Rooftop Wind Turbine Prototype Unveiled

A new rooftop wind turbine touted as the first of its kind to be installed on the East Coast is up and running in New York's Hudson Valley, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.

"The device consists of a plastic windcatcher in helical, or spiral, form, edged with windfoils and contained within a structural cage that also serves as the mounting," the article reads (full story. "It's designed to sit on a flat rooftop. Winds are generally stronger at higher heights."

Distributed renewable energy generation like this is seen as one important piece of the energy puzzle, if the U.S. is to ween itself from electricity generated by fossil fuels. Wind is unreliable, but can supplement other power sources -- particularly if breakthroughs in battery technology allow for more efficient storage. A vision of largely self-sufficient homes and businesses, generating their own wind and solar power, and heating and cooling their buildings with geothermal heat pumps is not wholly fantasy -- and inventions like this show that it could be possible.

AeroCity LLC, the maker of this rooftop turbine, aims to take it commercial in late 2009 or early 2010.

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