Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a rating system by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) designed to reward architects, builders, and owners for integrating energy efficiency and “green” practices into new and existing structures. The rating system has been in use for more than a decade and has gone through several iterations. Unfortunately, this rating system has been abused and USGBC has done little to rectify the situation.
Controversial developer of “urban” wind projects Urban Green Energy (UGE) is quitting the wind business. Using its in-house designed vertical-axis wind turbine, the New York City-based company...[more]
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a notice providing new performance and quality standards that require certification of small wind turbines in order to qualify for the 30% federal...
Updated with a photo of the 18 Venger V2 Savonius turbines on the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[more]
Is this another example of Federal capital subsidies driving exceptionally overpriced "wind turbines"?[more]
Hoosiers have definitely drunk the cool-aid. Worse, it's another example of architectural greenwashing. According local press reports the Nature Conservancy has installed the "crown jewel" of its...[more]
In the annals of greenwashing, no wind turbine company has done more to develop the technique to a fine art. It’s as if the company’s entire business model was built on finding participants who...[more]
The helical rotor design is reputed to reduce or eliminate the torque ripple encountered in traditional two-blade Darrieus or eggbeater turbines.[more]
DWEA believes the current lack of turbine certification and siting criteria under the various LEED rating systems is hurting the distributed wind industry and is counter-productive to the intent of...
This is a classic example of how not to install wind turbines to best advantage. The best that can be said about this installation is that at least they were not mounted on top of the building.[more]
AeroVironment has installed 20 units of its AVX 1000 rooftop turbines on a building at Boston's Logan International Airport. The 20 kW installation, part of what AeroViron[ment calls its...[more]