MANILA, Philippines -- An increasing number of people are trying to make use of alternative energy sources even for their homes, partly as a means of contributing to the greening effort, and also to lessen their carbon footprints. Of course, I will always advocate the planting of a lot of trees, bushes, and plants to make each home a truly wonderful habitat that will attract birds, bees, butterflies, and even beneficial insects.

Among the more popular energy saving devices are those increasingly useful and efficient solar arrays that heat water, cool homes, and also light up bulbs at night. But one particular gadget that continues to attract my personal attention is the portable wind fan that mimics what the large arrays are already doing for many places all over the world.

One of the problems with wind energy is the tendency for the average set-up to be quite inefficient in translating such energy into useful electricity. I am no physicist or engineer, but when it is pointed out that the speed at the center of the average propeller is only 10% at the hub or center compared to the edges, and it is this center that translates into useful energy, I can understand why such units are not too efficient.

In addition, the average wind turbine set up is quite noisy and can drive both occupants and neighbors batty! To create more energy, this typical set-up will need stronger winds and a bigger generator, both translating into yet more noise.

Realizing this problem, the firm WinTronics built the Honeywell WT6500 Wind turbine. The WinTronic approach utilizes a novel propeller / wheel with twenty blades, each with a magnet near the end of each blade, sweeping through copper coils mounted at the outer ring, producing an electrical current that makes the whole set-up a generator in itself.

As a result, the amount of energy produced is way above that made by the normal process. This eliminates the need for a central generator, and allows for current to be produced even by winds as low as 2 mph vs the need for at least 8 – 10 mph in other set-ups.

The WT6500 is only 6 ft in diameter and can produce about 1,500 kwh per year, enough to tackle a good percentage of the average home’s energy needs as stated earlier.

No heavy lifting though for this relatively small set-up. An article on the WT6500 gives us an idea of how the whole thing works:

* A flap on either side of the wheel catches wind, which spins the turbine toward the gusts.

* The wind moves the turbine wheel, including its 20 blades.

* The blade tips contain rare-earth metal magnets. As they sweep through copper coils in the outer frame, they generate a DC current. It can store the power in a battery or convert it to AC for immediate use.

In the US, this WT6500 will set one back $10,000 – a princely sum for us in the developing world.  To top it all, we still have a tax regime that still does not give credit to alternative energy sources or uses. We have quite a way to go, but this energy saving gadget could be one that more and more homeowners could make use of to bring down the cost of electricity in the long run.