Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Wind Turbine + Fremantle Doctor + Aquaponics =

I have heard of a innovative vertical axis wind turbine design that could provide aquaponics systems with energy. Or perhaps a DIY smaller version could be made.

Revolutionair by Phillippe Starck:




Another use for blue drums - Home made Wind Turbine.

I struggle to believe that diy VAWT made out of drums generates any useful power.

yeah alternators need to get to about 1200 rpm before they output anything useful, might get enough to run your air pump but would be easier to get it to do the pumping directly through a paddle or somthing... in the vid it's struggling to get over 12v without load on it.
the idea has merit and i have seen some very good examples of the vertical turbines but maybe spend the money on a proper one or solar panels

There are about a million instructables on vertical wind turbines.

What really gets me about the whole green movement is how narrow the focus is. Solar( and wind to a lesser extent) makes sense for small applications like aquaponics, but not for much else. The girl in the first vid is talking about the turbine costing 3500 (assuming pounds) and she suggests that if you install 11 of them, you'll be 'sorted'. I assume that 'sorted' is British slang for bankrupt.

Our air conditioner is very old and not at all efficient and it is above 90 (32 C) degrees for about 8 months out of the year and it is above 110 (43 C) for 2-3 months. It would take a lot more than 11 of the turbines to power our home and that assumes we get enough wind. But even if it only took 11 turbines to power our home, they would take up our entire backyard and it would take us more than 10 years to get a return on our investment.

I could see getting 1 turbine if it were smaller and cheaper, but at that price, it is not practical

There was a related vid there about an organic flexible solar panel roll that might be promising, though. It's all about the cost vs benefit... green tech hasn't gotten that yet.