]

Yeah, but does it have Blu-Ray?

[Mr Farts @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:37PM]

Yeah, but does it come with Blu-Ray?

[Rogan josh @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:25PM]

ooooh.... a wind turbine...the man's a GENIUS..!!

[Kate @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:09PM]

Those who laugh, wait 'till this becomes our generation's version of the rooftop satellite antenna.

"Hey, we lost the signal!"

"Yeah, it was a pretty still day....where are you going?"

"I'm just going to go spin the turbine for a few minutes."

"Well, please don't fall off the roof...."

[BoBo' @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:19PM]

A grid-tie inverter will run about $2k to $4k.

http://www.absak.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/29_127_204

[silentio @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:19PM]

That looks like the Opera browser logo

[Rogan josh @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:21AM]

Not to forget that Sarvonious invented a similar - but far more efficient - device about a hundred years ago (no, pedants, that's not an invitation to blast me with a real date; i don't actually care to look it up). Starck has just "Calvin Klined" it. Wanker.

[Chris. @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:44AM]

It sounds like an interesting product. As stated by others though it won't be until this thing is released and we can see the true total costs including the "required hardware" that I will be making a final purchasing decision.

As for the Windmills statement of, "they still kill birds though, right?"... I say if a bird is dumb enough to fly into one and get killed you've just helped that species of bird by eliminating one of the dumb ones and preventing it from passing on it's "dumb genes" into the next generation. Same thing with those indecisive squirrels on the road, I don't slow down for them anymore and the squirrel population is better for it! :P

[Josh @ Jul 3rd 2008 11:19AM]

Here's a tutorial on going green (created by IBM)... it's not only for enterprises, there are many things you can do too

http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=625&doc_id=155456&f_src=flffour

[Jacob @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:32PM]

There's an easy explanation to this article.


Its a lie.


Simple as that. Go look at real wind turbines designed for home use and compare to that beautiful hock of crap. Not only is it based aerodynamically off of a hundred year old TOY, but it has no aerodynamic design features, which tells me that the entire story about "partnering with a wind turbine company" is BS.

This guy is known for being bat-shit crazy. And now he's an expert in wind turbines? Pssh, gimme a break.

[John Reid @ Jul 8th 2008 2:23PM]

I am ashamed of the waste I created during development but I have been working on a modified Darius windmill. The drive is built out debris from the recycling yard using old car bearings, tenspeed bicycle wheels and gears, uses a bicycle chain drive at 44:1 gearing and produces 30 watts at 15 volts with approximately 20 MPH wind. NOT EFFICIENT! I need it to work at about 10 MPH to be effective.

The horizontal design (vertical axis) is very low profile/visibility and the gearing allows a slow rotation (approx. 20 RPM or three second per full rotation). My current design uses nine hinged blades which weathervane to reduce drag on the windward journey and does not require furling.

PMM generator (E-bay) $45.00
Junk yard bearings and material $20.00
Wind vanes (plastic trash can sides) $36.00
two deepcycle batteries $165.00
coleman inverter $100.00 INEFFICIENT!!
Xantrex controller $80.00
4 guage wire (roof to controller) $150.00

This will not power my house but provides a suitable back up for brown outs, power failures,etc...

I feel if an engineer / electrician / (smart person) finessed the design it might be capable of additional efficiency. Currently,I can probably power my aquarium! LAME!!!

However, It does work! and it ain't expensive. THXJREID

[Eric C @ Aug 14th 2008 3:04PM]

A few things- The Darius design won't kill birds. They don't fly into them because they move more slowly and permanently take up space, so the birds don't try to fly threw, smart or dumb.
You can't currently get a small wind turbine of any kind, that I'm aware of, for $600 and they all need the "associated hardwear", so the criticism of Starck for that is unfounded.
Many States are required to allow tie-in's, but they charge for it, regardless of who's wind generator you use or solar panel you want hooked up. If Starck had said it was going to be dirt cheap you could call him a liar, but to say that what he's designed is bad when he may have produced a product more people may use is ridiculous. Rain on someone else's parade.