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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Now, Generate Green Power From Your Balcony!

Design
  • Looking a little like a cross between a double helix and a barber shop pole, the Greenerator design calls for a wind turbine, a half-dome shaped compartment for the generator, a controller, ultracapacitor, inverter and a solar panel attached to a balcony edge with a rail clamp and floor screws.
  • Globerson's design calls for magnetic levitation to reduce the wind turbine friction, as well as flexible thin-film solar cells that would require less material than traditional solar panels.
Greenerator Usefulness/ Performance Analysis
  • Apart from that perfect view, your balcony can be used for something more valuable-a personal generator that converts wind and sun to power from a balcony.
  • Industrial designer Jonathan Globerson's Greenerator design could be a way to preserve the view while reducing reliance on coal, reports Discovery News.
  • The Greenerator alone could power a refrigerator or a 32" flat panel TV, which strikes as being fairly impressive for such a seemingly small generator.
  • So far, a 1:4 scale prototype of the Greenerator is up and running.
  • According to Globerson's site, "the prototype turbine works”.
Greenerator Limitations/ Improvement Required
  • According to his design specs, the Greenerator wouldn't be powering whole apartment, but it could reduce the annual cost of electricity by 6 percent.
  • The design need streamlining to reduce vibration and noise.
  • Anything metallic that's attached to the balcony should go through extensive safety testing-not just for humans, but also for wildlife.

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